Allen leads on day two

Breezy conditions for the Rhodes Waterside Farr 40 Regatta

Day two, Staurday, of racing at the Rhodes Waterside Farr 40 regatta and the predicted southerly arrived with force earlier today. The Farr 40 fleet headed out to the course off Palm Beach on Sydney's northern beaches to be greeted by an 18 knot sou’ west breeze with a two metre sea.

Recent winner of the Corinthian Doors Peppers Farr 40 regatta Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban has moved into the leader spot with Don Telford’s Rushcutter still in hot pursuit just one point off the leader and Ivan Wheen’s Sputnik have moved up from sixth into third place on the leader board.

In a building breeze the fleet set off for race four of the series. The conditions were very shifty even for a solid southerly with 30 degree shifts putting every team through their paces. Sputnik showed good form and lead from start to finish with Lang Walker’s Kokomo doing the same thing in second place and Ichi Ban mirroring them in third place.

Race five of the regatta and the eight boats hit the start line in a true southerly of 21 knots. Sputnik and Brett Neill’s White Cloud were called back to restart while the rest of the fleet headed for the top mark. The race committee had to make a course change on the first leg and by the time the fleet was heading down the run for the first time they were seeing 25 knots of breeze on the instruments.

After plenty of good surfing action Ichi Ban sailed consistently well for the race to take the gun crossing the finish line with 20 knots boat speed as they caught a wave. The big improver in race five was Sputnik who recovered well from a restart to finish fourth over the line. Overnight leader Rushcutter surfed over the line in second place and Leon Christianakis’s Cydon maneuvered from fourth to take third place.

The race committee decided to send the fleet inside towards Pittwater but with conditions building and boats sighting 30 plus knots and the seaway heading towards three metres the teams were sent to the dock.

“It was champagne sailing today, the first time in a while we’ve seen good breeze”, commented Allen after racing.

Racing finishes on Sunday and the forecast is currently for fine conditions with sunny periods and moderate southerly winds easing and tending easterly in the afternoon.

Day 2 Provisional results:

1 Ichi Ban M.Allen CYCA 12
2 Rushcutter D.Telford CYCA 13
3 Sputnik I.Wheen RSYS 18
4 Kokomo L.Walker CYCA 19
5 Cydon L.Christianakis RPAYC 19
6 White Cloud B.Neill RNZYS 28
7 Blacksnake M.Milne RSYS 33
8 Revolution Edake J.Carter RPAYC 39