Farr 40 form guide

European circuit and warm-up to the World Championships to conclude at Rolex Baltic Week

Thrilling manoeuvres and tight finishes is the character of the racing, only amateur owners or skippers helming is its rule. For ten years now the Farr 40 class has been the pinnacle of one design owner-driver keel boat racing. For the first time ever 14 international teams will gather in Germany in this class to sail Rolex Baltic Week over 17-19 August. In addition to this they will determine their European circuit winner in the fifth and decisive race in this grand prix series.

At the closing date, 14 teams from all over the world had entered the first-ever Farr 40 regatta in Germany. They come from Australia, Denmark, Germany, Finland, the UK, Italy, Ukraine, and the USA, with even more nations being represented among the crew. The high international make-up of the crews of nine or ten within the weight limit allowed under class rules is a typical feature of the Farr 40 class.

As ever there is a concentrated three-day race programme, co-ordinated by the European Farr 40 fleet itself. The first three short races per day will commence on the opening day Friday, 17 August, before Rolex Baltic Week has been formally opened by the CEO of Rolex Germany, Peter Streit, and NRV President, Manuel Cadmus. There will be three more races on each of the following two days, and on Sunday afternoon the winner of the regatta will be determined, after nine races in all.

The Rolex Crew Party will therefore not only see the prize-giving for the Rolex Baltic Week Farr 40 races, but also to the announcement of the winner of the 2007 Farr 40 European Circuit. Neustadt will host the fifth and decisive regatta in this grand-prix series, of which the first four regattas have already been completed including Rolex Capri Sailing Week, Rolex Settimana delle Bocche (European Championship) in Porto Cervo, the Nordic Farr 40 Championships in Hankö, Norway, and the Dexia Farr 40 Skagen Race in Denmark.

Going into the final event, overseas teams are fighting for the overall victory. The Australian boat Kokomoof Lang and Sue Walker is leading with 241 points ahead of American Jim Richardson's Barking Mad on 264 points. The US team, which won their first Farr 40 World Champion in 1998 and is, to date, the only boat that has repeated this success with a second win in 2004, is still set on coming in first in the European Circuit. After their first victory at the Rolex Capri Sailing Week (see the report here), they had to let the Australians pass by into the overall lead. At the end of the final series, though, the nine worst single race results will be discarded, so that the boats in the lead will move closer together, and this may have a serious impact on the overall results.

There will be a well-known face back on Barking Mad for this regatta in Terry Hutchinson, tactician with Emirates Team New Zealand. Hutchinson - now one of the most sought-after sailing professionals - will return as tactician on board Barking Mad.

Tactician on board Wolfgang Schäfer's Struntje Light is also well-known in Germany. Schäfer, the medic from Lüneburg will be placing all his trust in Jesper Bank, the former skipper of the first German America's Cup syndicate United Internet Team Germany. In the overall results to date in the European Circuit, this team is third with a score of 345 points. It was Schäfer, President of the European Farr 40 fleet, who was responsible for bringing his class' first regatta to Germany. That in itself is a victory for him, but it will certainly inspire him to fight all the harder to win on home waters.

The second German entry, Wolfgang Stolz with Opus One will be starting with the wind from behind. After the investment banker from Frankfurt had been making a name for himself in various Swan 45 regattas, he also started sailing in the Farr 40 class last year, and he came close to becoming World Champion in 2006. After three and a half years of "patient coaching by my tactician", New Zealander Kelvin Harrap, Stolz proudly won his first regatta this year - the Dexia Farr 40 Skagen Race.

Further big names and favourites for the overall victory at the Rolex Baltic Week are Flash Gordon 5, of the German-born Chicago-based star architect Helmut Jahn, the Australian Ichi Ban of Matt Allen, and the Italian Fiamma with skipper Alessandro Barnaba.

All teams will be using the Rolex Baltic Week as warm-ups for the peak event of the season, the imminent Rolex Farr 40 World Championships. In the class' tenth anniversary year 2007, the Worlds will be held in the Danish capital of Copenhagen over 29 August to 1 September.

This years' Rolex Baltic Week will also feature the European Championship of the Melges 24 class (18 to 23 August).