Aussie Olympic talent in the Farr 40 fleet

Sam Cricton reports on the Peppers Anchorage Regatta

Guido Belgiorno Nettis’s Transfusion has won the Australian 2008 Peppers Anchorage Farr 40 regatta.

The battle lines were drawn early with two races remaining in the regatta and Transfusion was leading by 10 points from Estate Master and Hooligan both on 24 points. The eight boats racing had another delayed start to the day waiting for the Sou' East breeze to fill in. Racing was held inside the bay at Port Stephens in a building sou’easter that reached 18 knots.

With the water in the bay flat the fleet were on their way in race eight on a three lap sou’east course. Lisa and Martin Hill’s Estate Master displayed some fantastic sailing skills as they led the fleet after a great start. Estate Master went on to win race eight and did a repeat performance in the last race of the regatta to display the Boat of the Day flag for the second time in this regatta.

“We’re really pleased with our result and for Guido who sailed a great regatta," said Hill. "It’s great to have Middle Harbour YC boats one and two in this event. It’s been great to have our Australian Sailing Team members back onboard after Beijing, Malcolm Page trimming and we are seeing improvements happening all the time. We have 'son in law elect' (Michael Blackburn) on the main and Nathan Outteridge calling tactics and this was his first Farr 40 regatta. He’s very precise on the start line calls.”

Transfusion came close in both races to letting the win slip through their fingers but recovered well in both races to eventually win the regatta by two points. In race nine the Transfusion spinnaker touched Hooligan as they rounded the top mark and Transfusion took their penalty turn and managed to sail up the positions from seventh to fifth giving them the overall win.

“We are really pleased to win this event this year after coming second last year. We are sailing with a couple of new crew members and will be taking this team through to the 2009 Rolex F40 Worlds in Porto Cervo next June. It’s great to see the Australian fleet will be represented by four teams next year and we are looking forward to lining up against our international classmates”, said Belgiorno Nettis.

In race eight Farr 40 class stalwarts Lang Walker’s Kokomo and Marcus Blackmore’s Hooligan demonstrated why they have both been crowned Australian Farr 40 Champions with both boats crossing behind Estate Master within 19 seconds.

The final race of the regatta and everyone was sailing to win the race. Every mark rounding was close with the fleet hot on each others heals. Ivan Wheen’s Sputnik had a great race picking the shifts to sail through the fleet from sixth position and finish in second place just ahead of Kokomo.

The next event in the Australian Farr 40 2008-09 circuit is the Pittwater F40 Regatta being hosted by Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club on October 24-26.

Sponsoring the Port Stephens event were host resort Peppers Anchorage, Club Marine Insurance and Two Furlongs Wine from Mudgee.

		Owner	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Total
1st	Transfusion	Guido Belgiorno Nettis	MHYC	1	5	3	1	2	1	1	6	4	24
2nd	Estate Master	Lisa & Martin Hill	MHYC	4	1	1	2	7	4	5	1	1	26
3rd	Kokomo	Lang Walker	YCCS / NYYC	2	4	6	5	1	6	2	2	3	31
4th	Hooligan	Marcus Blackmore	RPAYC	3	3	4	3	6	2	3	3	9.0 RAF	36
5th	White Cloud	Brett Neill	RNZYS	5	2	2	6	4	5	7	4	6	41
6th	Sputnik	Ivan Wheen	RSYS	6	7	7	4	5	3	4	7	2	45
7th	Easy Tiger II	Chris Way / Ian Burns	RPAYC	7	6	5	8	3	8	6	5	5	53
8th	Edake	Jeff Carter	MHYC	8	8	8	7	8	7	8	8	7	69