GBR 25 wins pre-worlds

British Farr 40 on form in Sardinia, with Worlds starting on wednesday

The star studded Farr 40 fleet completed their pre-worlds in Sardinia yesterday in light and tricky conditions. Establishing themselves as real contender for the World title, Mark Heeley’s GBR 25 won the seven race series with a string of consistant results.

Heeley, with Olympic gold medallist Iain Percy on tactics, posted their worst result in the final race as the breeze faded to under five knots. This 15th position was enough to clinch the trophy with an 11 point margin over the Italian boat Nerone.

However, the World Championship which starts in Port Cervo on Wednesday remains a very open affair, with several boats showing real flair. Crocodile Rock, did not race the final race and ended up fifth, 23 points off the lead counting a DNS. As always in Farr 40 sailing there are no discards. Only six boats came in under the 100 point mark.

Tony de Mulder sailed extremely well to finish in third place. Calling tactics on Victric is Adrian Stead and the team managed to dig themselves out of trouble on a couple of occasions to ensure that they didn’t count a worse result than 15th.

There are many well fancied teams buried deep in the results table. Russell Coutts and Ernesto Bertarelli chose not to race the final race and with an OCS in the first race, finished in 13th spot. Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad finished 21st, Atalanti in 27th, Southern Star in 28th and defending world champion Le Renard in 31st.

Following Friday’s fiasco, the committee sharpened up their act and did well to get five races in over the weekend. The one major collision occurred on Saturday with Morning Glory being the port tack meat in the starboard layline sandwich. A shark bite out of the side of Morning Glory resulted in owner Hasso Plattner throwing the tiller down and having a stand up row with his tactician Dee Smith, all in good earshot of the 35 boats rounding the windward mark.

The World Championship starts on Wednesday and looks set to go down as one of the most competitive and closely fought Farr 40 events ever. The gloves will be coming off and we expect to have some spectacular racing in this amazing setting.

Pos.	Sail N#	Boat	Owner	Tactician	R 1	R 2	R 3	R 4	R 5	R 6	R 7	Tot.
1	GBR-25R	GBR 25	Mark Heeley	Iain Percy	12,0	1,0	8,0	4,0	11,0	8,0	16,0	60,0
2	ITA-1972	NERONE	M.Mezzaroma-A.Sodo Migliori	Vasco Vascotto	14,0	28,0	2,0	1,0	8,0	1,0	17,0	71,0
3	GBR-5R	VICTRIC 5	Tony De Mulder	Adrian Stead	6,0	14,0	9,0	14,0	4,0	15,0	3,0	72,0
4	ITA-1	BREEZE	Vincenzo Onorato	Flavio Favini	3,0	20,0	23,0	12,0	6,0	12,0	4,0	80,0
5	USA-46999	CROCODILE ROCK	A. Geremia-S. Harris	Vince Brun	4,0	17,0	13,0	8,0	2,0	3,0	DNS	83,0
6	GER-93	NELA	Michael Illbruck	John Kostecki	5,0	21,0	28,0	6,0	12,0	2,0	13,0	87,0
7	USA-69	WARPATH	Steve Howe	John Cutler	9,0	2,0	12,0	5,0	19,0	21,0	32,0	100,0
8	FRA-29039	HAGAKURE	Michel Tiberini	Francois Brenac	18,0	8,0	22,0	18,0	21,0	13,0	7,0	107,0
9	NED-5764	MEAN MACHINE	Peter De Ridder	S. Bannatyne	1,0	11,0	16,0	11,0	18,0	29,0	26,0	112,0
10	ITA-1161	SEVEN	Alberto Signorini	Tommaso Chieffi	OCS	34,0	1,0	7,0	14,0	7,0	15,0	114,0
11	NOR-40	NORWEGIAN STEAM	Elvind Astrup	Herman Schansen	16,0	30,0	4,0	27,0	28,0	9,0	1,0	115,0
12	FRA-9383	FARRFELU	Alain Bompart	Alain Fedensieu	2,0	5,0	27,0	33,0	3,0	23,0	23,0	116,0
13	USA-51641	ALINGHI	Ernesto Bertarelli	Russel Coutts	OCS	6,0	10,0	15,0	10,0	6,0	DNS	119,0
14	USA-52104	BAMBAKOU	John Coumantaros	Chris Larson	15,0	23,0	7,0	32,0	1,0	32,0	10,0	120,0
15	GER-5055	STRUNTJE LIGHT	Wolfgang Schaefer	Jesper Bank	OCS	24,0	3,0	3,0	32,0	14,0	9,0	121,0
16	ITA-103	BOTTADICULO	R. Mincione-G. Arrivabene	Davide Scarpa	23,0	13,0	29,0	9,0	16,0	19,0	14,0	124,0
17	USA-46957	GROOVEDERCI	Deneen-John Demourkas	Brian Ledbetter	10,0	35,0	18,0	2,0	9,0	30,0	21,0	125,0
18	GBR-7040R	GAME ON	Oswald-Bainbridge	Anthony Haines	7,0	16,0	14,0	30,0	7,0	33,0	24,0	131,0
19	GBR-8888L	KATANGA	Robin Paterson	Ian Walker	13,0	27,0	30,0	20,0	5,0	26,0	11,0	132,0
20	USA-50051	SARASTRO	J. P. Delmotte	Marc Bonet	17,0	10,0	31,0	28,0	24,0	20,0	2,0	132,0
21	USA50955	BARKING MAD	Jim Richardson	Terry Hutchinson	DSQ	32,0	19,0	22,0	15,0	4,0	19,0	132,0
22	ITA-4088	ZZENZERO 7	Renato Mazzeschi	Marco Perazzo	DSQ	4,0	35,0	17,0	20,0	17,0	6,0	135,0
23	GER-40101	MORNING GLORY	Hasso Plattner	Dee Smith	11,0	22,0	17,0	26,0	DNF	16,0	8,0	136,0
24	ITA-18	RROSE	Andrea Bonadeo	Gabriele Benussi	OCS	3,0	24,0	31,0	23,0	18,0	5,0	140,0
25	GBR-46R	ALEPH	H.Lepic-P.E. Detroyat	Luc Pillot	8,0	12,0	26,0	25,0	26,0	25,0	20,0	142,0
26	ITA-4038	MADINA	Dario Ferrari	Thierry Peponnet	19,0	26,0	5,0	23,0	25,0	24,0	22,0	144,0
27	GRE-42	ATALANTI	George Andreadis	Rod Davis	20,0	29,0	25,0	16,0	13,0	35,0	12,0	150,0
28	AUS-1770	SOUTHERN STAR	John Calvert Jones	Grant Simmer	OCS	33,0	21,0	10,0	17,0	11,0	25,0	153,0
29	GBR-7400	WARLORD	Philip Tolhurst	Khris Main	OCS	25,0	11,0	24,0	27,0	5,0	27,0	155,0
30	ITA-13711	TWT	Marco Rodolfi	Tiziano Nava	OCS	31,0	6,0	21,0	22,0	10,0	30,0	156,0
31	USA-40076	LE RENARD	Stephen B. Phillips	Kevin Hall	22,0	18,0	15,0	13,0	29,0	27,0	DNS	161,0
32	AUS-8883	KOKOMO	Lang Walkrer	Roger Hickman	21,0	7,0	32,0	19,0	30,0	22,0	31,0	163,0
33	USA-40040	ALBABLU	Renato Irrera	Francesco Bertorotta	25,0	9,0	20,0	35,0	31,0	28,0	28,0	177,0
34	AUS-69R	CACHARAZA	Marcos Vivian	Nick Haigh	24,0	15,0	34,0	29,0	34,0	31,0	18,0	186,0
35	GBR-8940	FARRFALINA	Rob Goddard	Nick Meadow	OCS	19,0	33,0	34,0	33,0	34,0	29,0	218,0