Kokomo into the lead

Two races held at the Corinthian Doors Port Stephens Farr 40 Regatta in Australia

After a number of place changes due to overnight protest outcomes, the fleet taking part in the Corinthian Doors Port Stephens Farr 40 Regatta, hit the water for another day of racing off shore outside Port Stephens. The change in the points saw Richard Perini on Corinthian Doors move to equal third on 18 points, with Rob Skinner on Weapon and Steve Ellis on Buon Giorno, and Marcus Blackmore on Emotional Hooligan in equal third place on 20 points.

A 12 knot northeast breeze greeted the fleet this morning, with Matt Allen on Kokomo winning the start and staying in the top spot right throughout the first race. The finish line saw another close finish, with Marcus Blackmore on Emotional Hooligan surfing into second place, three seconds in front of Rob Skinner on Weapon.

With the breeze building to 18 knots, the second race of the day saw new fleet member, Steve O'Rourke on Panther, put his one design and skiff sailing skills into action, to win the start by a boat length. Panther worked her way up through the fleet and in the last down wind leg, O'Rourke went right, which helped him pick up three places to take third over the line. Richard Perini on Corinthian Doors shot out of the blocks at the boat end of the start line, with Steve Ellis on Buon Giorno and Weapon mixing it up at the pin end of the line.

Emotional Hooligan, surfing like they were at Bells Beach, took first over the finish line in race two and three, which helped improve on their overnight results.

Race three saw Corinthian Doors win the start and some great surfing action during the down wind runs. Dennis McDonald on One Step Ahead, did a bit of prawn trawling with his spinnaker at the top mark rounding while the rest of the fleet used the waves to their advantage especially Corinthian Doors who surfed past Weapon at the finish to beat them by one second.

Sunday will see the last day of racing at the Corinthian Doors Farr 40 regatta. The next regatta in the Farr 40 class Australian calendar is the Inner Circle Rum regatta at Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Pittwater on November 1-2.

Provisional results after day two of racing:
1. Kokomo (M.Allen - CYCA) 1,2,4,2,1,6,4 20 2. Emotional Hooligan (M.Blackmore - RPAYC) 4,5,1,10,2,1,1 24
3. Weapon (R.Skinner - CYCA) 2,7,3,5,3,2,3 25
4. Corinthian Doors (R.Perini - RSYS) 3,8,6,1,5,5,2 30
5. Buon Giorno (S.Ellis - RPAYC) 6,3,5,3,4,4,7 32
6. One Step Ahead (D.McDonald - CYCA) 5,1,7,6,6,8,9 42
7. Rapscallion (D.Voorderhake - CYCA) 9,8,2,4,7,7,5 42
8. Panther (S.O'Rourke - CYCA) 7,9,8,8,9,3,8 52
9. Leroy Brown (W.Wieckmann - RPAYC) 8,6,9,7,8,9,6 53