Grand stand finale

Two points seperate the top five boats going into the final Farr 40 race in Key West reports Andy Nicholson

So as predicted the Farr 40 winner at Terra Nova Key West Race Week will be decided on the single final race on Friday. Theoretically any of the boats in the top ten can win, but it really is down to five, who are all within two points of each other.

For us on Bambakou we had a good day today, but ultimately not good enough. Despite our previous form off the start line, the two races today were characterised by poor (ie not front rank) starts. We then fought our way around the course in the pack, which is always a struggle to escape from. We are now lying in ninth, 14 points off the lead.

The big winner of the day was Mean Machine, with Illbruck’s Ray Davies calling the tactics. They sailed very smart and clean races to score a 4,2 and move them up into third, just a point off the lead. Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad won the last race to keep them in contention, tied with Mean Machine. Crocodile Rock heads the field by a point after collecting their worst daily score of the regatta.

There was more breeze today, touching on 20 knots at times, it was however a little more stable than previous days. The race committee again failed to grasp the conditions by the goolies and with a persistent shift to the left during the day the legs became a little one-sided. While not disastrous, they are more than a few people wondering why they can’t put a new windward mark down or square the finish line.

Today’s more stable wind strength meant it was a bit of a stockcar derby at the top marks. We saw at least three crashes involving about seven boats in total. Protest flags fluttered all the way round the track but protests on the board at the race office were conspicuous by their absence. This smarts a little. Boats were banging into each other and obviously after a bit of dockside bartering these have been dropped. While not significant in the small picture of Key West, I feel that the class needs to get a grip of this before the rule book becomes an irrelevance.

So we’re up for a grand stand finish tomorrow (Friday) in true Farr 40 style. There will be one race, which is likely to be a long seven leg affair. The forecast is for 20 knots plus - and the sun will be shining. With five boats in real contention for the win it will be frantic and hard. For us (and several others), well we have nothing to loose…

Results:

Pos	Boat name	Owner/skipper	R 1	R 2	R 3	R 4	R 5	R 6	R 7	R 8	Total
1	Crocodile Rock	A Geremia/S Harris	9	2	8	9	3	8	7	13	59
2	Barking Mad	James Richardson	2	8	6	8	16	4	15	1	60
3	Mean Machine	Peter De Ridder	6	7	18	5	6	12	4	2	60
4	Warpath	Steve & Fred Howe	10	6	7	1	1	19	9	8	61
5	Riot	Marc Ewing	18	12	3	6	11	3	3	5	61
6	Sotto Voce	Arien van Vemde	5	14	9	7	8	13	2	11	69
7	Samba Pa Ti	John Kilroy	3	13	11	4	15	11	5	7	69
8	Atalanti	George Andreadis	8	1	10	17	5	16	1	12	70
9	Bambakou	John Coumantaros	12	11	4	13	9	1	13	10	73
10	Pendragon V	John MacLaurin	9.7 avg1	22	1	3	2	6	18	16	77.7
11	Joe Fly	Maspero Giovanni	10 p40	4	19	19	7	20	8	3	90
12	Twins 2	Erik Maris	15	18	2	10	13	10	14	9	91
13	Virago	Stuart Townsend	7	17	14	2	19	15	12	6	92
14	Breeze	Vincenzo Onorato	19	3	5	15	18	21	19	4	104
15	Solution	John Thomson, Jr.	14	15	17	12	4	5	21 p20	17	105
16	Dynamo	Eric Moog	20	5	22	16	14	9	10	15	111
17	Kokomo	Lang Walker	16	16	21	22	10	2	11	18	116
18	Sled	Takashi Okura	11	20	13	18	12	7	20	20	121
19	Nitemare	Tom Neill	4	21	16	14	20	17	17	14	123
20	Le Renard	Steve Phillips	22	19 p40	12	11	21	18	6	19	128
21	Flash Gordon 4	Helmut Jahn	21	9	20	20	23	14	21	21	149
22	Phish Food	Alexis Michas	23	23	15	21	17	22	23	22	166
23	Impetuous	Paul Zabetakis MD	17	19	23	23	22	23	22	23	172