Eminent line-up

It may be an owner-driver class, but it will like an America's Cup reunion for the personnel taking part in the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds

The 2003 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship will be sailed on the waters off Porto Cervo, Sardinia over four days 2-5 July. Hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, the event will be sailed on some of the most testing waters in the world, where crews can expect both light and strong winds, hot competition - and all set to a breathtaking backdrop.

12 countries - France, Italy, Switzerland, United States, Great Britain, Greece, Germany, Norway, Japan, the Netherlands, Belgium and Australia - sailing the most internationally representative large keelboat class in the world today, will race for an ISAF endorsed World Championship title. 36 boats, the largest ever assembly of the class in Europe, will race a ten race series where all races count. The winner, as ever, will be the most consistent performer after a gruelling set of sprint races.

The Farr 40 Class is a special class because of its owner-driver rules that also require amateur status for all but four of the crew. This One Design class, first launched in the late1990s, is a modern boat requiring all the techniques of state of the art racing without the worry of constant development and obsolescence. With over 130 boats built to date strict rules limit everything on the boat to a modern one design standard making sure that the power of the sailing team is the only reason for success.

In the days before racing gets underway in Sardinia the fleet will be put through rigorous safety controls and test measurements. The number and size of sails as well as the total crew weight are all strictly controlled. Random spot checks will also be made after each race day to ensure rules compliance throughout the event.

Many of the fleet’s owners are past players of other professional programmes that have found Farr 40 One Design racing, where they helm the boats themselves, much more satisfying than leaving the fun in the hands of a hired hero. Many younger owners are finding that their sailing skills can still be put to the test at the highest levels without them having to dedicate their whole lives to a top notch programme. Most of the fleet do however retain the services of the top professionals in the field to fill the roles of tacticians and sail trimmers.

The Rolex Farr 40 Worlds, held alternately on either side of the Atlantic each year, will be the culmination of a busy programme of racing in European waters this year.

The defending World Champion along with the 2001 World Champion will be present both trying to make it two wins in this, one of the trickiest events to win. The 2001 Champion Ernesto Bertarelli, fresh from winning the America’s Cup, will be joined by some elements of his Alinghi Team crew, back sailing together again for the first time since their all-dominant Cup performance in Auckland.

Ten short races are scheduled for the four-day regatta. The 8-mile two-lap windward-leeward race course will include a spreader mark at the top of the course and a leeward gate at the bottom to keep the action close. Each race will normally take one hour. The evenings will also be full with a busy social programme for owners, crews and guests in this exciting Sardinian port.

Television will be covering the event for a 25-minute special for distribution later in the year on many international and local television channels

Line up

Sail no	Boat name	Owner	Relief driver	Tactician
USA40040	ALBABLU	Renato Irrera		Alberto La Tegola
GBR46R	ALEPH	Hughes Lepic/Pierre Detroyat	Pierre Detroyat	Luc Pillot
ITA2272	ALINGHI	Ernesto Bertarelli
GRE42	ATALANTI	George Andreadis		Rod Davis
USA52104	BAMBAKOU	John Coumantaros
USA50955	BARKING MAD	Jim Richardson	Mark Sims	Terry Hutchinson
GBR98R	BIT OF A COUP	Tony Buckingham
ITA103	BOTTADICULO	Giovanni Arrivabene/Rafaele Mincione	Rafaele Mincione	Sergey Chestov
ITA1	BREEZE	Vincenzo Onorato		Flavio Favini
USA46999	CROCODILE ROCK	Scott Harris/Alex Geremia
	FARRFALINA	Rob Goddard
FRA9383	FARRFELU	Alain Bompart		Alain Fedensieu
GBR7040R	GAME ON	John Oswald/John Bainbridge	John Bainbridge	Anthony Haines
GBR25R	GBR25	Mark Heeley	Duncan MacDonald	Iain Percy
USA46957	GROOVEDERCI	Deneen/John Demourkas	John Demourkas	Mark Reynolds
FRA29039	HAGAKURE	Michel Tiberini		Francios Brenac
GBR8888L	KATANGA	Robin Paterson	Adam Gosling	Ian Walker
AUS8888	KOKOMO	Lang Walker	Roger Hickman	Roger Hickman
USA40076	LE RENARD	Steve Phillips	Alan Nakanishi	Andy Norton
ITA4038	MADINA MILANO	Dario Ferrari	Enrico Isenburg	Thierry Peponnet
NED40105	MEAN MACHINE	Peter De Ridder	Roderick Voerman	Stuart Bannatyne
GER40101	MORNING GLORY	Hasso Plattner	Lorenz Jensen	Dee Smith
GER931	NELA	Michael Illbruck	Niels Sodemann	John Kostecki
ITA1972	NERONE	Antonio Sodo Migliori/Massimo Mezzaroma	Massimo Mezzaroma	Andy Beadsworth
NOR40	NORWEGIAN STEAM	Eivind Astrup	Jacob Nordenstrom	Herman Horn Johannessen
ITA4080	RROSE	Riccardo Bonadeo		Gabriele Benussi
USA50051	SARASTRO	JP Delmotte
ITA1161	SEVEN	Alberto Signorini		Tommaso Chieffi
JPN5095	SLED	Takashi Okura		Yutaka Takagi
AUS1770	SOUTHERN STAR	John Calvert-Jones		Grant Simmer
GER5055	STRUNTJE LIGHT	Wolfgang Schaefer		Xavier Rohart
ITA13711	TWT	Marco Rodolfi		Tiziano Nava
GBR5R	VICTRIC 5	Tony De Mulder	Paul Burton	Adrian Stead
GBR9040R	WARLORD	Philip Tolhurst	Jeremy Tolhurst	Chris Main
USA69	WARPATH	Fred/Steve Howe	Fred Howe	John Cutler
ITA4088	ZZENZERO	Renato Mazzeschi		Enrico Passoni