Buon Giorno

Sam Crichton reports from the Rhodes Waterside Farr 40 Regatta

The Rhodes Waterside Regatta saw picture perfect conditions for the first day of racing, with Steve Ellis's Buon Giorno winning the first and third race of the series. Matt Allen, steering Smile won the second race of the day with an impressive margin of over a minute to second placed Lang Walker on Kokomo.

The first race of the regatta saw the fleet keen to hit the track and a general recall was called after Kokomo led the fleet over the line 15 seconds premature. With a northeast breeze of 12 knots the fleet worked upwind on the left side of the course, which was set east of North Head outside Sydney Harbour. Buon Giorno placed herself at the head of the fleet and maintained this position to the finish line of race one.

Race two saw Smile 'pushing the envelope' on the start line but they sustained their first position for the entire race to take the gun. Richard Perini on Corinthian Doors, Kokomo and Marcus Blackmore on Emotional Hooligan went left at the start after they started together at the pin end of the line.

At the first upwind mark both Kevin Miller on Valley Tram and Paul Hyland on Capria had issues with spinnakers hoists which cost them valuable time. Smile extended their lead over the entire race course with the rest of the fleet fighting for the remaining positions.

With a 15 knot northeast breeze building to 25 knots, the third race had Buon Giorno and Emotional Hooligan fighting it out for the pin end of the start line. Emotional Hooligan led around the top mark with Kokomo close on their heals followed closely by Corinthian Doors. At the first bottom mark rounding, Tony DeMulder on Victric had the spinnaker wrap around their headsail, which caused them to have to drop their headsail and rehoist on the second upwind leg. The building breeze had a number of boats using the swell to surf along the course to the finish with the last top mark rounding positions being held to the finish line.

As can be expected in one design racing, today's races were very close with the results showing it is still anybody's game to take out the series. Racing in the Rhodes Waterside Farr 40 Regatta will continue over the weekend with the planned course for tomorrow's racing being off North Head outside Sydney Harbour.

Results after Day 1:
1 st Buon Giorno (S.Ellis - RPAYC) 1,6,1 8
2 nd Kokomo (L.Walker - CYCA) 2,2,6 9
3 rd Emotional Hooligan (M.Blackmore - RPAYC) 4,4,2 10
4 th Corinthian Doors (R.Perini - RSYS) 3,5,3 11
5 th Weapon (R.Skinner - CYCA) 5,3,6 14
6 th Smile (M.Allen -CYCA) 10,1,4 15
7 th Valley Tram (K.Miller -RQYS) 6,8,8 22
8 th Rapscallion (D.Voorderhake - CYCA) 11,7,7 25
9 th One Step Ahead (D.McDonald -CYCA) 7,10,9 26
10 th Victric (T.De Mulder - GBR) 8,9,11 28
11 th Capria (P.Hyland - CYCA) 9,11,10 30