Estate Master - the rooster

Lisa and Martin Hill's team claim the Rolex Farr 40 Pre-Worlds

Racing at the 2010 Rolex Farr 40 Pre-Worlds wrapped up today with Lisa and Martin Hill’s Estate Master from Australia winning the event. Estate Master went into today’s racing one point behind Doug Douglass’s Goombay Smash (USA), but won both of the races today to give them the overall win.

“This is our first win at an international class event," commented a very happy Hill this afternoon. "The boys were a bit reluctant to win this event given the winning the Pre-Worlds voodoo (no boat which has won a class Pre-Worlds has gone on to win a Worlds) but we ignored it as we are not that superstitious. We arrived at Casa de Campo early, which has given us a chance to get out on the course and spend some time getting a feel for things, which helps the team confidence. It’s about Worlds preparation, getting the team gelled and the processes right. Hopefully we aren’t saying rooster one day, feather duster the next.”

The ten boat fleet headed for the race course under idyllic Caribbean skies with a 10 knot easterly breeze that swung to the south east after race four of the series.

Race four and Estate Master (AUS) improved from their first mark rounding position to move through the fleet and cross the finish line ahead of overnight leader Goombay Smash (USA). Fellow American father and son team of Helmut and Evan Jahn’s Flash Gordon 6 (USA), finished race four in third.

The final race of the day and regatta saw the race committee having to reconfigure the race course and eventually sent the fleet on a two mile windward-leeward. Estate Master again came out on top with Alex Roepers’ Plenty (USA) finishing up second and Flash Gordon 6 (USA) repeating their result from the previous race to finish in third.

The teams will now be preparing for the reason why they are here at Casa de Campo, the 2010 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship. Defending Rolex Farr 40 World Champion Jim Richardson and his Barking Mad team are aiming to make it two in a row and four times World Champions, which would be a first for the Farr 40 class.

Results: 
1 Estate Master - L&M.Hill (AUS) - 12
2 Goombay Smash - D.Douglass (USA) - 17
3 Barking Mad - J.Richardson (USA) - 19
4 Fiamma - A.Barnaba (ITA) - 25
5 Nerone - M.Mezzaroma/A.Signorini (ITA) - 27
6 Enfant Terrible - A.Rossi (ITA) - 30
7 Flash Gordon 6 - H & E Jahn (USA) - 34
8 Struntje Light - W.Schaefer (GER) - 34
9 Plenty - A.Roepers (USA) - 37
10 Transfusion - G.Belgiorno-Nettis (AUS) - 41