Porto Cervo, Italy. 6th October 2007. Following yesterday’s postponement of racing due to light winds, things got right back on track today in the Moby Farr 30 World Championship in Porto Cervo. After a slight delay in which the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s Race Committee, and the fleet, prayed to the wind gods, 12 to 14 knots of west north westerly breeze blew in and the 39 competing Farr 30s were able to complete three windward leeward races of approximately 7.5 nautical miles each.

With the fleet now having completed six races New Caledonia (FRA), owned by Vincent Portugal, leads the overall classification by five points ahead of Matrix ArcaTxActive (ITA), owned by Luigi Melegari and Gianmarco Rinaldi. Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad (USA) is in third place, 12 points behind the leader with yesterday’s leader Optimumm (AUS), owned by Guy Stening in fourth.

Race Four, the first of the day, started at 12.15 in 14 knots of north westerly winds. At the first leeward mark New Caledonia, with former F30 World Champion Pierre Loic Berthet (2005) at the helm, led Bagua (ITA) and Barking Mad which has America’s Cup Veteran Terry Hutchinson on tactics. New Caledonia and Bagua held their positions to the finish but Richardson was overtaken by anther former World Champion, Claudio Recchi (2003), with his Bred (FRA) with Francesco de Angelis on tactics.

At the start of Race Five the wind had shifted slightly left to 280° and had fallen slightly to approximately 11 to 12 knots. At the first leeward mark Mascalzone Latino, owned by Vincenzo Onorato, led the fleet in a return to form after a fairly shaky start to the week ahead of New Caledonia. At the finish line however it was Matrix ArcaTXActive with Tommaso Chieffi calling tactics who crossed the line first ahead of Mascalzone Latino and New Caledonia.

Mascalzone was one of the favourites heading into the race given Onorato’s history as Farr 30  World Champion (2000) and his standing as current Farr 40 World Champion but placed 23^rd and 25^th in the first two races.

“We are learning a lot because it’s been many years since any of us has sailed on these boats, “ commented Marco Cornacchia of the Mascalzone crew. “Here there are real experts, both Italian and French and there is an excellent Australian boat which is very strong. We are still optimistic about the championship though, we think we can do well.”

The breeze continued to shift westwards and was approximately 275 ° for the start of Race Six with intensity holding at around 11 to 12 knots. Groovederci (USA), owned by Deneen Demourkas with Volvo Ocean Race skipper Bouwe Bekking calling tactics, led Matrix ArcaTXActive around the first windward mark this time followed by Armando Giulietti’s Hiroshi with Lorenzo Santini’s Uka Uka in fourth. On the first upwind leg Uka Uka overtook Hiroshi and went on to take third behind Matrix with Groovederci in first place.

Vincent Portugal, owner of New Caledonia, was pleased with the results so far but conscious of the challenge still to come tomorrow.

“In the first race you know we weren’t leading for the whole time, there were four boats very close, we were second, third, first, it kept changing, but these four boats were well ahead of the fleet and in the second race it was the same story, after the first mark there were six or seven boats really leading the fleet. The last race was very tough as the wind was getting stronger, I think if you manage to pass the first mark in the top ten you are ok but if you are further back there are just boats everywhere. So far so good.

The week has gone pretty well, we had a good pre-worlds, testing the speed and manoeuvres and all that, everything was ok. We are happy to be in the lead now but we have to wait for the last race, all the boats are very very close to each other. We know that until the last leg of the last race nothing is certain, we are just hoping for good stable winds tomorrow and not to change our position too much.”

Racing is scheduled to continue in tomorrow at 11.30 am. The final prizegiving is scheduled for 6pm in the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s Piaza Azzurra.

For further information, Notice of Race, Entry list etc. please visit www.yccs.it or  www.mobym30worlds.com .

Moby is the largest cruise-ferry company in the Mediterranean and transports approximately five million passengers to Sardinia, Corsica and Elba Island every year. Its fleet, consisting of around50 units, includes cargo vessels, supply vessels and anchor-handling tugs, all sailing under the Italian flag. Moby was founded in 1982 by Vincenzo Onorato who represents the fourth generation of an Italian ship-owning family. The 2007 edition of the Farr 30 Worlds is the second sponsored by Moby .

Farr 30 – Summary Results as of 06/10/2007

Place, Boat Name, Owner, Nation, Points, Overall
1. NEW CALEDONIA Vincent Portugal (FRA) 7 2 13 1 3 8, 34

2. MATRIX ARCA TX ACTIVE Gianmarco Rinaldi/Luigi Melegari (ITA) 15 12 2 7 1 2, 39

3. BARKING MAD James B. Richardson (USA) 5 6 21 4 5 5, 46 

Contacts

 

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