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Post Date: Monday, October 08, 2018 |
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Big Breeze and Bigger Seas for 2018 Farr 40 Pre-World Championship
October 3-5, 2018
The 2018 Farr 40 Pre-World
Championship at Chicago Yacht Club’s Belmont Station kicked off on Wednesday,
October 3, with all competitors anxious and anticipating a week of action packed
racing amongst some of the most talented and well known sailors from around the
world participating in the event.
Wednesday morning conditions
started off warmer than usual, with a real “Indian Summer” on Lake Michigan for
two practice starts, followed by two races in the building wind and waves
throughout the course of the afternoon. “We got two really good races in and
then we started to see consistent breezes above 25 knots and we saw even some
30 knot gusts, so we called it off after two races.” Alina Dix of CYC’s Race
Committee commented.
The second day of racing was
canceled early on Thursday morning, due to 7.5 foot seas and breeze consistently
reaching the upper 20s. “There is no point to break things before the real
event, and our aim is to keep people safe.” said Dix. PRO John Busch of Long
Beach Yacht Club ran unofficial practice starts Friday, October 5th in lieu of
the racing that would have been held yesterday for all teams interested in
participating. With wind, rain and mild seas, the ten teams that participated caught a glimpse of
conditions to come throughout the upcoming week. Finishes for Friday's practice races were not scored in conjunction with the Farr 40 Pre-World Championship.
Chicago Yacht Club Commodore
Leif Sigmond, owner of Norboy, was optimistic that his team will fare well in
the days to come, despite having not gotten a lot of days on the water recently
“as the day went on we got better and better, we haven’t really sailed much
since the Verve, so we were shaking off the cobwebs. The racing Wednesday was just
practice, a lot of teams were trying different things, and we had equipment we
had to deal with. I expect it will be a really tough regatta.”
There is no shortage of
talented teams that will be competing for the coveted Farr 40 World
Championship trophy. With 14 entries from 5 different countries in the hunt for
the title, several of whom are no strangers to the podium, the overall event
winner is often times in the very last
race. Competing for the title this year is three time World Champion Alex
Roepers on Plenty, with two time Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Terry Hutchinson
calling tactics, 2013 champion Alberto Rossi of Enfant Terrible and Tactician
Vasco Vascotto from Ancona, Italy, who have seen victories in many fleets over
the past few years on the International Farr 40 Circuit, and CYC’s own father
and son helmed Flash Gordon 6, who won the 2012 Farr 40 World Championship when
it was last battled for here in Chicago. Chris Whitford’s Hotlips had a great
showing on Wednesday, representing the Chicago Yacht Club, with a sixth and a fourth
place finish, earning his team the second Corinthian spot on the leaderboard as
the official event nears.
While the predicted weather
for the event is going to be challenging for both teams and the race committee, with heavy winds in excess of 20 knots, rain,
and the potential for thunder and lightning storms forecasted for the entirety
of the event, Commodore Sigmond’s Norboy is ready for the challenge “I think we
have it under control with what is forecasted. Most of us are ready for
anything, or at least we think we are.”
Crews will gather tomorrow at
Chicago Yacht Club’s Belmont Station for Day 1 of the 2018 Farr 40 World
Championship. Racing is scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m.
We would like to wish all
competitors good luck and continued safety throughout the event.
2018 Farr 40 Pre-Worlds Cumulative
Scores (Top Three Boats)
1.
Struntje Light Wolfgang
Schaefer [1] [2] 3 GER 40
2.
Enfant Terrible Alberto Rossi [3]
[1] 4 ITA
29141
3.
Plenty Alex Roepers [2] [6] 8 USA 60059
Corinthian Boats
1.
ZEN Gordon Ketelbey [4]
[5] 9 AUS
64221
2.
Hot Lips Christopher
Whitford [6] [4] 10 USA 40027
3.
Asterisk Hasip
Gencer [5] [7] 12 TUR 4000
Full results for Farr 40 Pre-World
Championship available here.
Photos © Sara Proctor / Chicago Yacht Club
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