2008 Acura Miami Grand Prix- Final Race Day

Photo Credit: Stuart Hartley Checkout the guy on the first spreader!

2008 Acura Miami Grand Prix- Final Race Day: From Paul Cayard

Short story:
Warpath won the day and we finished third, 1 point out of second and 5 points out of first.

Long story:
The wind was very shifty today. We played the shifts very well and worked through the fleet in the first race to win by a healthy margin. In the second race, we were over the start line early, started last, and got in phase while amazingly most of the fleet was out of phase and we marched through to finish 5th!

It doesn't get better than today. Looking forward, we have to eliminate the two bad races and keep our top 6 consistency and we will be in good shape for the World Championship next month.

Running for the plane. Out. - Paul

Farr 40 Pre Worlds

TWINS, Erik Maris, FRA leading the Pre-World races after 2

After a busy season in the Mediterranean and the Baltic, the Farr 40 fleet has moved north to Copenhagen in preparation for the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship. The Royal Danish Yacht Club (RDYC), host of Worlds, welcomed thirty-five boats from twelve countries to their new yacht club headquarters on Tuborg Harbour, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Friday was the first day of racing in the Rolex Pre-Worlds, a tune-up for the Rolex Farr 40 World Championships, which begins on 29 August and runs through 1 September. Teams from USA (7), Denmark (6), Italy (6), Australia (4), Norway (3), France (2), Germany (2), Switzerland (1), Ukraine (1), Finland (1), Brazil (1), and Sweden (1) took to the water today to get a feel for the local conditions with mixed results. For full results http://www.farr40.kdy.dk/uploads/After_race_2.final.htm

Barking Mad: Top Dog in the Baltic

Photo by: Rolex / Daniel Forster

Photo by: Rolex / Daniel Forster

US yacht “Barking Mad” superior again on the last race dayJim Richardson from the United States is the first overall winner of the Rolex Baltic Week 2007.
The owner and helmsman of “Barking Mad” and his team have won the Farr 40 competition on the Baltic Sea off Neustadt, Germany as well as the European Circuit, a grand prix series of this prestigious international class comprising five separate regattas. Richardson beat the Australian “Kokomo” by Sue and Lang Walker in both competitions and sent her down to place two. Wolfgang Stolz and his “Opus One” team from Frankfurt, Germany finished fourth overall and ranked as best German team. In the European Circuit, Stolz overtook Wolfgang Schaefer's “Struntje light” (sixth) and gained the “bronze medal”.

Hutchinson back in the saddle

Photo by: Rolex / Daniel Forster
Farr 40 Rolex Baltic Week - Neustadt, Germany

The first day of the 4th Rolex Baltic Week started in Neustadt, Germany on Friday (17 August) with four incredibly tight and exciting races in the international Farr 40 class. The lead changed several times not only in all single races, but also in the overall ranking. At the end of the day the Jim Richardson's US yacht “Barking Mad” by had a narrow lead by just two points ahead of Sue and Lang Walker's “Kokomo” from Australia.

“It was very tough racing in tricky conditions,” said Terry Hutchinson, who is the tactician on board the leading “Barking Mad”. “But the race committee managed it pretty well.” The day started with a fresh and gusty westerly breeze, which decreased later on and shifted in a thunderstorm front. These conditions caused the practice race for the European Championship of the international Melges 24 class to be abandoned. Their Europeans are due to start on Saturday (18 August) at 14 h local time. http://www.regattanews.com