2003
Rolex Farr 40 Match Race - Richardon's Barking
Mad Wins Inaugural Event
MIAMI,
FLA., U.S.A. (November 18, 2003) - Jim Richardson
and his Barking Mad team won the inaugural Rolex
Farr 40 Match Race today in Miami. Six international
teams competed in the two-day, double round-robin
series as a warm-up to the Rolex Farr One Design
Invitational, an 11-race fleet racing series scheduled
to take place tomorrow through Saturday.
"This
is terrific," said Richardson (Boston Mass./Newport,
R.I.). "We didn't find out we had won until
we reached the dock and someone congratulated
us. Overall it was a fun and challenging two days
for all of us." America's Cup sailor Terry
Hutchinson served as tactician onboard.
Early
in the day, Nerone, owned by Massimo Mezzaroma
and Antonio Sodo Migliori (Rome, Italy), beat
Barking Mad, but suffered two defeats, to finish
second overall. "Our loss to Nerone was a
close one, but it was a tough race." said
Richardson "We didn't realize that Nerone
had lost to Le Renard, so we thought that we were
tied with them."
In
third place was Mean Machine, owned by Peter de
Ridder (Monaco), and Erik Maris's (Paris, France)
Twins2 finished fourth.
"We
were leading them (Twins2), but we lost the first
downwind leg when they got inside us and passed
us," said de Ridder who has Vovlo Ocean Race
winner Stu Bannatyne onboard calling tactics.
"This has been like sailing a whole fleet
race regatta. We did 10 races in 1 1/2 days and
improved our boat handling."
Le
Renard, owned by 2000 Farr 40 world champion Steve
Phillips (Annapolis, Md.), finished the series
in fifth with 3 wins, 7 losses, followed by Shadow
Rock, owned by Peter Stoneberg and Alex Geremia
(Orinda, Calif.) in sixth.
There
is a good chance in the future that other Farr
40 events will include match racing in the format.
"Because racing in the Farr 40 fleet is so
tight, it's a great advantage if you can be consistent
and do things right," said Richardson, who
is the Farr 40 class president. "I think
a lot of the crews looked at doing this regatta
as an opportunity to practice for the North Americans
in a very organized and controlled way. Everyone
got markedly better over the past two days, as
far as boat handling and start procedures."
Title
sponsor is Rolex Watch U.S.A. Organizers include
the Storm Trysail Club, Mumm 30 and Farr 40 Class
Associations. Avalon Majestic Hotel is the official
hotel. North Sails and Lewmar are supporting sponsors.
Daily
reports, photos and results will be posted to
www.farrinternational.com/rolexinvite03.
(end)
Final Results
Skipper,
Boat Name, Hometown, Win-Loss Record
1.. Jim Richardson, Barking Mad, Boston, Mass./Newport,
R.I., 8-2
2.. Massimo Mezzaroma & Antonio Sodo Migliori,
Nerone, Rome, Italy, 7-3
3.. Peter de Ridder, Mean Machine, Monaco, 5-5
4.. Erik Maris, Twins2, Paris, France, 4-6
5.. Steve Phillips, Le Renard, Annapolis, Md.,
3-7
6.. Peter Stoneberg & Alex Geremia, Shadow
Rock, Orinda, Calif., 3-7
