Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, no wind no race
Farr 40MonotipiaVela 23 Aprile 2010 Zerogradinord 0
Rolex Farr 40 World Championship – Casa de Campo – Ci speravano tutti in una giornata di regate, tanta voglia, già dalle prime ore del mattino. Le previsioni non davano molte speranze. Una volta raggiunto il campo di regata la sensazione è quella che sarà la giornata dei tattici dal buon fiuto, intuizioni geniali e molta fortuna.
La partenza arriva con ritardo, Vascotto è attento come sempre, la visione di ogni piccolo “sintomo” di cambiamento meteorologico potrebbe essere un punto a favore o un penalty sbagliato.
Si parte, bene per Nerone. Alla prima boa il team di Mezzaroma-Signorini-Vascotto è terzo. Ottimo giro di boa, arriva un salto i vento, Vasco fiuta, pensa e detta le regole, ITA-1972 è primo. Il salto è troppo “ampio”, il vento cala, finisce tutto in un pugno di mosche. Il Comitato annulla la regata, attende un pò e poi, dopo aver raccolto tutte le informazioni necessarie, manda tutti a casa con un classico no wind no race.
“Eravamo partiti con il feeling giusto – sono le parole di Massimo Bortoletto, team manager e main sail trimmer di Nerone – era una giornata difficile per tutti, noi siamo stati bravi ad entrare nel salto giusto, ma poi tutto è stato vanificato da un calo totale e dalla scelta del Comitato di Regata di abbandonare. Abbiamo perso una giornata, ci sono ancora 5 punti tra noi e il primo, staremo a vedere”.
Il Mondiale Farr 40 riprenderà domani con lo svolgimento – si spera – di altre tre prove. La giornata conclusiva è in programma per sabato 24 aprile.
Classifica provvisoria
1. Transfusion, 1-1-3, pt. 5
2. Barking Mad, 4-3-1, pt. 8
3. Nerone, 2-5-5, pt. 12
4. Fiamma, 5-6-6, pt. 17
5. Goombay Smash, 8-8-2, pt. 18
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Per consultare la classifica clicca qui.
ROLEX FARR 40 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, SOME HARD WORK FOR NOTHING
[Rolex Farr 40 World Champioship Press Release] Racing at the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds was canned today, halfway through the first race of the day. Disappointing for all involved – the race committee that had worked hard to get the course in place, the competing crews that had waited patiently for the wind to settle and Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, owner of Transfusion, whose crew had chiseled out a handy lead in what racing there was. Going into day three, with positions unchanged, Transfusion leads Barking Mad and Nerone.
Principal Race Officer Peter ‘Luigi’ Reggio had been hopeful when the Race Committee boat dropped the AP (postponement) flag at 14.10 local time, “early on it looked like we were going to have some good races. We had 8-10 knots from 190o – 205o, so it was fine when we started the first race.”
A clean start saw Alessandro Barnaba’s Fiamma secure the pin with Massimo Mezzaroma and Alberto Signorini’s Nerone on her hip. Transfusion and Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad took up position closer to the Race Committee boat. The first beat was pretty uneventful with the left side of the course appearing favoured. Transfusion and Barking Mad cruised into the top mark in close company, but unopposed on port tack, as Belgiorno Nettis explained, “Tom Slingsby, our tactician, got us a very good start. We had a nice lane, which we worked and built on. We managed to keep it going all the way up. We didn’t get interfered with too much, nobody was tacking on top of us and we were able to call most of the shots. Barking Mad came across at us at one point, but we managed to sit on them for the last part of the beat, virtually on the port lay line.”
A ten degree swing in the wind to the right led to a course change, but gave little warning of what lay ahead. Transfusion rounded a boat length ahead of Barking Mad, with Nerone in third. The overnight top three taking up where they had left off the day before. The wind was manifestly softening during the run and as the leaders rounded the leeward mark the race was rewritten from potential thriller into a complete farce. Luigi was quick to call time, “on the run down a big huge black cloud decided to show up over our left shoulder and sucked out all the velocity. When boats got to the leeward gate everything shuffled up. We abandoned at that point because it was just not going to be fair. This is a Worlds. The racing has to be as fair as possible and this was not.”
The Race Committee kept everyone on the water for as long as possible, but finally called time at 15.00, accepting that the wind was not going to play ball. Positions therefore remain unchanged and whilst extremely disappointed not to get a race in, Belgiorno Nettis was looking on the bright side, “It was a pretty challenging day. It was extremely disappointing not to be able to continue the race having worked so hard to get to where we were. When Luigi called it off, I was thinking ‘boy, that was a lot of hard work for nothing’. But then the pressure was off. The boys went for a swim and I couldn’t resist it either. At the moment we’re still where we were yesterday and that’s nice I suppose.”
Racing continues tomorrow, Friday, April 23 with a first warning signal at 11.00. The Rolex Farr 40 World Championship concludes on Saturday, April 24.
Ranking
1. Transfusion, 1-1-3, pt. 5
2. Barking Mad, 4-3-1, pt. 8
3. Nerone, 2-5-5, pt. 12
4. Fiamma, 5-6-6, pt. 17
5. Goombay Smash, 8-8-2, pt. 18
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To read the ranking click here.
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