Familiar names top the leader-board after two days of racing at Copenhagen 31/8/07

After day two of racing in the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, Copenhagen, Denmark, the top four boats overall are all familiar names – Mascalzone Latino, Alinghi, Nerone and Barking Mad – all are previous Rolex Farr 40 World Champions. Yet several other boats picked the shifts well enough on a difficult day to move up in the standings. Struntje Light (GER), Siragusawa (FIN), Nanoq (DEN), and Norwegian Steam (NOR) all had a top five race finish, which is no mean feat in this 36 boat fleet. The day began overcast with scattered rain and a WSW breeze at 12-14 knots, dropping to 8 knots for the start of the second race. A third race was postponed as the wind was forecast to drop even further.

After winning the first race, Barking Mad’s tactician Terry Hutchinson went on to describe the uncertainty of the second race. “We got an awesome start in the middle of the line just to leeward of Alinghi and to weather of Nerone. [We] got our bow out – just trucking along – sailing a left shift, tack, cross everybody to the right of us. [We] go for about 2-3 minutes, sail back into a right shift and tack?looking just sweet. Cross two lengths ahead of Nerone. Nerone goes about four lengths beyond our line and tacks and just sheer off of us. We went from easily launched to being engulfed by the pack. Basically the light spot was on us, it was on no other boat. It was a little random.” Racing concludes 1 September.

Results after five races:

(Position – Country – Helm – Tactician – Points)
1. Mascalzone Latino – ITA – Vincenzo Onorato – Adrian Stead, 24
2. Alinghi – SUI – Ernesto Bertarelli – Brad Butterworth, 34
3. Nerone – ITA – Antonio Sodo Migliori – Vasco Vascotto, 39
4. Barking Mad – USA – Jim Richardson – Terry Hutchinson, 39
5. Infinity – USA – John B. Thomson Jr, – Jens Christensen, 48
6. Sputnik – AUS – Ivan Wheen – Tom King, 48
7. Opus One – GER – Wolfgang Stolz – Kelvin Harrap, 57
8. Calvi – ITA – Carlo Alberini – D Pietro, 68
9. Ichi Ban – AUS – Matt Allen – Michael Coxon – 68
10. Enfant Terrible – ITA – Serena Gianluigi – Paolo Cian, 68