August 26, 2004
2 minutes reading time
World|s Best Gear Up
One of the most elusive titles in the world of sailing is ??two-time Farr 40 World Champion.?? In the past six years no one skipper has won the title twice. That could change next month when the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship returns to San Francisco.
One of the most elusive titles in the world of sailing is “two-time Farr 40 World Champion.” In the past six years no one skipper has won the title twice. That could change next month when the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship returns to San Francisco.
ith eight countries represented on the current 31-boat roster and a dramatic backdrop of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island in picturesque San Francisco Bay, competition is guaranteed to be fierce and intense in pursuit of the champion’s title.
Current world champions Massimo MEZZAROMA and Antonio Sodo MIGLIORI (Rome, Italy), co-owners of Nerone, have been training with one goal since winning the Worlds last year at a windy Porto Cervo, Italy. Nerone continued its good form with a victory at the 2003 Rolex Farr One Design Invitational, last November, and most recently as part of the winning team at the Rolex Sardinia Cup in July. The accomplished team counts the highly experienced Vasco Vascotto as tactician.
Other past Farr 40 World Champions who will be going for an elusive second title include 2002 champion Steve PHILLIPS (Annapolis, Md.) who will have three-time Olympic medallist Mark REYNOLDS as tactician on his Le Renard. The 1998 champion Jim RICHARDSON (Boston, Mass./Newport, R.I.) is back with his Barking Mad, this summer’s victor in class at the New York Yacht Club’s Annual Regatta and Race Week. Terry HUTCHINSON will serve as tactician.
The 1999 champion John KILROY (San Francisco, Calif.) and his Samba Pa Ti team includes some of the best known professionals in the business – notably Olympic medallist Jeff MADRIGALI and Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Paul CAYARD, who is currently in Athens aiming to win an Olympic medal of his own
Kilroy is unwilling to make any hard predictions before the Worlds. “I don’t want to put the jinx on myself,” he said. “But we have been very fortunate in being one of the most successful teams in California this year.”
Most significant was Kilroy’s victory at the National Championship, and he is feeling confident about San Francisco. “I’m sailing with a team that is very comfortable with sailing in the Bay, and very happy in the big breeze,” he said.
Kilroy has a choice of two Farr 40s for the event, the six-year-old Samba Pa Ti 1, in which he won the Worlds, and the brand new Samba Pa Ti 3. The ages might be different, but Kilroy says he can discern no performance difference in the two hulls. And the name doesn’t change either. “Samba Pa Ti means ‘dance for you,'” he said. “It is my favorite song, by Carlos SANTANA, and we play it every day when we go out and every day when we return.”
It is hardly a song for warriors but Kilroy says he does not look upon sailing competition as aggressive. “It’s not about battle,” he said. “When you think about the way we are sailing these boats, the way the crew has to move, the trimming of the sails, the relationship with the wind and the water, it really is a form of choreography.”
Sailors don’t usually step on to the Farr 40 and enjoy immediate success, but Peter DE RIDDER (Monaco) has done a good job this past year of disproving that theory aboard his Dutch-registered Mean Machine with wins at Key West Race Week and the SORC. He also has been honing his boat-to-boat skills in the Farr 40 sistership, the Mumm 30, winning both the Primo Cup in February and the Mumm 30 Europeans in June. With Volvo Ocean Race winner Ray DAVIES calling tactics they look to be strong competitors in San Francisco.
Deneen DEMOURKAS (Santa Barbara, Calif.) could become the first woman to win the title. With impressive performances including a second-place at the 2002 Rolex Farr 40 Worlds, Demourkas’ Groovederci team includes tactician Bouwe BEKKING who brings enormous experience from many different racing arenas, including the Volvo Ocean Race.
Founded in 1927, St. Francis Yacht Club, within view of the Golden Gate Bridge, is a year-round host of over 40 regattas on San Francisco Bay. The club is renowned for its expertise in running world and national championships, including the Melges 24 Worlds, and the J/105 and Star North American Championships.
For more information about the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, including daily racing reports, results and photos visit the event Farr 40 class website.