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2006 Farr 40 New England Regatta
Saturday, August 12, 2006 -
German Team "Opus One" Leads New England Farr 40 Regatta

Preliminary Results After Day 1. 4 Races Sailed. Results Subject to Protest Hearings.

Report (8/11/06): Prior to Protest Results

NEWPORT, RI - The sailing conditions couldn't get much better than in Newport today as nineteen Farr 40s completed four races on the first day of racing in the 2006 Farr 40 New England Regatta presented by Rolex. Sail Newport provided race management with PRO Peter Reggio.

The race course was located about two miles southeast of Brenton Point. The picture-perfect day included a 12 knot Northerly and moderate one to two-foot seas.

The Northerly breeze stayed surprisingly steady throughout the day which enabled the fleet complete four races. Three races were four-leg contests and a fourth race capped off the spectacular New England sailing day with an upwind finish and return to NewportHarbor.

Race one today began with three over early boats including "Twins," "Temptress" and "Flash Gordon 5." Jeffrey Siegal (Riverside, CT) and his crew on "Appreciation" was first to round the windward mark and kept up his lead in the next three legs to take first place. The Australian team lead by Matt Allen on "Ichi Ban" with Tactician Grant Zimmer finished a very close second and the Italian Team of Massimo Messarona and Lorenzo Bressani onboard "Nerone" captured third place.

In Race two, twice as many boats jumped the starting gun and had to return to the start line. "Opus One" was one of the half dozen to take the tough setback. However, Helmsman Wolfgang Stolz and tactician Tim Powell steered the boat to climb back up in the fleet to surpass twelve boats for a seventh place finish. It proved a valuable comeback as the German Team ended up in first place after day one with 17 points.

Stolz said after the day's racing, "We had terrific conditions today, and we were extremely pleased with the consistent weather and crew performance." Stolz reported that "Opus" is a brand new boat which was built by Portsmouth, RI boat manufacturer U.S. Watercraft and launched only four days ago in Newport, RI. "More often than not, our new boat was able to go higher on the other boats," He added.

After suffering a first race over early start, the French boat "Twins" made a clean start in race 2. The "Twins" crew dialed up the speed on the boat early with Erik Maris at the helm and Tactician Phillippe Mourniac and won. Finishing in second place was "Flash Gordon 5" a Chicago, IL boat with the helm team of Helmut and Evan Jahn and tactician Mark Ivey. The crew onboard 'Heartbreaker" finished behind "Flash Gordon 5" with Helmsman Robert Hughes and Tactician Bill Hardesty, both of Ada, Mich.

In Race 3 today, Newport sailor and frequent Farr 40 victor, Jim Richardson, got his boat in place and out front early. By the gate, "Barking Mad" was in the lead and held on to first place until the finish. Richardson tapped San Diego sailor Vince Brun as tactician and "Barking Mad" squeezed out "Opus One" which took second place in that race. Third place went to Philippe Kahn's Hawaiian boat "Pegasus" with helmsman Terry McGlaughlin.

In Race four, Team "Nerone" won its first race of the day, followed by "Barking Mad" and "Opus One." The day concludes with "Opus One" in first place and "Barking Mad" only one point behind in second position with 18 points. In third place is "Ichi Ban" with 23 points and two days of racing yet to determine the final standings.

PRO Peter Reggio reports that this regatta is a testing ground for the suspension of RRS 42 which prohibits pumping at will on downwind legs. The Race Committee suspended the rule for the first two of the four races today. The first two races had a bit more pressure so pumping was allowed. In the final two races, the breeze had slighted abated, so the Rule was left in effect. The verdict is still out on waiving RRS 42 as today's racing had fairly flat water in the offshore breeze.

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