Farr 40 Class President Jim Richardson heaped glory on the class and himself on Friday evening when his performance during the Acura Key West Race Week secured for him the highly prestigious Boat of the Week award.  Beaming from ear to ear, Jim described his delight as: “ecstatic.”

The Regatta Committee that selects the winner of the award were agreed that winning this class was the most difficult of all at the regatta since there were seven different race winners and only eight races were held.

Double world champion, Vincenzo Onorato, led the regatta going into the last race by one point – and the only way Richardson and his crew in Barking Mad could win the week was to stay ahead of the Italian and win the final race.  Richardson started the last race under considerable pressure.

“It is difficult to win a series from this position,” he said but made a cracking start and was with the leaders from the outset.  He had Mascalzone Latino tucked away but still needed to pass Peter de Ridder’s Mean Machine on the second downwind leg after overlapping his rival around the second windward mark.

The subsequent win still had Richardson worrying because his support crew had mistaken the scoring and - placed him second overall, but a cell phone call to the shore brought the good news and the celebrations could commence.

final results

By: Bob Fisher for Stagg Yachts

Photo:  Ken Stanek Photography for Premiere Racing
www.kenstanek.com