Day Three Shuffles the Scores

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Photo by Daniel Forster, DanielForster.com. Click to enlarge.
NEWPORT, R.I. (July 6, 2012) - Day Three – Newport Shipyard Race Day – of the Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship showed the sailors competing on 11 teams some classic Newport conditions on Rhode Island Sound.  A warm southerly seabreeze settled in for the afternoon after race officials had to postpone ashore in the morning, and once again, a new leader had emerged by the end of the day.  Jim Richardson (Newport, R.I.) aboard Barking Mad posted finish positions of 3-3-1 in Races 6, 7 and 8 to establish a nine-point lead over his closest competitor, Alberto Rossi aboard the Italian entry Enfant Terrible.

“Today really elevated us in the standings,” said Richardson “The boat was going really well and the crew work was great, but we’re always working on it; it is a work in progress.” Richardson’s victory in today’s last race was his first of the regatta, which started on July 4. “In the final race, right before the start there were a lot of boats that were a lot farther ahead of us, going for the line, but the guys on our team  kept saying ‘don’t go, don’t go.’ After the gun, the race committee started calling boats back, and all of the sudden we had a great start!”

Stepping up its game as well was Plenty, skippered by Alex Roepers (New York, N.Y.), which moved up from eighth to third overall. The team started off the day with a second-place finish in Race 6,right behind Groovederci, skippered by John Demourkas (Santa Barbara, Calif.). “It was an incredible day and we got in the groove with the team,” said Roepers, who took a year’s hiatus and is getting back into the swing of things with grace. “Today the weather was more consistent and stayed between 11 and 14 knots. We hope that tomorrow we can do the same thing we did today.”

By Race 7, the wind had filled in and Provezza 8, skippered by Onur Erardag (Istanbul, Turkey), crossed the finish line in first place, making it the first team to have two bullets in its score line. “It was a nice feeling, but every regatta we are getting better,” said Erardag, who currently stands in sixth overall. “The target is getting ready for the World Championship; the difference is very little between the first boat and the last one on the racecourse.”

Following behind Provezza 8 was Nightshift, skippered by Kevin McNeil (Annapolis, Md.), which has been consistently climbing in the rankings each day and now holds on to fifth overall. “We were third for the day and that was our best consistent day,” said McNeil. “It was a very good day, and we are all happy.”

In addition to Rolex as title sponsor, supporting sponsors are Apollo Jets and Newport Shipyard. Vanquish Boats and PURE Yachting are providing logistical assistance. The Organizing Authority is the Farr 40 Class Association in conjunction with The Storm Trysail Club.

Daily race reports and photos are available on this website, along with video coverage provided by T2P.

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Day 3 Results

Barking Mad, James Richardson, Boston, Mass., 3-3-10-2-3-3-3-1 (28)
Enfant Terrible, Alberto Rossi, Anacona, Italy, 4-6-2-6-1-5-6-7 (37)
Plenty, Alexander Roepers, New York, N.Y., 7-7-5-4-10-2-4-2 (41)
Struntje light, Wolfgang Schaefer, Germany, 2-4-8-1-2-10-10-5 (42)
Nightshift, Kevin McNeil, Annapolis, Md., 1-8-6-10-9-4-2-4 (44)
Provezza 8, Ergin Imre/Onur Erardag, Istanbul, Turkey, 10-1-7-8-4-7-1-8 (46)
Transfusion, Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, Sydney, Australia, 9-10-1-3-5-9-8-3 (48)
Groovederci, John Demourkas, Santa Barbara, Calif., 6-5-3-7-7-1-9-11 (49)
Charisma, Nico Poons, Monaco, 5-2-4-9-6-11-7-9 (53)
Asterisk Uno, Hasip Gencer, Istanbul, Turkey, 8-9-9-5-8-6-5-6 (56)
Yellow Jacket, Bulman Scholz Syndicate, Annapolis, Md., 11-11-11-11-11-8-11-10 (84)