At right: Estate Master. Photo by Rolex / Kurt Arrigo. Click to enlarge.
Martin and Lisa Hill and their youthful Estate Master crew, which includes some of Australia’s finest sailing talent, hold top honours after the opening day of the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship following today’s 1,8,1 results.
Day 1 – Top 10 Provisional Results
Place, Boat Name, Country, Owner-Helm, R1-R2-R3 TOTAL
1) Estate Master, AUS, Lisa & Martin Hill, 1-8-1, 10
2) Transfusion, AUS, Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, 4-4-2, 10
3) Nerone, ITA, Antonio Sodo Migliori & Massimo Mezzaroma, 2-1-10, 13
4) Struntje Light, GER, Wolfgang & Angela Schaefer, 3-13-3, 19
5) Flash Gordon, USA, Helmut & Evan Jahn, 11-2-9, 22
6) Hooligan, AUS, Marcus Blackmore, 13-3-6, 22
7) Voodoo Chile, AUS, Andrew Hunn & Lloyd Clark, 5-9-8, 22
8) Kokomo, AUS, Lang Walker, 19-5-4, 28
9) Sputnik, AUS, Ivan Wheen, 6-12-11, 29
10) Barking Mad, USA, Jim Richardson, 15-10-5, 30
A pleased Martin Hill commented, “Our philosophy is about process, building and consistency. Today we tried to minimise mistakes. We finished better than expected, we have to ignore that and start again from square one tomorrow.
“I’m very proud of the team, it was a very quiet boat today,” the new Farr 40 Class president added.
Estate Master is sailing with Australian Sailing Team members Tom Slingsby, Nathan Outteridge and Olympic 470 gold medallist Malcolm Page, plus Darren ‘Twirler’ Jones and Abby Ehler on the bow adding plenty of flair to the potent mix.
A second row start to the first race of the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds by Transfusion (AUS) did not result in a second rate day for Sydney owner Guido Belgiorno-Nettis. His 4,4,2 scoreline leaves Transfusion in second place this afternoon by virtue of a countback.
Defending Italian champions Nerone showed a crack in their recent cloak of invincibility; a premature start in the day’s third race blotted an otherwise impressive scorecard of 2,1,10 leaving them in third.
Racing took place off Sydney Heads in a significant swell and building breeze that ranged between 8 and 15 knots from the south-east. Bright sunshine replaced morning showers and added a shining lustre to the racing as the title contenders went head to head.
The top three boats are all sporting different helm and tactician combinations for these Worlds. Tom Slingsby was the tactician on Transfusion last year and this time around he is on Estate Master, telling Hill his only job is to “keep the tiller straight”. Change appears good so far.
The last time Australia hosted the World Championship, Richard Perini’s Evolution came away with the win. Today Perini, the Farr 40 retiree, happily followed the racing from the comfort of his powerboat of the same name.
Tomorrow’s forecast is for south to southwesterly winds 5 to 10 knots becoming light around midday, when racing is due to recommence, then tending east to northeasterly up to 10 knots during the afternoon and building into a classic Sydney summer nor’easter. -- Lisa Ratcliff
