Farr 40 Worlds Update - Edake & Zen in Chicago

By Jennie Hughes

Farr 40 Australia Class Administrator

8 October 2018

Edake wins first race of Day 3

At the end of yesterday’s sailing, the Chicago Yacht Club race committee protested US boat Norboy in race 5 for a roll infringement in the zone resulting in a 10% penalty, allowing Zen to move back into the Corinthian leader position of the 2018 Farr 40 World Championships in Chicago.  Unfortunately, Gordon Ketelbey’s team were  unable to hold onto their lead after two races today, the third race suspended due to unstable winds.

Jeff Carter and the Edake crew won the first race of the day in style and whilst the Corinthian gap is narrowing, the consistency of the professional boats is paying off and the top four have a good lead going into the final day of racing tomorrow.   Plenty is in first place on joint points with Struntje Light, Enfant Terrible is in third and Flash Gordon in fourth.

Carter is pleased to be back in the mix going into the final day of racing.  “Following on from our third place in race 6 yesterday, we were happy to go out today and get ourselves a good start. We were sixth around the top mark on the first leg and most of the boats went to the left.  We went right to keep our air clear and were in second position, just behind Struntje. Jud (Smith) picked the shifts on the first downhill leg very well and we maintained our position to the top mark and then on the next leg downhill we knew it was going to be difficult to keep the pro boats at bay.  We continued to work the boat hard and were able to cross Struntje and beat them over the line for first place.  We are very happy to make up some points from yesterday.”

Carter added, “We got a good start at the pin end of the second race and were forced to be on the left side of the course, with four other boats holding us back from tacking.  Unfortunately, the wind shifted right over 40 degrees which meant game over for us and the other three boats on the left side. We were surprised with such a wind shift. We are really looking forward to getting three races completed tomorrow with clean starts and hope to continue decreasing the sizable deficit to the other two Corinthian boats. We have the speed and crew ability to do it. “

Corinthian leaders Norboy, Zen and Edake will battle it out tomorrow for the Corinthian Trophy.  Farr 40 Class President, Leif Sigmond’s Norboy is four points ahead of Zen and Edake has made it into the top half of the fleet in seventh position.

It was a much warmer day today on Lake Michigan with no rain and the lighter, shifty winds of 10-12 knots.

Racing commences at 10.30am tomorrow, Tuesday, 9 October 2018 on Lake Michigan, Chicago.

Day 3 Video: Click Here

Day 2 Video: Click Here

Results: Click Here