Foggy Start to Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship

Santa Barbara, CA (August 19, 2015) – The day started out foggy, but not the 15 teams that today started racing for the 2015 Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship title. Their focus, in fact, could not have been sharper, and, with three different winners in as many races, the competitiveness for which the class has a well-deserved reputation was in full evidence. The competitiveness and high level of performance are in complete alignment with the core values of Rolex, title sponsor of the North American and World championships since 2001.

After a delay ashore, and an on-the-water postponement, racing was underway in hazy conditions with a six to seven knot breeze. Bragging rights as winner of the first race of the series were earned by Kevin McNeil on Nightshift. McNeil moved to the lead position of the race at the second mark, and held on to cross the finish ahead of Lloyd Clark’s Australian-flagged Voodoo Chile, and New Yorker Alex Roepers, the defending Rolex Farr 40 North American Champion, on Plenty.

For McNeil, this was his first race sailing with 1997 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Chris Larson as his tactician. McNeil and Larson are both residents of Annapolis, Maryland, and have raced against each other many times. McNeil was pleased with the way the day went and gave due credit to Larson’s calm demeanor.

“Conditions were a little atypical of Santa Barbara,” said Larson. “It was a little light and shifty and the right wasn’t always the right way to go but we had a great day winning the first race. I think Kevin and I could be Felix and Oscar but he’s a fantastic helmsman and gets the boat around and he’s not afraid of being in traffic. In the other races we had okay starts, but weren’t able to hold our lanes off the line as long as we would have liked. I think, unless it starts blowing 15+ knots, it’s going to be a pretty mixed up and competitive event. A lot of good teams put the time in this year to start peaking and I think you’re seeing that in the results.”

In race two Wolfgang Schaefer’s German-flagged Struntje light led wire to wire. Lloyd Clark on Voodoo Chile picked up another second-place finish and they were followed by 2012 Rolex Farr 40 World Champion Helmut Jahn on his Chicago-based Flash Gordon 6.

“It must have been a good tactician [David Chapman] telling me where to go,” said Clark of his consistent performance on the water which also put him in the position of leading the Corinthian standings after three races. “It was pretty challenging,” added Clark of the conditions. “It was quite light and filled in a little as the day went on. I was just going where I was told to go and doing what I was told to do. I’d normally say I’d prefer a little more breeze, but when you look at the scores today we did pretty well in the lighter more fickle stuff. When we did get a little more breeze in the last race we just got on the wrong side of it early and found it hard to fight back from the middle.”

Blue sky finally started to break through the low grey marine layer as the final race of North Sails Race Day was getting started, although the breeze barely moved into double digits. Jahn’s Flash Gordon 6 took the win, with Roepers’ and Plenty finishing second. Enfant Terrible, Alberto Rossi’s Italian-flagged entry, finished third.

UPDATE: While defending Rolex Farr 40 North American Champion Alex Roepers’ Plenty team got back to the dock with the overall lead, they later exited the protest room in ninth position, dropping in the standings after getting DSQ’d in race three. Wolfgang Schaefer’s German-flagged Struntje light tops the list after day one of the four day championship.

Day One Standings (15 boats; 3 races)
1. Struntje light, Wolfgang Schaefer , GER – 6 -1 -4 ; 11
2. Voodoo Chile, Lloyd Clark , AUS – 2 -2 -8 ; 12
3. Flash Gordon 6, Helmut Jahn , USA – 10 -3 -1 ; 14
4. Nightshift, Kevin McNeil , USA – 1 -8 -6 ; 15
5. Enfant Terrible, Alberto Rossi , ITA – 9 -4 -2 ; 15
6. Estate Master, Martin Hill , AUS – 4 -7 -5 ; 16
7. Groovederci, John Demourkas , USA – 8 -11 -3 ; 22
8. Insanity, Rick Goebel , USA – 5 -9 -9 ; 23
9. Plenty, Alex Roepers , USA – 3 -5 -DSQ/16 ; 24
10. Blade II, Michael Shlens , USA – 12 -6 -7 ; 25
11. Temptress, Ray Godwin , USA – 7 -10 -12 ; 29
12. Twisted, M. Tony Pohl , USA – 11 -12 -10 ; 33
13. Foil, Gordon Leon , USA – 13 -13 -11 ; 37
14. White Knight, Zoltan Katinszky , USA – 15 -14 -13 ; 42
15. Flyer, Stanford Shaw , USA – 14 -15 -14 ; 43

Class website – Event details – Results – Facebook

Report by Jan Harley, Media Pro

2015 International Circuit
March 4-7: F40 Midwinter Champ – San Diego, CA
May 27-30: F40 West Coast Championship – Cabrillo Beach, CA
July 22-25: California Cup – Marina del Rey, CA
August 19-22: Rolex North Americans – Santa Barbara, CA
September 24-27: Rolex World Championship – Long Beach, CA

Click here for full 2015 calendar.