Frederik & Farr 40 World Championship update

On Monday evening Crown Prince Frederik sailed from Amalienborg across to the Copenhagen Opera House for the opening ceremony of the Farr 40 World Championships. The Commodore of the Royal Danish Yacht Club David Holm welcomed competitors from thirteen countries: Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, UK, Ukraine and U.S.A. The opening was suitably informal for sailors, even though it was in grand surroundings. Afterwards the guests sailed back across the harbour.

The opening ceremony at the Opera House (photos Rolex/Daniel Forster):



And racing, 1) and 2) the start of the 2007 Farr 40 World Championship, 3) "Nanoq", Crown Prince Frederik, 4th in Race 5 (photos ©Photo:ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi):



Tough day at the office Regatta News.com's latest report on the 2007 Farr 40 World Championship
Rolex Farr 40 Fleet Takes it light and shifty

Søren Steffen's gallery (from 29 August)

From Yachting World 'Rolex Farr 40 World Championship'

After day two of racing in the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, Copenhagen, Denmark, the top four boats overall are all familiar names - Mascalzone Latino, Alinghi, Nerone and Barking Mad - all are previous Rolex Farr 40 World Champions. Yet several other boats picked the shifts well enough on a difficult day to move up in the standings. Struntje Light (GER), Siragusawa (FIN), Nanoq (DEN), and Norwegian Steam (NOR) all had a top five race finish, which is no mean feat in this 36 boat fleet. The day began overcast with scattered rain and a WSW breeze at 12-14 knots, dropping to 8 knots for the start of the second race. A third race was postponed as the wind was forecast to drop even further.

After winning the first race, Barking Mad's tactician Terry Hutchinson went on to describe the uncertainty of the second race. "We got an awesome start in the middle of the line just to leeward of Alinghi and to weather of Nerone. [We] got our bow out - just trucking along - sailing a left shift, tack, cross everybody to the right of us. [We] go for about 2-3 minutes, sail back into a right shift and tack…looking just sweet. Cross two lengths ahead of Nerone. Nerone goes about four lengths beyond our line and tacks and just sheer off of us. We went from easily launched to being engulfed by the pack. Basically the light spot was on us, it was on no other boat. It was a little random." Racing concludes 1 September.

Results after five races:

(Position - Country - Helm - Tactician - Points)
1. Mascalzone Latino - ITA - Vincenzo Onorato - Adrian Stead, 24
2. Alinghi - SUI - Ernesto Bertarelli - Brad Butterworth, 34
3. Nerone - ITA - Antonio Sodo Migliori - Vasco Vascotto, 39
4. Barking Mad - USA - Jim Richardson - Terry Hutchinson, 39
5. Infinity - USA - John B. Thomson Jr, - Jens Christensen, 48
6. Sputnik - AUS - Ivan Wheen - Tom King, 48
7. Opus One - GER - Wolfgang Stolz - Kelvin Harrap, 57
8. Calvi - ITA - Carlo Alberini - D Pietro, 68
9. Ichi Ban - AUS - Matt Allen - Michael Coxon - 68
10. Enfant Terrible - ITA - Serena Gianluigi - Paolo Cian, 68

Press Report/Yachting World, 31 August 2007

TV2 flash clip (0:26)
DR.dk news clip (1:20)
DR.dk news clip (1:06)