Evolution wins Inner Circle Rum Regatta - the penultimate event on the Australian Farr 40 circuit
Richard Perini’s Evolution has won the 2006 Inner Circle Rum Farr 40 Regatta which took place in Sydney this weekend. Raced on the Palm Beach Circle off Sydney’s picturesque Palm Beach, 12 boats raced over two days and six races were held.
A 15 knot north-easterly set up ideal racing conditions for the first day of racing for the fleet with a slight swell making for close racing. A couple of costly early starts saw a number of boats having to return to restart during the day’s racing. Perini’s score card after day one of racing was looking good with a total of four points and a separation of seven points to second placed Matt Allen with Ichi Ban. Don Telford’s Rushcutter had Allen in his sights trailing by only two points.
Sunday and the fleet was greeted with a very light north-easterly that saw a top breeze of seven knot and the race committee deciding to shorten the course when the breeze eventually dropped out completely. Ray Robert’s Quantum Racing committed to the left hand side of the course which paid big dividends and had them winning the shortened race.
It was then nearly a two hour postponement before the breeze swung and filled in from the south to get the final two race of the regatta sailed in a 12 knot southerly. Lang Walker’s Kokomo improved on their day one results to win race five after leading the fleet from start to finish. Perini and Allen fought it out for second and third respectively with the top three places separated by only 12 seconds.
The concluding race went to Michael Milne’s Blacksnake who followed in Kokomo’s footsteps from the previous race and held onto pole position from the start to finish guns.
The final event for the Australian Farr 40 fleet will be the Hamilton Island Farr 40 Australian Championship on 3-5 March at Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club. Also being decided will be the winner of the Australian Farr 40 Circuit point score for 2005-2006.
Results
1 Evolution R. Perini (RSYS) 22pts
2 Quantum Racing R.Roberts (CYCA) 29pts
3 Ichi Ban M.Allen (CYCA) 30pts
4 Cydon L.Christianakis (RSYS) 31pts
5 Kokomo L.Walker (CYCA) 33pts
6 Rushcutter D.Telford (CYCA) 33pts
7 White Cloud B.Neill (RNZYS) 35pts
8 Black Snake M.Milne (RSYS) 40pts
9 Sputnik I.Wheen (RSYS) 41pts
10 Panther S.O’Rourke (CYCA) 55pts
11 War Games D.Urry (CYCSA) 57pts
12 Euro Central H.Lewis (RYCT) 64pts