Farr 40 Europeans

Three more races, three more winners and more change at the top of the leader board. The 2007 Rolex Farr 40 Europeans are exciting. Friday June 8 saw racing in north-easterly winds reaching 12 -13 knots at times. As the wind increased so did the pressure. Tacticians were much more certain in their aims and were prepared to fight hard for position. At times, mark roundings appeared chaotic with boats seemingly homing in from all angles as crews over stood laylines, unwound penalties and ducked in on port tack at the last moment. Whoever held their nerve the best would come out on top and with an apparently effortless score line of 4, 2, 9, current Rolex Farr 40 European and World Champions Mascalzone Latino have sneaked into a seven point lead. But as tactician Adrian Stead remarked, there are still two races to go and a possible 42 points to be gained if it all goes wrong.

Mascalzone's assault on top spot was by no means as straightforward as it might appear. After a tiring campaign at the America's Cup, Owner/Driver Vincenzo Onorato and crew could be forgiven for being a little off the pace. But if the Cup has taught them anything it is that hard work pays dividends, "coming from the Cup to this makes you realize how important attention to detail is. We're working on things a lot harder to be the best we can here. Maybe also because we are a little rusty we are thinking about what made us good last time and what can make us better. But we are getting the hang of the (new) boat now and Vincenzo's getting back into the swing of things. We're not as confident as we were in the old boat yet, but it is encouraging." On their current form, it is probably anything but encouraging for the rest of the fleet. Mascalzone in the final race of the day they moved from a lowly 17th at the first mark to 9th at the finish. In second place overnight are Massimo Mezzaroma and Nerone who had a day of mixed results posting a 7, 15 & 2. Nerone is in a similar position to Mascalzone, with key personnel having been engaged in the Cup till now.

1/Mascalzone Latino - Vincenzo Onorato
2/Nerone - Massimo Mezzaroma
3/Kokomo - Lang & Sue Walker