Two races, two winners, no change at the top. Three boats held their nerve the best. Jim Richardson and Barking Mad (USA), Giovanni Maspero and Joe Fly (ITA), Massimo Mezzaroma and Nerone (ITA) kept the damage to the minimum and lead the fleet going into day three. Neither race got away cleanly. The first race required two attempts, the second three. In the first race two boats still got it wrong second time around despite the threat of a Z Flag - which adds an irredeemable three-point scoring penalty at this regatta if you are over early. In the second race eleven boats sailed the course under the shadow of the penalty flag. Those got away cleanly through luck or judgement had a relatively easy day. Both Barking Mad and Joe Fly led their races; both sailed in mid-teen westerlies, from start to finish. The Italian crew had the better day posting a fourth in the first race to keep all their scores so far in the top five. The Americans posted a sixth in the second race, but stay in first overall. These two are separated by one point, with Nerone's score line of 2, 4 sufficient to lift them into third place, seven points off the pace. Transfusion took a solid third in one race and hefty twenty in the other. Vincenzo Onorato did only slightly better, with a combined score of seventeen-points, but the Z-flag in the second race suggests a chink in the usually impregnable armour of Mascalzone Latino (ITA).Barking Mad has been on the Farr 40 circuit longer than anyone competing here. For a long time Farr 40s were sailed with nine crew, but in recent years there has been a move to ten and more often than not the tenth member is female and the reasoning is not just weight-related. About three years ago, the class changed from fractional kites to big mast head kites and now the boats sail completely differently within the manoeuvres. It is a good combination to have a good, strong, light person such as Olympic level sailors in that tenth position.
