Farr 45 Nationals at Dartmouth Royal Regatta
by Farr 45 class 5 Sep 2007 12:04 BST
Eight out of the ten UK based Farr 45s invaded the Dartmouth Royal Regatta for their end of season party. The Regatta, with racing in Start Bay, was equally entertaining in the evenings with Après-Sail entertainment in the form of Chinook and Black Hawk Helicopter displays, The Red Arrows, Navy Typhoon and was caped off by two of the best Firework displays ever seen.
With three one and a half hour windward/ leeward courses on the Thursday and Friday, a three and a half hour inshore on Saturday and two final w/l races on Sunday the Farr fleet had ample races and time to show their qualities.
Day one in up to ten knots of breeze saw Werewolf leading the pack closely followed by Alice, John Merricks and Fortis Excel. In a light ten knots day two saw a reversal of fortunes with Alice leading Werewolf, John Merricks and Fortis Excel. Similar conditions greeted the fleet for day three's inshore race and a thirty mile course allowing the class opportunity for place changing. Racing was tight yet Werewolf led around the course followed by Cutting Edge and Exabyte 4.
Crews were busy with their calculators seeing the permutations for the last day. Alice and Werewolf were on equal points. With two races to go it was all to fight for. First race again in around eleven knots of breeze, Alice closed in first with Werewolf second and Cutting Edge in third. The final race had a freshening breeze of up to 14 knots. The start was everything. Off the line Fraxious lead to the first mark followed by Werewolf, Cutting Edge and Alice. Fraxious was overtaken by all three in the downwind leg with the race finishing with Werewolf claiming first followed closely by Cutting Edge and Alice. Werewolf sneaked in by one point over nine races from Alice with Cutting Edge third. This is why people race the Farr 45’s.
A fun time was had by all on and off the water. Star of the party was Tom from Cutting Edge for entertaining all at the Thursday evening party. If you haven’t been to Dartmouth, go, book early as its well worth the visit with great sailing, great hospitality and entertainment in a fantastic scenic setting.