On Time - Rolex Farr 40 World Championship

On Lake Michigan, a few miles offshore from the host Chicago Yacht Club's downtown location, twenty Farr 40s from eight countries are competing this week in the 2012 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship. This year marks the 15th edition of this annual competition for the popular one-design class - a testament to the enthusiasm and support of a strict owner-driver rule that puts the emphasis on amateurs.

But it is not as simple as that in a fleet as talented as this: regular competitors include skippers who are Farr 40 European, North American, and World champions, including Jim Richardson (Barking Mad, USA), Wolfgang & Angela Schaefer (Struntje Light, GER), Helmut Jahn on (Flash Gordon 6, USA), and Guido Belgiorno-Nettis (Transfusion, AUS).In yacht racing, as in many sports, timing is everything: the countdown to the start, placing your boat in the right place on the start line, hoisting the spinnaker as the boat rounds the upwind mark. Each crew member on board contributes to the choreography of split-second decision making, sail handling and crew work: the boat that gets all of this right most often will be the one that wins.

Then there are the competitors returning after time away: Robert Hughes on Heartbreaker (USA), Stuart Townsend's Virago (USA), and Alek Krstajic's Honour (CAN), and finally there are those at the Worlds for their first time including entries from
Turkey - Provezza 8 and Asterisk Uno - and Mexico's Flojito y Cooperando

In the mix are some of the sport's most talented yachtsmen and women - the Farr 40 class rules permit a maximum of four professionals allowing world champions, Olympic medallists, America's Cup and Volvo Ocean Race veterans to play a part. This year's crop includes ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Torben Grael, Olympic medallists Nathan Outteridge, Morgan Reeser and Malcom Page; America's cup winner Peter Holmberg, and round the world race winner, Stu Bannatyne.

But what does it take to come out on top? Timing is most definitely key, and most competitors put good timing down to communication and practice:

Three-time Rolex Farr 40 World Champion, Jim Richardson, is the owner/helmsman
on Barking Mad: "Timing is crucial to how things evolve on the boat. At the start, you want to hit the line at full pace as the gun goes. It's all a matter of timing as to when you put the bow down: you don't want to be too early and if you're too slow to build speed, you'll be slow off the line - and people around you, who are going at full speed, will beat you to the punch." 

Precise timing remains essential throughout the race, for example: "Downwind in the waves, when you turn the boat, you have to pick the right moment and the right wave; if you turn too hard or too slow, you can run into problems."

For Richardson everything works in sequence: "the jib trimmers, the main trimmer, the spinnaker trimmer.  The crew, moving around, affects how I steer the boat. Going downwind the crew needs to move to help me turn the boat up and down as needed. If they're out of sync with what I'm doing, or I'm out of sync with what they're doing, you definitely don't go as fast."

Practice makes perfect, according to Richardson, and everyone must be on their game: "We sail with ten and it doesn't matter how good your tactician is, or how good your helmsman is, or how good your mainsail trimmer is; if someone is not doing their job properly, it will affect everybody on the boat.  It's definitely a team sport."

John Demourkas, owner/helmsman on Groovederci agrees on the significance of synchronization: "The start is very dependent on me, but equally on the front of the boat. It's paramount that everybody on the team does their job, otherwise people start compensating for other people's jobs and that's when things go bad. It really is a team effort, it's not one person."

Wolfgang Schaefer isowner/helmsman on Struntje Light, and had an all but perfect third day of the championship scoring a first and second in the two races: "Today timing was key especially downwind, where we gained a lot because we were quite happy to pick up the waves and surf. You can fight upwind for two boat lengths; downwind, if you
pick one wave the right way, you pick up three boat lengths. Timing is crucial between the spinnaker trimmer, the helmsman, and the tactician who gives the call."

Australian Darren Jones, sailing in his 11th Rolex Farr 40 Worlds is the mainsail trimmer on Stuart Townsend's Chicago-based, Virago. The mainsail is the 'engine' of the boat. Jones says, "It's one of the primary roles. I have to talk to the helmsman about wind direction, heading, rudder turns and tacks. On top of that, I coordinate with the tactician who's looking for wind shifts, gusts, and makes sure we get off the start line clean. During manoeuvres, my big role is to make sure the whole boat is in sync from the back to the front, and that the helmsman is on top of things and knows where we're going.

"Really key timing moments are the top (windward) mark," according to Jones. "Especially in wind. It's important to make sure everything is in the right place and that the spinnaker gets hoisted to the top of the mast before the trimmer starts to trims. That's a key moment the whole crew is involved in - all ten people in the boat. If one isn't in sync, the manoeuvre goes belly up!"

Australian London 2012 gold medallist, Nathan Outteridge, has made the leap to big boat tactician onboard Transfusion. At the start, he believes: "Timing is super critical. In
the first race we won we had a brilliant start and led from start to finish, then in the next races we've had to fight our way through. We were late on one and then we were over early -- so we haven't always had the best starts. Everyone has said if we could just sort the starts out we be doing okay!"

Onboard Helmut Jahn's Flash Gordon, which is leading the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds after day three, Dave Gerber is headsail trimmer. Ahead of each race Gerber and mainsail trimmer, Joe Londrigan, make sure they have the boat balanced for the wind strength and sea state. After the start, Gerber hikes out on the rail calling the breeze and tells Londrigan the boat's speed and height in relation to their competitors."

Gerber is clear about the benefits of precise, coordinated crew work: "What I really like about big boat racing is that it really promotes teamwork. You have to have a constant dialogue about what you're trying to do and how you're going to do it."

The pit person is a bit like mission control, on board Barking Mad Linda Lindquist-Bishop, fills this role and reckons good attributes are "big ears and eight arms": "I'm
really the middle of the boat so I have to keep my ears open to hear what's going on in the back of the boat so I can communicate that to the front of the boat. And then I have all of the mechanical things in the middle of the boat. I'm listening primarily to the tactician and the helmsman, to their calls for wind direction, for what they're telling the trimmers -- so I can communicate what they're thinking up to the bowman and mastman so they can set up and be prepared." 

For Scott "Doc" Holmgren, mastman on Plenty, the strong conditions in Chicago have increased the imperativeness of close coordination: "With stronger breeze, timing is really critical. We have to coordinate with the bowman, pitman, mastman and the trimmers, we keep ourselves focused on when certain manoeuvres are going to happen."

When it goes well Holmgren really feels it: "It's part of the sport I love, when everyone is dancing the same dance. It's like a waltz at times, it's harmony it's beautiful. We've had a couple of times some partners weren't part of the dance. Those moments we saved but they weren't as smooth and it's easy to lose a couple of boats (places)."

Andy Hudson has been bowman on Groovederci for the past year, he too is clear on the team's need to be as one: "It's all about your team. The bowman often gets credit for good manoeuvres, but there are four guys from the pit forward  (pit, mast, sewer, bow) and they are all just critical to making sure everything goes smoothly. It takes communication and practice. If know what the next step is, then you tend to find it a lot easier."

From the back to the front of the boat there is clear consensus that timing is everything. The boat that wins the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds is invariably the one that has remained focussed and coordinated throughout each moment of the race. The boat that has put in the practice beforehand, that has honed its manoeuvres. Quite simply, the boat that has recognised the real importance of precision in its timing.

How to Follow the Event 





Further information on the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds can be found at www.farr40worlds.com and www.yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=651.

By Regatta Nuews/ Key Partners