There was plenty of action on the race track on the first day of racing in the Hamilton Island Farr 40 Australian Championship. 

A steady nor’east breeze that topped 20 knots, had the fleet looking like they were competing at a surf carnival as they surfed and wiped out in the swell off South Head.

Racing was extremely close during the three races with the 23 boats finishing within three minutes of each other in the first race.  Keen to get going again, there were two general recalls for race two with the fleet then starting under a black flag.

The Italian teams are making their presence felt with Nerone and TWT placed second and third behind Australia’s Richard Perini.  TWT made an impressive recovery after blowing a spinnaker to finish well in the second race. Lang Walker’s Kokomo is in fourth place after three races.

Highest placed of the USA teams is Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad in sixth.  ‘We really enjoyed the challenging conditions today, was definitely bumpy’ remarked Richardson.  Defending Australian Champion John Calvert Jones is in fifth right on the heels of Barking Mad.

Perini didn’t want to show his form too early in race one but it was a different story in race two and three where he manoeuvred to the lead early in these races and took the gun in both.  ‘We had a good day “in the office’’ commented Perini.

Vasco Vascotto, tactician on Nerone remarked, ‘The crew (Nerone) enjoy a great day with plenty of wind, sun and waves, a perfect day. The Australian Perini is very good but we are happy with our results today’. 

Warpath skippered by Steve Howe from San Diego has Paul Cayard calling tactics and finished an impressive second in race two.  Warpath finished third overall in the 2004 San Francisco Rolex Farr 40 World Championship.  

Day 1 Results: 

1st Evolution   R.Perini AUS                              8

2nd Nerone M.Mezzaroma/A.sodo Migiori ITA     13

3rd TWT M.Rodolfi ITA                                     13

4th Kokomo L.Walker AUS                                16

5th Southern Star J.Calvert-Jones AUS              17

6th Barking Mad J.Richardson USA                    19

7th War Path S &F Howe USA                            22

8th Ichi Ban M. Allen  AUS                                22

9th Emotional Hooligan M.Blackmore AUS           27

10th Pegasus P.Kahn USA                                 33

11th Morning Glory H.Plattner GER                     39

12th Team Shockwave N. Crichton AUS              40

13th Mascalzone Latino V.Onorato ITA                40

14th Fiamma A.Barnaba ITA                              45

15th Sputnik I.Wheen AUS                                 45

16th War Games D.Urry AUS                              47

17th Solution J.Thompson USA                            49

18th Panther S.O’Rourke AUS                             50

19th Belle Property C.Meehan AUS                       52

20th Brighton Star D.Gotze AUS                           53

21st Bobby’s Girl J.Melville NZL                            54

22nd Venom B. Neill NZL                                      59

23rd Short Shipped M.Short AUS                            66

Results available at https://www.cyca.com.au/sysfile/downloads/hif40_ps.htm