| MIAMI, FL. USA-(22-11-2003) With four spectacular days and 11
races completed in Miami, Fla., class winners in the inaugural Rolex Farr
One Design Invitational were named today. Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio Sodo
Migilori of Rome, Italy sailed their Nerone to a Farr 40 class victory and
with it, the 2003 Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship. In the Mumm 30
class Jack Lefort of Stuart, Fla. triumphed over the nine boat fleet on his
Off the Gauge to win his fourth Mumm 30 North American Championship. Peter
Davidson won the Open Class on his Farr 395 Shades of Gray. Geoff Stagg,
President of Farr International, presented Mezzaroma and Lefort with
specially-engraved Rolex timepieces.
`We are very, very happy that we won this regatta,` said Mezzaroma, who is
the current Farr 40 World Champion. `We want to dedicate our win to the 20
Italians who died in Iraq. We are very sad not to be home in Italy. This is
the first time in the past 50 years that our country has been in this kind
of a situation and it's very sad for us.`
Mezzaroma credited his crew for today's third and first-pace finishes. They
have sailed with him for the past three years. `If we cannot sail together,
we don't sail,` he said. `When you go around the world with the same nine
guys for three years you know the feeling they have when they are racing.
You know before something happens what's going to be the reaction. That is
especially good in very tough conditions; to anticipate and solve the
problems.`
Samba Pa Ti, owned by John Kilroy of Los Angeles, Calif., went into today
leading the fleet, but suffered in the shifts and finished tenth in both
races, dropping them into second place overall for the regatta.
Just four points behind the past world champion, was another world champion:
Jim Richardson of Boston, Mass. Terry Hutchinson called tactics for
Richardson's Barking Mad and described the twelfth place in the first race.
`We a great start at the weather end,` he said. `We go off and Samba is
there, so we say to ourselves, 'What are we racing for? Are we racing them
or are we racing to win the race? We were racing to win the race.' So, there
was a nice big lefty puff and we sailed up to it, tacked and sailed about
three boatlengths and went into a 10 second period of no wind, literally.
The guy who tacked on our hip, in our quarterwake, rolled us. The guys to
leeward of us went around our bow. From that point on we were groveling.`
Barking Mad went on to finish second in the second race.
Rolex Mumm 30 North American champion Lefort also sailed with a good group
of friends and put together the most consistent scoreline of the regatta,
with five first-place finishes and no score lower than a sixth.
`We've been sailing with pretty much the same group for almost 10 years,`
said Lefort. `It's nice we're all good friends and it's great to get
together hang out. Everybody sailed really hard.`
The Atlantic's shifty conditions were a constant challenge in today's two
races. With light, 5-7 knot Northeast wind at the beginning of the day
building to 12-14 knots, skippers and tacticians fought to gain an advantage
with every leg.
Mezzaroma stressed the importance of having Vasco Vascotto, the multiple
one-design world champion and former Mascalzone Latino skipper, serving as
tactician. `In these conditions when it's very shifty and mixed up, they are
nervous conditions,` he said. `The start was really important in both races
and both times Vasco wanted to start at the boat. And we had a great start.
He's spectacular.`
Two-time Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Ken Read guided Off the Gauge to its
impressive string of wins. Lefort described the boat's preparation for today
's races, `In the first race, we didn't do as well as we wanted to. We
changed the boat up a bit for the second race and got it together.`
Bambakou, owned by John Counmantaros of New York, N.Y., was the Rolex Race
Day winner, chalking up a first and a third place finish. Tactician Ian
Walker commented on the day.
Peter Davidson and the Farr 395 Shades of Gray won the Open Class.
Title sponsor is Rolex Watch U.S.A. Organizers include the Storm Trysail
Club, Mumm 30 and Farr 40 Class Associations. Avalon Majestic Hotel is the
official hotel. North Sails and Lewmar are supporting sponsors.
Daily reports, photos and results will be posted to
www.farrinternational.com/rolexinvite03.
Rolex Farr One Design Invitational-Day 4/Final
Farr 40 / Mumm 30 NA Championship
South Miami Beach, Florida
Final Results: November 22, 2003
FARR 40 (Top 3 of 17)
Place, Boat Name, Owner, Hometown, Race 1- 2- 3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11, Total
points
1. NERONE, Mezzaroma/Sodo Migliori, Rome, Italy, 4-7-6-10-3-4-3-3-5-3-1, 49
2. SAMBA PA TI, John Kilroy, Los Angeles, Calif., 2-1-12-6-9-3-5-1-2-10-10,
61
3. BARKING MAD, Jim Richardson, Boston, Mass., 1-11-4-5-8-1-2-12-7-12-2, 65
MUMM 30 (Top 3 of 9)
Place, Boat Name, Owner, Hometown, Race 1- 2- 3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11, Total
points
1. OFF THE GAUGE, Jack Lefort, Stuart, Fla., 4-2-1-4-1-1-3-1-2-6-1, 26
2. USA65, David Pyles, Easton, Md., 1-3-7-1-2-5-4-6-6-1-6, 42
3. TRAMP, Tom Ritter, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., 6-1-5-2-8-6-2-2-1-3-7, 43
FARR 395 (Top 2 of 2)
Place, Boat Name, Owner, Hometown, Race 1- 2- 3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11, -Total
points
1. SHADES OF GRAY, Peter Davidson, 1-1-1-1-1-1-2-2-2-2-2, 16
2. SPINAL SHOCK, Gordon Donald, Fairhaven, N.J.,
DNC-DNC-DNC-DNC-DNC-DNC-1-1-1-1-1, 23
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