Barking Mad leads Farr 40 Pre-Worlds
Light and shifty breezes eventually improved to near-perfect conditions in today's start to the Farr 40 Pre-Worlds, held at Chicago YC. Three races were completed with Jim Richardson's Barking Mad from Newport, RI leading the pack of twenty entries on scores of 1 - 2 - 1. The reigning North American Champion is also leading the series into this final event of the 2012 Farr 40 North American Circuit.
Even though Richardson, with tactical help from America's Cup veteran and Star World Champion Hamish Pepper, has an impressive 8-point lead over nearest rival Enfant Terrible, owned by Alberto Rossi from Italy, he is not yet ready to claim victory, saying "It was a really tough day out there, and its far from over yet." Richardson should know: he is a 3-time World Champion in this class, dating back to the inaugural Worlds in 1998, and has been active in the class ever since.
This same cautious sentiment was echoed by Rossi, who leads Helmut Jahn's locally-based Flash Gordon 6 by only a point in the current standings. "This is a surprisingly tough fleet," said Rossi, "everyone is at a high level. I think this will be a long week." Rossi is also a World Champion, having twice won the ORCi Offshore World Championship while racing his Farr 40 in a mixed fleet.