Hankø, Norway (July 11, 2007) – With three wins in seven races and an impressive 24-point lead over the second-place boat, Mascalzone Latino won the inaugural Farr 40 Open Nordic Championship.  Held July 5-8 and hosted by the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club (Kongelig Norsk Seilforening, KNS) with support from the Hankø Yacht Club and the Farr 40 European Fleet Association, the regatta welcomed 27 Farr 40s and served as the fourth stop on the European Circuit.

“Winning is a real joy,” said Vincenzo Onorato (Portoferrario, Italy), skipper/owner of Mascalzone Latino. “It was my return as helmsman after a difficult America’s Cup campaign.”  Onorato’s America’s Cup Challenge, Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team, was eliminated from competition in May of this year.  “It was hard racing, especially after six months without sail training. Our secret to winning is perhaps a very close team that has not changed much in the past five years.”  Joining him were crew members, many of whom were also part of his victorious team at the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, including Matteo Savelli, Gerry Mitchell, Davide Scarpa, Andrea Ballico, Daniele Fiaschi, Marco Cornacchia, Adriano Figone, Roberta De Paoli and tactician Adrian Stead.

Going into the last day, Sunday, Mascalzone Latino had a sizeable lead on the fleet, although as most observers of this competitive class know, anything can happen.  The day before, only one race took place and that race was testament to this theory.  A 180-degree wind shift during the race caused by two converging weather systems, hampered competitors performances.  Three boats – Wolfgang Schaefer’s (Luneberg, Germany) Struntje Light, Olli-Pekka Lumijarvi’s (Helsinki, Finland) Siragusawa, and Wolfgang Stolz’ (Frankfurt, Germany) Opus One – were specifically affected and the owners filed for redress, which was ultimately overturned by the jury.  At the end of the day, Mascalzone Latino held onto its lead with Helmut Jahn (Chicago, Illinois) and his Flash Gordon in second, a mere four points from Farr 40 European Champion Nerone, owned by Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonia Sodo Migliori (Rome, Italy), in third.

Flash Gordon established a solid lead on the first day of racing, with first and third-place results, however Mascalzone Latino, too, did well and stood in second overall.  Onorato and his team took advantage of a 20-degree wind shift during the second race’s first beat to take the lead and set a future victory in motion.

Nerone finished the regatta in second-place overall with Struntje Light in third.

The Farr 40 Class will next compete at the Skaw Farr 40 Race Week (July12-14) in Skagen, Denmark, then to Rolex Baltic Week (Aug. 17-19) in Neustadt, Germany, followed by the Rolex Farr 40 Pre-Worlds, August 24-25, and the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, August 29 – September 1.

For more information about the Farr 40 Open Nordic Championship, please visit http://www.kns.no/Norsk/REGATTA/NOM_Farr_40/Information.

For a complete schedule of 2007/08 Farr 40 Class events or for more information about the Class, please visit www.farr40.org.

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Press Contacts:

(in Skagen, Denmark) Bunny Wayt, Farr 40 Class Secretary, Danish mobile: +45 2136 6248, bunny@staggyachts.com

(in the U.S.) Dana Paxton, Media Pro Int’l for Farr 40 Class, +1 401-849-0220, dana.paxton@mediapronewport.com

Final results – Top 10 of 27 boats (www.farr40.net for full results)

Farr 40 Open Nordic Championship, Hankø, Norway - July 5-8, 2007

Place Boat name Owner Hometown Race1-2-3-4-5-6-7, Total Score

1 MASCALZONE LATINO Vincenzo Onorato ITALY 5-1-4-2-1-1-5, 19 points

2 NERONE Massimo Mezzaroma ITALY 12-11-13-1-2-2-2, 43

3 STRUNTJE LIGHT Wolfgang Schaefer GERMANY 3-4-3-7-5-21-7, 50

4 KOKOMO Lang Walker AUSTRALIA 9-8-2-3-11-9-16, 58

5 FLASH GORDON 5 Helmut Jahn USA 1-3-6-12-10-5-23, 60

6 BARKING MAD James Richardson USA 14-16-10-5-3-3-13, 64

7 TWINS Erik Maris FRANCE 6-13-20-13-6-11-3, 72

8 OPUS ONE Wolfgang Stolz GERMANY 22-5-1-22-4-20-6, 80

9 FIAMMA Alessandro Barnaba ITALY 15-9-7-14-9-12-15, 81

10 SIRAGUSAWA Olli-Pekka Lumijarvi FINLAND 28DSQ-10-5-4-18-22-1, 88

Hanko - 11 July 2007 18:30