Miami Beach, Fla - A northwesterly wind that ranged from 7 to 20 knots and shifted as much as 50 degrees during the day forced the boys in the back of the boat to take some risks and hope they guessed right. Flash Gordon was among three Farr 40s that handled the shifts and fared well on Friday. Bill Hardesty did his best to keep skipper Helmut Jahn in the pressure as the Chicago entry posted a second and a fourth to move into third place overall in the 10-boat fleet. It wasn’t a surprise to see tacticians bellying up to the Tiki bar at Monty’s overlooking the waterfront at the Miami Beach Marina. Two days of extremely shifty sailing conditions in the Miami Grand Prix have driven the men who make the on-course calls to drink. “You could go from the penthouse to the outhouse real quickly today” said Hardesty, tactician aboard the Farr 40 Flash Gordon. “It was pretty darn tricky out there.” Former Star class world champion Joe Londrigan is trimming the main while Dave Gerber is trimming the jib and spinnaker aboard Flash, which has reunited the crew that was together for the Farr 40 Worlds. Evan Jahn is steering the boat during starts and upwind before handing the wheel to his father. “Helmut has been our rock star. He has been passing boats downwind the entire regatta,” Hardesty said. Barking Mad and Fiamma also totaled six points in two starts with a bullet in Race 5 lifting the former into the overall lead by a point over the Italian team. Barking Mad is without three regular crew members, including tactician Terry Hutchinson, due to the Louis Vuitton Series in Auckland, New Zealand. However, up and coming pro Steve Hunt has done a good job of filling in for Hutchinson and skipper Jim Richardson has been pleased with the crew work. “We have a lot of new people onboard so there was some apprehension going in. It’s been a big transition and we’re doing some things well while there are other things we still need to work on,” Richardson said. “It’s been real shifty so far and we expect to see more of the same over the weekend. There’s a lot of good sailors scratching their heads because you can easily lose five places in an instant.” Fiamma, skippered by Alessandro Barnaba of Roma, Italy, posted a pair of thirds on Friday to jump into contention. Tactician Lorenzo Bressani, regular helmsman for the standout Melges 24 program UKA UKA Racing, is calling tactics on Fiamma. “It has been a very difficult day with big wind shifts. Both races went down to the last meter. It is necessary always keep the eyes open because things can happen in double-quick time,” Bressani said. “In this class the speed between boats is very similar so the fleet always stays united. A missed shift or tactical mistake can hurt you. Today, we sailed well and always in phase with the wind.” Class leaders after five races: Farr 40 (10 Boats) 1. Barking Mad, James Richardson, Newport, RI, USA, 5-4-2-5-1=17 2. Fiamma, Allesandro Barnaba, Rome, ITA, 3-2-7-3-3=18 3. Flash Gordon, Helmut Jahn, Chicago, IL, USA, 4-1-9-2-4=20
Miami - 06 March 2010 15:24
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