Long Beach, California, USA: Jeff Janov's West Coast fleet champion Dark Star looked to be romping away to the 2011 Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship in winning the first two races Saturday when---surprise!---a new threat popped up out of the turbulent Pacific Ocean. 

Viva La Vida, just in from Australia, where it was known as Goombay Smash, won its first race in the hands of new local owners Bill Durant and Jeff Shew to steal some glory of its own.

The double-blue boat---dark on starboard, light on port---is tied for sixth in the 10-boat fleet, with Dark Star (1-1-5) still on top, but suddenly it was a different regatta. Dark Star finished fifth, hanging on to a one-point lead over perennial contender Dave Voss's Piranha (2-3-3).

"We finally got the plan working and got the right start," Durant said. "Until then we got a couple of neutral starts and couldn't hold a line. We were going sideways. We felt more confident by the end of the day."

And a tough day it was, with less breeze than forecast at 11 to 14 knots west-southwest but five-foot seas and a challenging chop.

That was on the outside course off Seal Beach. The race committee has the option of racing inside the breakwater near Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier but hadn't planned to do that until Monday's wrap-up races, unless conditions persuaded otherwise---and Sunday's forecast called for 22 knots.

"Whatever they want to do," Janov said. "I just show up to do the races."

As for Saturday, "We didn't have any problems," Janov said. "It was very tight racing."

Dark Star (1-1-5) led at every mark through the first two races, which were two and three laps around windward-leeward courses measuring 1.5-nautical miles top to bottom. But in the third go-round, as the wind faded slightly and the course was shortened to 1.25 nm, Dark Star was done in at the start by Frederic Sheer's Far Niente from Hermosa Beach.

As they approached the start, Far Niente, now in fourth place at 4-2-8, squeezed off Dark Star at the committee boat, forcing its rival into the second row from where it never fully recovered, and opening the opportunity for Viva La Vida.

Even Janov could appreciate the tactic.

"They've been practicing very hard and they're very serious," Janov said. "It's very tight racing."

A maximum of eight races will be run, starting at 1 p.m. each day.

The racing is administered by the Long Beach Yacht Club but the boats are based and hosted by Gladstone's restaurant at Rainbow Harbor downtown, accessible to visitors.

Complete standings   (after 3 of 8 races; no discards)

 

Results after Saturday's first day of racing, 3 races sailed:

 

Place	Sail	Boat	Skipper	Club	Total	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3
1	80808	Dark Star	Janov,Jeff	CYC	7	1	1	5
2	USA51483	Piranha	Voss,David	CYC	8	2	3	3
3	51044	Skian Dhu	Freeland,Dirk	ABYC	11	3	6	2
4	USA37	Far Niente	Scheer,Frederic	CYC	14	4	2	8
5	40050	Temptress	Godwin,Ray	LBYC	17	6	4	7
6	USA131	Viva La Vida	Jeff Shew/Bill Durant	LBYC	18	8	9	1
7	USA40046	Twisted	Pohl,Tony	StFYC	18	7	7	4
8	46957	Jo Ann	Murphy,Steve	SlBYC	21	10	5	6
9	USA888	White Knight	Katinszky,Zoltan	CBYC	24	5	10	9
10	50060	Radical Departure	Joe Carter/Dennis Rosene	BYC	27	9	8	10

 

Download the complete results as Word Doc or PDF.

The Farr 40 Class maintains an extensive international schedule that revolves around regional fleets in the U.S., Australia, Southern Europe and the Nordic region, with the annual Rolex Farr 40 World Championship serving as the class’s “crown jewel” of competition.

In addition to Rolex as title sponsor, the 2011 Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship includes as supporting sponsors Gladstone’s Restaurant, bioplastics manufacturer Cereplast, Inc., Hyatt Regency Long Beach and The City of Long Beach Department of Parks, Recreation & Marine.

For recent results and more information about the Farr 40 class, the 2011 Farr 40 North Americans or the 2012 Farr 40 World Championship, please visit http://www.farr40.org. For more information on the West Coast Farr 40 fleet, please visit www.f40west.org

Long Beach Yacht Club 

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