Dee Smith Yacht Racing

Farr 400 arrives in Sydney

2012-02-27T18:13:00.002-08:00

#9 Farr 400 arrived in Sydney last week and in 5 days hit the starting line off Shark Island. the course was out of the heads to a windward mark about 3 miles out. Then 2 more laps up and down outside and a down wind finish in Watson’s Bay. The weather was perfect. Starting in about 10 knots and reaching about 14 by the time we got back into the heads.

The boat performed very well. We did not have the full sail inventory. The Hy jib was a little under range. The first beat was not so good, but as the wind got up over 12 the jib came into range and the boat took off. The couple of boats that were pretty far ahead, were brought back and we ended up overlapped second with a 46 footer on the finish line.

Dock talk was all positive as everyone saw how fast the 400 progressed through is first race here in Australia. People were surprised to see a boat so light go upwind with much bigger boats in mid range conditions. More to come over the week.

Two days later we sailed a Twilight Race out of the CYC in a NE wind from 6-12 knots. Still only sailing with our Hy jib we ended up beating all the other 40 plus minus footers over the line fairly easily. As we are a new boat here, there was not a chance to enter officially but the boat showed very well.

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Ichi Ban on the last run to the finish of the Twilight Race

As always, it is a lot of fun sailing here. Nice weather, really clear blue sky and warm water. Not a bad office at all.

All photos from Phil Ross

Key West 2012 Observations

2012-01-26T05:56:00.001-08:00

Red, winner of the Farr 400 one design class, Quantum Key West Race Week

Sharon Green photo

KW 2012 the 40 foot battle and observations

There was a lot of dock talk about which 40 foot boat was the fastest at Quantum Key West Race Week. The comments between the Farr 400, Farr 40, McConaghy 38 and even the GP 42 Stray Dog, everyone thought their boat was the fastest. It is so hard to compare boats sailing in different fleets on a different starting line against each other. But over 10 races on the same race course some basic conclusions can be drawn. Here are a few objective observations:

· Farr 40 class is most likely the most developed class in the 40’ size. They have had great one design racing for over 15 years. The crews all know the boat well and get the most out of them. Even though the boats are owner driven, these owners have plenty experience and great polished crews.

· Farr 400 fleet crews were new to the boat, as this was the first time the boats got together on the same race course. Out of the 5 boats that only one crew had sailed the boat before. The 400 is a very dynamic boat and with time the crews will be able to get much more speed out of the boats. All crews mentioned there were minutes left on the course. All F400’s, like the Farr 40 had owner drivers .

· The MC 38, like the Farr 400 was its first regatta. The only difference being it was driven by a pro. This can be a big difference on speed, how much no one can really tell. I would think it would be something substantial.

· The Stray Dog, was put into the mix only because as a GP 42, it is a known boat that is nice to compare even though it is much bigger.

I took all the actual finish times, seconds per mile for each race and divided by the 10 races competed. These races were all up and down. Four out of the ten had a windward finish. I took the first Farr 40 and Farr 400 in their fleets. Here is how the boats stacked up against each other:

1^st Farr 400 575.08 second per mile

2^nd Stray Dog, GP 42 575.24

3^rd Farr 40 582.17

4^th MC 38 586.80

It should also be mentioned that in both the F40 and the F400 classes they were racing one design, so at time they would be herded to maybe the wrong side of the course. Were as the GP and Mc38 were sailing in a 4 boat handicap fleet and as you sail on time you always go to the correct side of the course, as long as you know what side is correct.

The first race was in 17-20 knot of breeze, up and down twice. What we can see by the finish times is the light new boats did very well against the Farr 40 which is a bit more moderate. The GP, MC 38 and the first Farr 400 finished with 10 seconds of each other. The first Farr 40 was 3.5 minutes back

The second race on day one had the most wind for the series. 20-23 knots. In this race that finished upwind we saw the best time from the Farr 400, followed closely by the first Farr 40 14 seconds back, the GP finished 22 seconds behind the 400 and the MC 38 had some difficulties and finished almost 5 minutes back.

The second day, was the light air day, starting in 8 and finishing in about 13 knots over 3 races. The first race finished in a building breeze that favored the boats that started last. We can see this in the results as we can see the fastest boats the GP and the MC started behind. The Farr 40 in this lighter condition was able to pull their spin poles back and sail a much shorter distance. But again the boats finished fairly close in the times.

The next race in 12 knots of wind again they finished close with the GP doing the best job. One thing can be said about these boat is they are not the same size. The GP being almost 4 feet longer than the Farr 400 and MC 38 and the Farr 40 is 2 feet longer than the 400. The 400 and the MC are very close in length. In the second day of sailing, it was mostly length. No dynamic sailing done on this day.

On the last race of the day it was interesting to note that with the upwind finish, the GP and the lead F40 beat out the two smaller boats. This might reinforce the comment above about length. The Farr 400 did beat the MC 38 by over a minute with the first F40 beat the 400 by 44 seconds. The GP was a minute faster than the Farr 40.

And so it went, everyone had a good race or two and also the bad one. As you all have heard in many YC bars all the reasons everyone did not win. I can say from watching the boats from a TP that started ahead and sailed a longer course, all the boats had fun and the racing in KW was as good as ever. I think as mentioned before the dynamic boats have more potential in them. The GP should have been the fastest boat but that is sailing. The Farr 400 should be 30 seconds a mile faster than the Farr 40, according to Farr’s own VPP. I am sure when the 400 has as more time in the boats we will see this difference. The MC 38 will also improve with time in the boat. But being pro driven it should have been more up to speed than the 400’s.

With all that, the Farr 400 can claim to be the fastest 40 footer at KW this year.

Dee Smith

Key West: A Long Strange Trip

2012-01-23T05:08:00.001-08:00

Joe Wood winning KW with Red

We have been working hard to get 5 of the new Farr 400 to Key West to sail their first one design class race. Since 2 boats were on a ship due in only one week before the series, I was a bit nervous. Then of course the ship was late and there was a customs hold….. Anyway, they did make it, very late, but they did get down to KW by truck from Savannah on Friday before the Monday start.

I was to sail on Team Origin/Bella Mente. Hap chartered the TP from England to get some time sailing against other very good boats in a fun series, while he waits for his new boat to be completed. We had the main part of the Bella Team sailing with an addition of John Cutler. John and I have sailed a lot together over the years. It has always been fun and easy.

Sailing TP down wind at 14 knots last day of KW 2012

We didn’t really know how to run the back end of the boat but thought that for Hap to have a new voice as a tactician would be a good experience. So I move to strategy. We communicate very well and understand each other. John with his more experience with match racing was maybe more suited for the boat for boat situations. With my experience in ocean racing and weather, I had a the ability to keep and eye out of the boat for shifts and what other boats are thinking. We would both keep track of the shifts and most often were calling the same things for tacks and course management. I would say it was a pleasure, relaxing and I believe we did a good job with our rental to take a third in a very competitive class.

Back to the 400’s. Each team sailed the boats in the new configuration for the first time. 4 out of the 5 teams never sailed the boat before. It was very surprising that the boats were so close on the water. Joe Wood and Red Team won the event and was out of the box better than the other teams but as the week rolled on the other were catching up and sailing along side the Red, beating them in the last couple of days of sailing.

Very close one design racing with the Farr 400

Sharon Green photos

It was a big success for the Class. Everyone knew that there was a lot to learn and they all said there were minutes they can get out of the boats with a bit more time. All had smiles on their faces when they came off the water and looked forward to the next day.

In the TP class, Quantum was the most polished and won the event. Power Play, with Pet Cunningham steering his boat all but the first day, (I heard it was the curry he made for dinner) to take second. Vesper, Jim Swartz, I think was the fastest boat. They suffered from a breakage in the second race and not getting off the line some times very well. But all the boats had a show and the racing was very close. Mostly the better sailed boat won. Our rental had some not ready for prim time sails. Our first day we were slow in the breeze. The next day we had a good jib and had a 2,1 when we used that sail. I think the boat is good and could be a lot better. Someone should buy it.

With our first Farr 400 class event there has been good interest and we have set up and series for the Farr 400’s. It looks like 3 boats will go to do 2 events in the Caribbean. Then we should have 5+ boats in Charleston, then Annapolis, Newport in June and San Francisco in September. All good.

I am writing this from the Dusseldorf Boot show. This is the biggest boat show in the world and we have a Farr 400 here.

It was been fun to spend 3 days here seeing a lot of old friends from Germany and northern Europe.

Dee with the brothers Waimer, Max and Hannes, owners of PCT, the builder of the Farr 400

I get to go home tomorrow to catch up on all these programs. Next trip Sydney to sail on Farr 400 #8.

More later.

Reflections on a Great 2011

2012-01-08T12:13:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!!

This is a bit of reflection of 2011:

2011 has been a good and busy year. We started sailing Bella Mente in the Ft. Lauderdale to Key West race in early January. The team not only was first to finish but also corrected out 1st overall. It was a very enjoyable trip down the keys, sailing all downwind in good breeze. web site http://www.keywestrace.org/2011race.html#

Next came my first trip to Chile to Sail on Phoenix, a Soto 40. We had 10 boats sailing one design.

The Soto is a lot of fun in South America. Sailing in Chile was just like sailing in California. The water was cold, lots of sea life, and kelp. The water even smelled the same.

We had a very good regatta to and won it on the last leg of the last race. Sailing is very good and competitive. Can't wait to get down there more.

While I was in Chile, Bella moved tot he West Coast and had another refit. This time we added 5 feet to the back of the boat to make it longer. We also added sail area to the main and spinnakers. This was all to race the boat to Cabo in March. The race was of course to be down wind but it ended up the other way as there was a low that covered the course. After beating for over 24 hrs, the mast came down while leading the race.

Not fun as we never had the time down wind to test the refit out for Trans-Pac. This was the low of the year for me.

In April, I traveled to Dubai to sea trail the new Farr 400. With a new one design like this this was a good time to see how the boat sailed and get some idea of what to change and make it better.

It was a lot of work getting the boat in the water and sailing. We made some adjustments and sent the boat off to Europe to race. Next stop for the boat Barcelona.

From Dubai, I traveled to Mallorca to meet Joc, my Brother Dave and some other friends to do some training on our bikes.

I know the island pretty well but over the next 3 weeks we were able to see a lot more of this fantastic place. The first week was an organized training session.

We road every day and I did around 275 miles and over 17000 ft. of vertical. For me this was a big week.with big mountains. We then joined the Bekking family on the east side of the Island.

From there we toured around, played some golf and I also did some biking. It was a lot of fun, a real vacation with good friends.

Next stop Thailand to sailing on Hannes Waimer's TP 52 Team Premier. It was great to sail on the TP again. We spent some time tuning the boat up and we felt we got her going pretty well. We started by winning the first race. The boat and crew were good and we ended up winning the Top of the Gulf regatta. It was fun for me as I got to drive.

Hannes was happy as his boat was worth more and has since been sold to Australia.

In Barcelona with the Farr 400, we put the boat together in a rush, ship was late, and got out on the race course. The boat rated pretty high in IRC but we wanted to see how she went. In a light air event we did not fair too well on corrected time, but she was very fast as we sailed with he 50 footer boat for boat.

Then it was off to South America again to sail Sotos in Ilhabela, an island near Sao Paulo. It was tough sailing there. Narrow channel with a lot of tide. 14 boats, good competition

We ended up finishing ok, but not great 5th. The Mitsubishi Sailing Cup had 3 regattas of 4 days each. The Soto class has done a great job promoting the fleet and had some great help with sponsors.

I joined the Flying Jenny 7 team in June for the NYYC Annual Regatta. FJ7 is the old 2007 Bribon, TP 52. Pete Pendleton spent a lot of time fixing her up and this was to be her first buoy race. We sailed a very consistent series with all 2nd's. To win the regatta. I did a lot of driving in this event which was fun for me. It was a windy lumpy regatta outside. We kept the boat together and sailed pretty well. It was great for me to sail with a local Annapolis team.

From Newport RI to St. Tropez for the Giraglia Race on the Farr 400. We added area to the main and the boat was better balanced with more power. We sailed in a 98 boat class that ranged from TP52's down to pretty slow 38 footers.

Our boat was fast but again did not rate well in IRC. For the long race with our speed we sailed in the top 15 boats in a 220 boat fleet. It was mostly light winds. We beat the open 60's to the rick 170 miles into the race and corrected on all the boats that finished ahead, but then the little slow boats sailed in with more wind to correct out..

Back down to Ilhbela for the Rolex Ilhabela Sailing Week. This again was sailed in Soto's. Another hard regatta as the class is getting more competitive.

We ended up 7th out of 12 boats, not our normal result.

On the way home I stopped by New Zealand to look at the new Southern factory for Bella Mente. We are building a new boat and I have been involved with the design and construction with a very good full team of guys. The new boat will be done in March 2012. After NZ, I stopped and meet Joc in Hawaii. Because of a conflict I was not able to sail with Bella to Hawaii but was able to meet them as they won the Barn Door Trophy for first to finish. I was very proud of the team and my input in the refit that help them win the race.

It was nice to do a race at home on the Flying Jenny. We entered the Governor's Cup that was a late afternoon start to sail to St. Mary's college about 50 miles down the bay. It was mostly a beat and having the big boat was a good thing. Adding getting two big shifts on the way and it was an easy win overall.

Ilhabela was followed by the Mit Sailing Cup in Buzios. Great place to sail and visit. It was a bit more up market area as most of the Rio people make the trip for nice vacations. It was a breezy regatta and we did manage to win a race but over all dropped to 9th.

Joc and I then drove from Annapolis up to Nantucket to sail in the IOD Celebrity invitational. This is a fun regatta that have brought in a lot of great sailors to race with team as tacticians.

To benefit the Nantucket Community Sailing foundation. I was teamed up with Heather Gregg-Earl and Richard Werdiger. We had a great time. They shared the helming and we ended up a very steady 3rd. The regatta was won by John Dane..

In Late August it was back to Rio for the last Mitsubishi Sailing Cup event in the Soto's. Rio is a very tricky place to sail, I loved it. The wind came from everywhere with good shifts along with tides that kept things interesting. We sailed really well to take a fourth. Torben Grael won with his son Marco driving. He did a great job. It was a lot of fun to sail with Eduardo Souza Ramos over the year. We won 3 events and watched the class grow. I hope to sail more down there, many new friends and great new places to go.

Next stop was San Francisco. We brought in a new Farr 400 to sail in the BBS. Of course the ship was late and it was hard to get up to speed.

We learned a lot about the boat in the Bay's condition as it was dog off chains. I think this was the windiest BBS I can remember. Speed of over 22 knots in the boat..

We would have finished off well but there was one race that we ran out of spinnakers so we did not sail. That pushed us to fourth in the series.

Back home for the last race with Flying Jenny, the IRC Mid Atlantic Championships. Good fleet including Numbers. We started with a bang winning the distance race in breeze, a reach fest around the bay. The next 2 days were light but we were able to win. Making it a clean sweep with Jenny and I for the year. Looking forward to sailing with the Team in 2012.

Then it was back to San Francisco for the Leukemia Cup and the Pumpkin Regattas on the Farr 400. We sailed very well with the boat in both regattas, taking second in the LC and first, with a sweep in the Pumpkin. Best of all was how our little boat raised over $15,000. But the regatta did over one million dollars. A great way to end the year.

Our LC Crew

looking back at the fleet of 220 boats that were behind in the Pumpkin regatta.

Looking forward to a great 2012, and more time like the above.

Fun Sailing in Palm Beach

2011-12-02T05:47:00.000-08:00

Blasting thought the Gulf streem in a Northerly is a lot of fun. 18-23 knots on a good TP 52

Very cool

Sweeping up Pumpkins

2011-11-02T08:49:00.001-07:00

It is always fun to sail with friends, but to go home and race with friends on a great boat in fun race, priceless…

I traveled to the SF bay area to race the Farr 400, Team Premier in the Great Pumpkin Regatta. This is a fall, Halloween classic raced out of Richmond YC. The last one I did was in 2005 with Money Penny Swan 601. This year they ran 3 short races on the Berkley Circle and on Sunday they had the 1 big Pursuit Race for all the Pumpkins that starts near the YC in Richmond the only marks are Alcatraz and Angel Island. Which you can go either way.

This year the weather was perfect, sunny warm, and in the fall when it is like this, there is not so much wind. I think the weather had a lot to do with 270+ boats entered. Saturday windward leeward races were short and light. We were racing in the Sport Boat A division. The first race was 3 legs, not 3 miles. PHRF A class started 5 minutes ahead. We won the start at the committee boat and our powerful sail plan push us ahead and into the fleet ahead near the first mark. By the time we rounded the bottom mark, we were first boat on the water and went on to win with minutes to spare.

Then we had to wait for 2 hrs for the wind to fill in from the west and pick up. The next courses were very short but fun. The first race 3 legs took us 21 minutes to complete, the second 5 legs, 29 minutes. We won both of these races also. Great fun, boat was fast and a pleasure to sail for everyone on board. We raced with 8 people, average age somewhere around 48.

The pursuit race on Sunday, we were to start almost an hr after the first boat for a 12 mile course. In a race that was 0-15 knots, it took us less than 1:40. We started and went around Alcatraz first. The wind was very light from the northwest, we hoisted the Code 0 and sailed low to the closest spot that the westerly will fill in. Went through a small hole, pulled the jib up and sailed upwind in a fast mode to Alcatraz. The wind built to a max of 15 knots, the boat was sailing very well, I am sure we passed over 100 boats on the way.

Around the famous Rock

We had a fast reach over both islands and then the wind dropped just enough to put the code 0 up again. As we approached the north west tip of Angel Island the first boats going the other way were just going around, lots of traffic and we were on port tack. Changed spins to the A1 and sailed with many boats down the straights. We played the right side and got a good shift to the north as we exited and sailed around the remaining boats with a better angle into the finish. About 1.5 miles from the finish line we were the first mono hull. And so we placed.

The Farr 400 went very fast though all these conditions. Only three big Cats beat us. We were the fastest by far mono hull on the course. We have learned a lot sailing the boat and the speeds are starting to improve. We would have won this event, all boats we sailed against in any rule, IRC, ORC or PHRF, the boat was on fire. Nothing better than sailing a great boat with a great crew. Check out the results at http://www.jibeset.net/RYC000.php?RG=T027599622

Dee Smith

Farr 400 sea trails

2011-03-29T21:17:00.001-07:00

Here in the land of big buildings, sand and sunshine. Boat is very new but a lot of fun to sail. Our first outing in 15-17 knots of wind, just trying to make sure she works. All I can say is she seems very fast and easy to sail upwind. Nice a stiff but easy to sail through the chop. And downwind, loves to take off. We were hitting wind speed fairly easy. I would compare it to a small TP type of a boat. or M 32 that goes upwind…

Sails and Spar look quite good. Boat is strong and stiffly built. And the best part is, it came out light in the first weighing. way under 4 ton in IRC measurement trim. We will be sailing over the next few days. Will report more later…

We plan to race this boat in Europe starting in Barcelona in May, then on to St Tropez, Valencia and ending in Palma for Copa del Rey…

Bella Mente Version 7 goes to Cabo

2011-03-19T06:10:00.001-07:00

I am sitting here still on east coast time waiting to get down to the boat which to sail to the start off Newport Beach. Bella is to0 deep at almost 5 meters to get into Newport Harbor, so we a docked at Long Beach. 7 weeks ago, after Bella finished Key West Race Week, we added 5 feet to the Transom, modified the boom, added 20 sq meters to main and 70 to the spinnakers. The boat also had to be trucked out from FL and a lot of other work to change it from a around the buoys boat to a CA ocean racer. The shore group has done a fantastic job with all the changes and the boat is very ready and feels much faster.

Three new members have joined the crew. Navigator Ian Moore, Volvo race winner Mike Sanderson and Kiwi Daniel Fong. My job will be to do tactics and co navigate with Ian. We have worked on many other projects before and won many races along the way. It has been some time but nothing seems to be different other than he is a father of two now.

Looking at the weather it is not going to be too pleasant. There is a front coming down and will cross the course over the next 36 hrs. This puts us on the wind shortly after the start and I don’t expect to get spinnakers up for at least 36 hrs in a 70 hr race. It won’t be too comfortable at all, not to mention the rain.

You can follow the race on the tracker at:http://cloud.iboattrack.com/r/start.php?r=2011_newportbeach_cabo

and the race info is at :http://www.nhyccaborace.com/nhyccaborace/Home.html

Just looked at the tracker and the smaller boats that started yesterday have had a good run in plenty of breeze. It might be hard to catch them… Well give a good go…

Sailing in Chile

2011-01-31T13:21:00.001-08:00

Joc and I have have landed in La Serena, Chile so I can sail with Eduardo S. Ramos on his brand new Soto 40, Fenix. This is the first time the boat sailed with the same basic crew that sailed with last year. We have had two races so far. A 21 mile light air affair down the coast to Tongoy. We had a good start only to be passed by 4 boats in a 8 boat fleet. As we worked out way upwind the wind died and it was time to rock hop around the corner. We were able to get by the others at the turn by staying very close. The distance opened up as we went on to the finish. The picture above is from Matias Capizzano. He has taken many great shots over the last two days of racing. Check out his website on the right to look at more shots of the race and other regattas he covered. Celfin Capital sailed a very good race to take second.

The second race back started with a twice around windward leeward then back to home base. We had another good start to lead around the 4 marks. Then it was a jib reach in 7 knots of wind lifting to a run as the wind came up to a max of 18 knots. It is a lot like sailing in California. Good size swells that run pretty fast. As the wind built it was first stronger in shore but on the way back it built off shore. We had a good plan not to be either furthest off shore or closest. Santander was second and tried to take the inside lane. They slowed and ended 5th. We opened a good lead on the outside boats but the wind lifted a bit more than I thought it would and when they came back we lead only by about 10 lengths. As we gybed in toward the finish everything was fine until we ran over a big patch of kelp about 4 miles from the finish. We were lucky to hold on to second, loosing by about 20 seconds to Mitsubishi. So after 2 we have a 1,2 and Mtsubishi is in second with a 3,1. Tomorrow we have 2 up and downs. Fun racing looking forward to more, this is much better that winter in Annapolis....

Ft Lauderdale to Key West Race, Bella Sweeps

2011-01-14T00:01:00.001-08:00

Good to report that all went well on the race to Key West on Wednesday. Hap won the start with a gybe hoist and right out to where the wind was blowing 2-5 knots more. Aided by a 15 degree shift, we came back ten minutes later to a mile lead over the fleet. And so it started, 50 some gybes later about half way around the Keys we started to harden up and the speed came on. Wind range was 12-23 knots over the race. We heard report of up to 30 behind and believe we were staying ahead of the main pressure.

The Gulf Stream was pretty far off the coast above Miami. This let us stay out in the pressure till we got down to Fowey Rocks. Then it was gybing almost every 5 minutes or so. Big work for all the grinders on the boat, they worked all the way down. Sails we used started with the A2 and Spin Staysail. When the wind came up to 20 knots we changed to the A4. At time reaching speed of over 22 knots. Really fun sailing. We went through the A3 and onto the fractional code 0 we call the Fro. This sail along with the GS really pushed the BM along sailing over 18 almost all the time at wind angles of 130-120.. The short beat into KW with the J4 and all was goo in 11 hr 11 minutes for an average of 14.38 knots. Not bad when you count the 50 gybes and the average 1 knot of current against.

After KWRW the big Bella goes to the west coast for the Cabo race in March. Looking forward to getting back to my roots out there.

Results:

Yacht Name

Owner/Skipper

Elapsed Time

Corrected Time

Class

Fleet

IRC A

1

Bella Mente

Hap Fauth

0:11:10:59

0:17:12:38

1

1

2

Vela Veloce

Richard Oland

0:12:42:34

0:17:26:14

2

2

3

Privateer

Ron O'hanley

0:13:00:07

0:17:51:52

3

3

4

Decision

Stephen Murray

0:13:22:15

0:18:17:28

4

4

5

Denali

Michael Damelio

0:14:58:37

0:19:54:15

5

7

6

Bella PITA

Jim Grundy

0:13:47:59

0:20:27:53

6

8

7

Beau Geste

Karl Kwok

8

14

IRC B

1

Tonnerre de Breskens 3

Peter Vroon

0:15:21:36

0:19:07:23

1

5

2

Sjambok

Michael Brennan

0:15:02:26

0:19:40:22

2

6

3

Kalevala II

Tapio Saavalainen

0:20:01:12

0:20:48:02

3

9

4

Rim Shot

Russell Dunn

0:20:44:27

0:20:53:09

4

10

5

Hot Ticket

Jim Hightower

0:18:57:17

0:21:17:10

5

11

6

Santarella

James Scalise

0:19:55:20

0:21:34:32

6

12

7

AMHAS

MacKenzie Davis

0:19:44:34

1:01:58:53

7

13

Farr 400 intro

2011-01-12T05:53:00.001-08:00

Check out the boat at:

http://farr400.com

PRESS RELEASE
Premier Composite Technologies to launch new FARR 400
 Premier Composite Technologies and FARR Yacht Design to launch new FARR 400 in Spring 2011.
 Design utilizes the latest composite materials and infusion techniques to create a high performance, grand prix style one design racing yacht.
 Design allows for cost effective and easy transportation due to design elements that mean the hull can fit a standard 40ft flat rack container.
 Pro-sailor Dee Smith on board as Project Consultant.
Premier Composite Technologies, Dubai, Thursday 6th January 2011: Premier Composite Technologies (PCT), the leading global supplier of advanced composite components for the Marine and Architectural markets is collaborating with Farr Yacht Design to design and build a next generation, all carbon, one design 40ft racer. The 40ft, high performance design that has heavily involved pro-sailor Dee Smith as project consultant, will be launched from the PCT headquarters in Dubai in Spring 2011 with early orders to be delivered in late Spring/Summer 2011. The standard package price is from $395,000.
Built by the team of PCT who have proven experience in crafting one design yachts including the FARR 40, FARR (Mumm) 30 and Laser SB3’s, the FARR 400 has been engineered to push the boundaries of modern design and utilize the latest building practices to create an aggressive one design racer that is technically consistent, ensuring absolute equal performance across the whole class.
 All major geometry is created by precision 5-axis milling ensuring complete accuracy.
 The hull has been carefully modeled with a powerful fore body to increase dynamic lift reflecting the latest CFD research.
 A wide stern with a partial chine reduces drag and improves high speed handling.
 The deck layout is a proven arrangement developed from experience with the GP42 and TP52 fleets.
 The huge cockpit provides unfettered space for a crew of 8 and a standard pedestal. The pedestal will drive the primary winches allowing for high speed hoists, gybes, and douses (when using the inboard take down system.) The pedestal will also control the high aspect ratio lifting keel (2m/up and 2.9m/down).
 This keel arrangement provides maximum righting moment while still allowing access to shallow venues. With a ballast ratio of nearly 60% and sail areas to match, the Farr 400 delivers exceptional upwind performance in all conditions with exciting speed downwind and reaching.
 The Farr 400 is an all carbon/advanced composites construction that will be built using epoxy infusion methods to create the highest standards of quality. The vessel will be built and designed to Category 2 off shore regulations.
 The growth of Premier Composite Technologies and its competitive buying strength, ensures that the quality and value of the FARR 400 is unique.
Modern one design fleets require that the FARR 400 can be easily and cost effectively transported to locations around the globe. For this reason, special attention has been paid to both trailer transportation and container shipping. The trailer arrangement has been designed to eliminate the need for expensive trailer permits. With an overall length of 11.8m (with the 2.2m bowsprit retracted) the Farr 400 fits inside a container footprint without any major disassembly. The mast has also been designed to separate into two sections, effectively allowing the entire racing program to fit into a single flat rack container.
“This is going to be a very exciting class with a lot of performance for the cost: fun to sail with a crew of 8, a lifting keel for harbor access, and easily transportable between regattas. In Premier Composite Technologies, we have an experienced partner from whom we expect a high quality product”. Bruce Farr, FARR Yacht Design.
-Ends-
For further press details see www.farr400.com or contact:
Samantha Keen Hannes Waimer
Marketing Manager Managing Director
Premier Composite Technologies Premier Composite Technologies
+971 509 766 138 +971 504 405 577
sam@pct.ae hannes@pct.ae
www.farr400.com www.farr400.com
For FARR 400 Sales Agents please contact:
Farr Yacht Sales RBK Yachting
+1 410 267-6550 +49 89/673460-40
info@farryachtsales.com info@rbk-yachting.de
Boat Sales International AustralAsia
+44 2380 457966 +61 414 500 047
info@boatsales.co.uk salesausnz@farr400.com

RC 44 Miami regatta

2010-12-30T14:15:00.001-08:00

The Miami RC 44 regatta turned out to be one of the best. 14 boats racing, wind ranging from 5-27 knots. Everyone had a good time on and off the water. Some, maybe a bit too much fun off the water. That is one of the reasons you come to Miami. First time driver Doug Douglas won the fleet races. He sailed on 17, recent world RC champion. Goes to show that a good driver can step on a good boat and be competitive.

Check this video out, some great shots of the sailing in Miami:

We have 5 boats sailing in Key West in January. Dave Murphy will be using the time to tune up Ironbound a bit more. David has just joined the class and is loving sailing the boat against the fleet and sailing very fast upwind and down. The one thing that separates the RC from other sport boats is she goes very well upwind. Going 8 knots at a very high efficient angle get you to the weather mark fast so you can get to the real fun.

We will be having a private boat show in Key West. The boats will be docked at Historic Seaport Marina on Dock A 07-11.

I would be glad to show you around the boats and answer any questions you might have. If you are interested in a private showing of the boats, let me know and I can set up an appointment.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-27T16:30:00.000-08:00

Joc and I hope you are having a great holiday season, and we wish you all the best for a fantastic New Year in 2011. Despite both of us having a few health hiccups earlier in the year, Joc and I have landed on our feet and for Joc, finally without crutches!! For myself personally, I am feeling so much better and have been able to enjoy sailing, biking, golf and playing some tennis again. It feels great to be back!

Projects for 2011

RC 44 in KW and San Diego

Soto 40’s Med Cup & South America Regattas

Bella Mente and new BM 72 for 2012

Launch of Farr 400, March

Happy New Year

Dee and Joc

South America Life Style

2010-10-28T10:10:00.001-07:00

Just home from my second trip to Brazil in a few weeks. Again I went to Florianpolis to sail on Pajero, Soto 40 in the 4th and final regatta in the Mitsubishi Sailing Cup. After a long flight through Sao Paulo and a 45 minute drive we got to our hotel. Then the hard part started, walking to the boat every day. It was not too bad. As a matter of fact I could get used to this. The little walk way opened to this:

Then it just got better:

Not a bad way to get rid of jet lag. We did go for a very nice sail and worked on getting the boat faster. My main job was to come in and see what improvements can be made in the class and on our boat. There was 9 very evenly matched Soto 40’s sailing by some very good sailors. It was a long series of 4 different regattas and I can see after doing the last two why it is a lot of fun. They move the boats on their bottoms to these type of locations. The New York Times named Florianpolis the best party town of 2009. It is an island that grows from 400,000 people in the winter to 1.1 million in January and February. October was maybe early for the season but it was still beautiful.

We won the last event and moved from 8th to 5th going into this last regatta for all the marbles. The marbles was not just a pickle dish either, more on that later. We had an outside chance to win being 12 points behind. To make things more interesting there was 6 though outs over 22 total races. But you could not through out any races you did not start in the last series. This was to get everyone to do every regatta. A good idea for a new class. But the 4 boats ahead were well sailed and we would have to have some very good luck to break in to the top end of the fleet.

Back to the job, We used a few of my ideas to sail the boat in a different way. String drops and leaving the jib up down wind were the two big speed producers. The last practice day we spent many hrs on the rig. Like all other one design swept back rigs, it takes a bit of time to get the sails to match and to increase the range of the setting. We came away with a new setting that seemed to work. The next day we started with a 1,2,1 to lead the regatta by 4 points. This also moved us up in the overall total to 4th and now our outside chance was looking a bit brighter.

There was a lot of talk on the dock of our speed and sailing well. We took advantage in the first race by port tacking the fleet at the start. You have to remember that we were not in it for the overall going into the first day. So the other boats were watching each other a bit too much.. This gave us a few opportunities. The next day it was a bit different.

The first race on the second day was good. 4th to the first mark and using our new speed sailed around two boats to take a second. This gave us a 8 point lead and only 3 points out of first with two races left. Only problem was our luck. We had a starboard port with the boat that was leading in the next race, us being on starboard about 1 minute before the mark. Sailing in Portuguese for me is not too easy and we had a communication error when we tacked. The on the water umpires gave us a penalty that took us from fourth to last. We recovered for a 7th but it really killed our come back to win the overall. We went into the last race with a one point lead in the regatta.

With us out of the picture there were now only 2 boats that could win the overall series. That was Mercenario from Argentina and Negra from Uruguay. These boats were tied on points. We were in 4th one point behind Troben Grael but neither one of us could pass the other two boats. Mercenario was in second place for the Floranpolis regatta so we needed to beat them. Many options… After waiting for 2 hrs for wind the line was set for a 120 degree course, 5 legs. Very shifty and puffy. We wanted to go right but control Torben if possible and make sure we beat Mercenario. We thought Negre would help us do that.

We went off to the right, there was a shift and Mercenario cross to take control of Negre on the left. Torben on Mitsubishi was the furthest right and had the benefit of the 25 degree shift to take the lead. We were very happy to be in a strong 3rd at the mark and just had to sail a good race to win the series. Torben sailed this best race to win easily. We got around Pataonia at the finish for second but we were all watching behind, the big match race.

It is very hard to match race in a Fleet. Mercenario made a mistake by sailing themselves back into the fleet to cover Negre. Negre used this to get others involved and on the last leg came from behind to win, the biggest pickle dish I have ever seen:

yes they won the car too, you can fit a lot of marbles in there, thanks to Mitsubishi Brazil.

1 Negra (URU) - Nicolas Gonzalez - 42
2 Mercenario (ARG) - Luis Eduardo Silva - 42
3 Mitsubishi / Gol (BRA) - Torben Grael - 44
4 Pajero (BRA) - Eduardo de Souza Ramos - 46
5 Celfin Capital (CHI) - Jorge Errazuriz - 53
6 Cusi 5 (ARG) - Jose Estevez - 72
7 Patagonia (ARG) - Norberto Alvarez - 78
8 Ogum (BRA) - Revoredo Zeca - 89
9 Carioca (BRA) - Luiz Roberto Martins – 106

Getting back to the South American life style. It is Latin. People want to have fun and they do. Everyone has a good time and gets along. Sailing in places like this must help the attitude. For me, I can’t wait to go back…..

Dee

Flying in Brazil Video

2010-10-10T12:46:00.001-07:00

Check this out from ESPN Brazil

Next stop will be back to the south of Brazil to Florianpolis Oct 18-23. Voted best party town by New York Time in 2009… Sailing on Pajero with Eduardo Ramos’s boys again. Looking forward to some tight racing and learning more about these yachts. They are fun to sail on but much different than the RC 44. I believe the 44 is easier to sail well. The S 40 does fill a need down there where the taxes are very high to import boats.

We have a new plan for the USA RC 44 market. The first one for David Murphy is on its way to Florida as I type this. The Worlds are about to start in Canary Isles with 13 boats. We expect 14-16 boats for the first USA regatta in Miami December 7-12.

Had a chance to fly in Brazil

2010-10-07T06:46:00.001-07:00

Sailed Soto 40’s last week in Ilhabela, Brazil. Great place, fun people and interesting sailing. We had 0-32 knots of wind and up to 2.5 knots of current. 9 Soto 40’s sailed by very good South American sailors, including Torben Grael. I sailed on “Pajero” with Edurado S Ramos. We sailed to a 3,4,2,1 for the win and were very happy. We improved through the 3 days of sailing

The Saturday race was very windy, started in 23 knots and finished in over 30. 6 legs short legs proved to be hard on the boats. 3 boats had a good race, one had the spreaders fall off after a set and 2 other did not finish. The other 3 finished over a leg behind. We were very happy to survive and take a second. We were passing the boat that broke the spreaders, Negra, and had to wait to set the spinnaker. In that time the spinnaker rapped a few time and we ended up not getting it up the hole leg.

But on the last leg home with over 30 knots of wind, we flew,

and got wet,

I thought I was back in the Southern Ocean…

2010-08-01T23:53:00.000-07:00

believe it or not, these boats are going over 17 knots

Hi All,

I spent 3 days in Valencia and was able to sail on Deal Breaker with Russell and crew the first day and then watch the match racing the next two days. Valencia put out perfect weather as the first 3 days of sailing was 10-20 knots. Sailing with Russell’s group for a while was a learning experience. It is so easy to sail well as the boat’s balance is as perfect as I have seen in any boat I have ever sailed. It seems new owners to the class are quickly getting up to speed. As you can read from Paul Cayard’s blog below:

RC44 Valencia Cup
Paul Cayard
Sunday, August 01, 2010

The RC 44 Valencia Cup ended with two great races in 12-15 knots of wind on another perfectly sunny day.
Team Aqua put another great performance to win the fleet racing and the overall combined. Torbjorn Tornqvist finished second with his team on Artemis and BMW Oracle 17 was third. Onboard Katusha with Guenaddi Timchenko, we finished 6th in the fleet racing and 6th in the combined. Artemis was second in the combined.
So, it was a very good event for the Artemis Louis Vuitton Trophy team, with strategist Cameron Appleton on Team Aqua, Terry Hutchinson, Noel Drenan, Morgan Trubovich and Andy Fethers on Artemis and Robbie Naismith, Sean Clarkson and myself on Katusha.
Onboard Katusha, Guenaddi did a fantastic job steering in the steep chop and relatively breezy conditions. We have to keep reminding ourselves that he has sailed less than 15 times in his life.
Learning to sail while racing is a fast way to learn but it is also intense. Guenaddi is doing great!
Our next event in the RC 44 will be in Lanzarote in October. This event will be the World Championship for the Class.
The next event for Artemis is the TP 52 Audi Med Cup event in Cartegena, August 24-28.
For complete results go to www.rc44.com
Paul

Believe it or not, these boats are going over 17 knots in this picture….

The boats were both fun to watch and sail in the breeze hitting speeds of over 18 knots while in full match race mode. Racing was very close and there was a lot of smiles on the dock afterwards.

We are still working on getting #22 to San Francisco. We should have details about this soon. Stay tuned…

Now I am in Palma for Copa Del Rey on Bella Mente. We have been looking at new sails and practicing over the last 4 days and racing starts in a few hrs. We have 4 very good boats here, Ran, Container, Alegre and of course Bella. Bella, Container and Alegre rate very close and it is pretty much a boat for boat race. Ran gives up 1 minute 15 seconds an hrs, so has to get away from the other three. We expect a very close regatta.

Cheers
Dee

2010-07-01T16:27:00.000-07:00

Bella Mente Nips NYYC Trophy In Anniversary Regatta Win
.
Hamilton, Bermuda: Hap Fauth's Reichel/Pugh 69 Bella Mente took the top individual prize today in the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Anniversary Regatta. Fauth (Minneapolis, MN) had a battle on his hands from start to finish in both races with class 1 British rival Ran, a hot JV 72 sailed by Niklas Zennstrom, and from the Newport Bermuda Race St. Davis's Lighthouse winner Carina sailed by Rives Potts (Westbrook, CT).
Fauth took first place with a 2-1 for a 3 point score, Potts had a 1-3 for 4 points and Zennstrom was third with 3-2 for 5 points. Fauth and crew have won the New York Yacht Club Trophy for the top boat in this 2-race regatta.
The RBYC Anniversary Regatta is the third event of the Onion Patch Series. The series began with racing in the 156th New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta presented by Rolex on June 13-14 in Newport Rhode Island, included the Newport Bermuda Race that started June 18th from Newport, and concluded today in a brilliant finish off the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Marina in Hamilton Harbour.
Ran takes Onion Patch Series with better Newport Bermuda score
Ran was the individual winner of the Onion Patch Series in results posted today . Niklas Zennstrom scored 2-1 in the New York YC Regatta, 10 in the Newport Bermuda Race. and 3-2 in the RBYC Anniversary Regatta for a total of 18 points and wins the Henry B. du Pont Trophy for the best scoring individual yacht participating in the series.
Bella Mente came second with 1-2-13.75-2-1 and was only 1.75 out of 1st place with 19.75 total points. Third place went to Newport's Clayton Deutsch and his Ker 55 Sforzando with 26.5 total points in the subset of boats entered in the Onion Patch Series.
Five 3-boat teams were formed to compete for the Onion Patch Trophy. Coming first was the New York Yacht club team of Sforzando, Rambler sailed by George David (Hartford. CT) and Bella Mente. The Naval Academy Sailing Squadron... Flirt, Swift and Invictus... came second. The Storm Trysail Club Red Team... Carina, High Noon and Gold Digger... was third.
The Catherine Hollis Memorial Trophy goes to Carina the yacht entered in the Onion Patch Series that had the lowest corrected time in the Newport Bermuda Race. -- Talbot Wilson

Not sure I can add too much here. For sure it was two fun races and the lead from Ran and Bella changed offten. Very close. The first race we tied on corrected time. Can't get much closer than that. We boat look forward to the next race, Copa Del Rey the first week of August. The boats are sharing a ship right now to Spain. Look for more lose races there.

Dee Smith

2010-06-11T05:41:00.000-07:00

Tidetech.org to sponsor Dee
Smith Yacht Racing

I found this site and was so impressed with what they have to offer, I contacted them. We are now working together on a few programs. When you check this site out you will be see they have the most to offer in regards to current prediction and Grib files. Check into what they have right now for Newport to Bermuda Race at http://www.tidetech.org/ Use the code bellow if you sign up.

All is well for the RC 44 in Newport

Our very fast and fun to sail black boat has made a hit here. There are AC Oracle rumors and just, "what kind of a boat is that" comments. We have been out a number of times and I am really getting hooked. she goes upwind in any condition and downwind a dream.

Next week we will see if we can get critical mass...

Stand by

RC 44 #22 sails in Leukemia Cup in Newport

2010-06-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here at my desk, the morning after the Leukemia Cup race and Fund Raising events. I believe that our first race went well. The RC 44 was a pleasure to sail. I was very privileged to have on my crew Gary Jobson, tactician, John Gluek, main, Steve Benjamin, trim, Scotty Murray, trim, Rob Ouellette, grinder, Peter Henderson, pit and Dave Reed, bow. They all did a great job. Not only in the sailing but special thanks in helping to get the boat put together and race ready.

My report on the race goes like this. Great start, sailed well to the top mark at Beaver Tail. We sailed right into the 2 classes that started ahead of us, IRC and Swan 42’s, 10 and 5 minute leads. The start was in about 12 knots and then it dropped out to 7-10 knots against tide. As we all were just learning the ins and outs of the RC for the very first time, we could have sailed a bit faster with a bigger jib up. The cross over was at 11 knots so we went for the J2. On the run, in 10-16 knots we sailed quickly through everyone except Aera, a IRC 55 footer that has won many races around the world. At the top mark they were 11 minutes ahead, at the bottom, 12. But they did start 10 minutes ahead and had no traffic to deal with. Anyway, we rounded the bottom mark 12 minutes ahead for the first Swan 42, and about 18 ahead of the first Melges 32. Hard to see who was who, really as they were over a mile and half behind. On the downwind leg, as the wind filled from behind, we still sailed away doing 13+ knots in 15 knots of wind. Even in the 10 knots of wind we were sailing at 10+ knots.

On the way back, upwind, in 12-16 knots, with the right jib up this time, we sailed fast, but it was in the last 5 minutes of the race, we found the trim that lit the boat up. We jumped .5 of a knot and the boat took off. The learning curve is very steep and the RC just keeps telling you to work harder. I wish we had just one more day. Anyway, we corrected out 4th behind 3 Melges 32’s. They were over 23 minutes back in a 17 mile race. With just a bit more time in the boat, I believe we would be more than competitive with our rating.

Now, for the best news, we won the first place trophy for most donations of any boat. Our combined efforts raised over $15000. Scotty has been fund raising at this regatta for over 15 years. His fund raising efforts ( Unplugged Racing) added another 10,000+ to our RC 44 team pot. So our grand total combination was over $25,000. I want to mention here that Scotty’s has raised over $250,000, over the years working with the LC Cup. What a star.

The RC 44 has made a splash here in Newport. Next week Sir Russell will be here to show the boat off to many of you. I hope you all could make it and have a great time. We have one deposit on a boat and hopefully another tomorrow. Our goal is 6-10 boats and I believe we have a very good shot at that.

First potential client's comments on the RC 44

RC 44 sailing sea trials in Newport, RI
Bill Black photo

I have been here in Newport getting the new RC 44 #22 in the water. She arrived 2 weeks ago at Newport Shipyard from Hungary. We were able to get it sailing a few days ago. Last Tuesday Michael Dominguez brought his crew down for a sail. We tried to race in the Tuesday Night race but it was cancelled because of some thunder. We went out anyway and the next day Michael wrote to me:

Dee:

I really appreciate the oportunity to sail the boat. It was fun to sail and has the performance characteristics that I enjoy. While nor overly complicated is also appears to offer a lot of technical tweaking opportunities that will help accelerate my learning curve over time.

Best

Michael

We hope to get our US Fleet started in a couple of weeks when Russell Coutts will be here when we have a private presentation to a number of potential buyers. We will show to our clients what the boat and class is all about, from the shear fun of sailing the boat to the very well run regattas and Formula 1 of One Design Racing.

Dee

Dee Smith Yacht Racing becomes North American agency for the RC44

2010-03-07T06:19:00.000-08:00

This is a very exciting opportunity to start a new One Design Class here in North America. The RC 44 has proven to be a huge success in Europe and we feel there is a need for a boat that is both exciting to sail but cost effective to run here in the states. We already have many established teams looking to aquire a 44 and get this party going!

Another point of interest.... In 2010, after a great success of optimising and making Bella Mente competitive for 2009, Hap Fauth will be using the guidance of Dee Smith Yacht Racing to build a new Mini Maxi. Enjoy and please, send comments »

For more information about the RC44, visit http://www.rc44.com/
or contact Dee Smith by email deesmith@deesail.com
or phone (443) 955-8463.