Key West 2012 Observations

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