21st February 2009
By Sam Crichton
Day one of racing at the 2009 Hamilton Island Farr 40 Australian Championship delivered a mixed bag of conditions for the nine boat fleet racing on Sydney Harbour. Current leader of the Australian Farr 40 Circuit Guido Belgiorno Nettis and his team on Transfusion are the leader after three races on day one with Lang Walker’s Kokomo a close second by one point.
The Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron is conducting the regatta and the two top owner/skippers are members of the Squadron, although Transfusion is sailing under the burgee of Middle Harbour Yacht Club.
“We had a tough day on the water today and as always in this fleet it has been really close competition. It was a hard day for tacticians and our’s, Tom Slingsby, did a great job getting us around the track without too many issues”, said Belgiorno Nettis.
The fleet got racing underway after a one hour postponement as they waited for the east nor east breeze to settle at 10 knots. Kokomo won the first race after a tussle at the top with Transfusion with Ivan Wheen’s Sputnik claiming the third place position for the race.
A Sydney ferry had a lot to do with the top two placing's of race two as it slipped in front of Transfusion and Kokomo causing the two boats to gybe in opposite directions to keep clear. Kokomo ended up the benefactor and took the gun for a second time in as many races.
Transfusion finally got to the front of the pack in race three and finished the day with the final gun. Brett Neill’s White Cloud sailed through Lisa and Martin Hill’s Estate Master to take second and finish up after day one of racing in third overall.
In fifth place overall is another Squadron member, Ivan Wheen, sailing Sputnik.
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