Skipper Alberto Rossi and the Enfant Terrible team maintained their overall lead at the Farr 40 East Coast Championship, being held on the Chesapeake Bay. Photo by Sarah Proctor.
It was as wild a day on the Chesapeake Bay as you will ever find. There were massive wind shifts and huge changes in pressure. It was tough for competitors in the Farr 40 East Coast Championship to make sense of it all, but the remarkable fact is the top five places remain unchanged from the opening day.
Skipper Alberto Rossi and the Enfant Terrible team rebounded from a sixth in Race 3 by winning Race 4 then tacked on a third in Race 5 to remain atop the standings after two days of action off Annapolis. Rossi credited tactician Vasco Vascotto with making some super calls as the Italian entry posted the lowest score in the eight-boat fleet for the second straight day.
"It was very tricky racing. The best thing for our boat is that, in a crazy situation, Vasco understood what was going on. At the end of the day, he did it better than the rest," Rossi said.
Enfant Terrible has a low score of 14 points - two better than Barking Mad, which held onto second place thanks to getting the gun in Race 5. Skipper Jim Richardson pretended that he was rolling dice when asked about Thursday's sailing.
"It was a total crap shoot out there. The wind was so random and the shifts were so enormous. You factor in the current and the pressure changes and it really was difficult to figure things out," Richardson said. "We sailed well and got really fortunate at times. I'm pleased that we started well in every race and our crew work on the course was solid."
California owner-driver John Demourkas and the Groovederci crew maintained third place in the overall standings with a consistent line of 5-4-2 on Thursday. Cameron Appleton is calling tactics for Demourkas, whose decision to return to using his old North 3DL sails has proven wise.
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