Mascalzone Latino is the Farr 40 European Champion

His compatriot Giovanni Maspero at the helm of “Joe Fly” fought till the end of this breathtaking Italian duel. But he finished the regatta short by one point. Wolfgang Schaefer, helmsman of “Struntje Light” from Germany, scored two second places on the last race day and finished fourth overall behind Olli-Pekka Lumijaervi’s “Siragusawa” from Finland.

“It was an incredibly tough regatta we enjoyed very much”, said Vincenzo Onorato as he received the cheers and congratulations dockside in Travemuende. “’Joe Fly’ gave us a hard time in every single race, but it is good to see others beating us also time by time.” Giovanni Maspero was one of the first to shake hands with the overall winner: “They were simply the best, sailing constantly on a very high level and faultless most of the time.”

The decisive moment came at the start of the penultimate race when “Joe Fly” was over early by 1.5 seconds and had to re-start. They managed to recover and overtake everybody except “Mascalzone Latino” and “Struntje Light”. An exciting match race between the two Italian protagnists in the tenth and final race led to both falling way behind the main fleet, but Onorato avoided allowing another boat an inch of space to jump in between this pair. “Joe Fly” needed a gap of two boats to win the title, but they finished seventh with “Mascalzone Latino” right behind.

“We have all greatly appreciated our time in Travemuende especially since Rolex has offered us brilliant hospitality in this fantastic surrounding”, said Geoff Stagg (USA) speaking for the majority of the participants. Stagg is the general manager of the international Farr 40 Class Association and organised this regatta together with the German yacht clubs, Norddeutscher Regatta Verein Hamburg and Luebeck Yacht Club. The event begun with a festive opening ceremony on the historic square rigger “Passat”, a flying P Liner from 1911, which was followed by an exclusive midweek dinner and closed with the prize-giving ceremony in the race village, a noble, white Mediterranean style Grand Marquee. “That was one of the best set-ups ever seen in a Farr 40 regatta worldwide”, Geoff Stagg commented.

The overall winner, Vincenzo Onorato, not only received the European Champion’s trophy. Peter Streit, CEO of Rolex Germany from Cologne, awarded him with a Rolex Sea Dweller Chronometer. Even having won the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship three times in a row, this award still is very special to Onorato.

The next Rolex Baltic Week takes place in Kiel from 5 to 12 July 2009. It will feature the European Championship of the Olympic Star Class for the second time; the first was in 2006. The Rolex Baltic Week is the only regatta event in Germany that is sponsored by Rolex. Other international Rolex regattas this year feature profiled events like the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup held from first to sixth September followed by the Rolex Swan Cup in Porto Cervo, Italy, the Rolex Middle Sea Race in Malta at the end of October and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race starting on Boxing Day in Australia.

Results of the Rolex Farr 40 European Championship 2008

Race 9: 1st Mascalzone Latino (Vincenzo Onorato/Italy), 2nd Struntje Light (Wolfgang Schaefer/Germany), 3rd Joe Fly (Giovanni Maspero/Italy), 4th Backbone (Thomas Kiær/Denmark), 5th Team Bergen (Sverre Valeur/Norway), 6th Siragusawa (Olli-Pekka Lumijaervi/Finland).

Race 10: 1st Arctur (Vasyl Gureyev/Ukraine), 2nd Struntje Light, 3rd Backbone, 4th Siragusawa, 5th Team Bergen, 6th Asterisk (Ole van der Heide/Denmark).

Final result of the Rolex Farr 40 European Championship 2008: 1st Mascalzone Latino (Vincenzo Onorato/Italy) 27 points; 2nd Joe Fly (Giovanni Maspero/Italy) 28; 3rd Siragusawa (Olli-Pekka Lumijaervi/Finland) 37; 4th Struntje Light (Wolfgang Schaefer/Germany) 49; 5th Asterisk (Ole van der Heide/Denmark) 53; 6th Backbone (Thomas Kiær/Denmark) 55.