April 20, 2008
by Mean Machine Sailing Team
20 Apr |
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Peter de Ridder, Ray Davies and crew add a brand new success to their sailing achievements, this time with a fantastic finish in the highly competitive Farr 40 class
Miami was the setting for some incredibly tight racing out on the waves this week for the Farr 40 Rolex World Championships. The final standings were unpredictable to say the least and it wasn’t until the fourth and final day of racing that the formation on the three podium steps became clear.
Peter de Ridder’s Mean Machine played a central role in this World Championship scaling the leader-board from 9th to 3rd place to take the coveted bronze step on the podium. The team with the characteristic pink flames climbing up the sail were in 9th place on the first day, fifth with two races to go and finally third in the overall rankings in this world class fleet.
The World Championship has been a fierce battle with the International Jury finally deciding that victory would go to Oronato’s Mascalzone Latino, now a three-time winner of this competition. Maspero’s Joe Fly took the second step on the podium.
In the end tactician Ray Davies’ crew notched up a second and seventeenth place finish, pushing them up to third place in the overall standings. “We managed to pull it off in the first leg, with a second, whilst our most direct rivals ‘Barking Mad’ and ‘Alinghi’ got stuck behind. In the second leg in the 2nd race we controlled them by sailing in the same piece of water, so that’s why we finished 17th,” commented de Ridder.
The skipper and owner of Mean Machine was full of praise for his team and was pleased to be adding this victory to the Mean Machine scoresheet. It’s an addition that the team knew was worth fighting for in a class where anything can happen.
The World Championships have been a veritable clash of the titans, and this podium is an important chapter in the Mean Machine team history. Among the scores were a first, second and third place finish over 10 fairly steady races.
This really is the cherry on the cake for the close of the season for the team which came back to the class after leaving in 2006. Right now the Mean Machine unit has a new challenge in sight: the 2008 Audi MedCup Circuit. Some of the team will be heading to Valencia for the hotly anticipated arrival of the brand new TP 52, Mean Machine number 22, due to arrive during this coming week.
Position, Team (country), Owner, Results 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10, total points
1. Mascalzone (ITA), Vincenzo Onorato, 3-12-1-14-3-5-6-3-7-9, 63 points
2. Joe Fly (ITA), Giovanni Maspero, 9-1-8-15-6-2-5-2-34DSQ-5, 87
3. Mean Machine (MON), Peter de Ridder, 24-3-9-9-14-1-14-9-2-17, 102
4. Nanoq (DEN), HRH Crown Prince Frederik, 13-15-16-20-17-9-4-13scp-3-4, 114
5. Calvi Network (ITA), Carlo Alberni, 6-9-12-33-26-14-7-7-4-2, 120
6. Alinghi (SUI), Ernesto Bertarelli, 8-14-6-6-7-20-9-4scp-32-15, 121
7. Ramrod (USA), ), Rodrick Jabin, 22-8-17-3-10-21-10-19scp-1-11, 122
8. Barking Mad (USA), Jim Richardson, 23-5-3-2-16-6-2-24-23-22, 126
9. Opus One (GER), Wolfgang Stolz, 15-16-21-1-5-23-22-15-12-1, 131
10. Nerone (ITA), Massimo Mezzaroma/ Antonio Sodo Migliori 19-19-2-29-1-25-13-21scp-5-6, 14
