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Dominating the 2016 Farr 40 World Championship

Quantum-powered boats dominated in all conditions at the 2016 Farr 40 World Championships with Alex Roepers’s Plenty leading the sweep of the top four positions in Sydney.

Alex Roeper's Plenty at the 2015 Worlds. Photo by Sara Proctor.

Alex Roepers’s Plenty powered by Quantum Sails took the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship in hosted in Australia by the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. Plenty won the 11-race series, which was concluded on Sydney’s Manly offshore course, with a total of 34 points.

The top four boats in the final standings all had a Quantum inventory. Australian champion Transfusion,* owned by Guido Belgiorno-Nettis was second, Wolfgang and Angela Schaefer’s Struntje Light from Germany was third, with the Chicago-based Flash Gordon owned by Helmut and Evan Jahn in fourth.

Race conditions would be best described as variable. Plenty led the regatta from day one. Racing southeast of the Hornby Light off the Sydney coastline, a 17-23 knot southerly and big seas made for challenging upwind sailing and spectacular downwind surfing at speeds of up to 18 knots.

Transfusion and Flash Gordon tied on day two in moderate breeze between 12-15 knots and flat water. Struntje Light led on Thursday in very light air, while on Friday, with a moderate northeast sea breeze and big swells, Plenty and Transfusion tied on the day.

All-in-all, Quantum boats won nine of eleven races in all wind conditions.

“We carry four jibs, three spinnakers, and we used them all. Quantum sails shined through the whole range of conditions. I think the results really speak to how good the Quantum sails are,” says Farr 40 pro David Gerber, who was racing on Flash Gordon.

Terry Hutchinson joined Plenty in 2013 when Roepers switched to Quantum Sails. Since the switch, Plenty has won eight of twelve regattas, including two world championships and a North American championship.

Roepers was generous in his praise of his crew during the event saying, “Incredible is one word to describe them; cohesive, focused, disciplined, we have incredible camaraderie and talent.”

However, Hutchinson is quick to point out that over the years Plenty has always had a very talented and professional staff. “There’s an element of team dynamic that comes into it, but the reality is, if the sails weren’t any good we wouldn’t be winning,” concludes Hutchinson.

“Quantum sails are standard throughout the Farr 40 fleet. We have worked very hard at streamlining the designs and so every team gets the same sail designs. The goal has been to create versatile, user-friendly sails, and a mentality of information sharing between boats. We have worked very hard from a Plenty perspective to share our tuning information with the other teams as inevitably everybody gets better,” says Hutchison.

Gerber backs up that assertion. “I think the tuning guidebook that’s written for the Farr 40 is a great starting point. Right away you’re in the ballpark in terms of boat setup. I think someone can join the class and immediately go out and be competitive because the groundwork has already been laid.”

Quantum-powered boats were also first through fifth in the Sydney Open, a warm up race to the Worlds held February 11-13. Quantum boats retain control of the two major trophies in the class: Plenty holds the World Championship trophy and Flash Gordon owns the North American Championship trophy.

Congratulations to the winners!

Click here for full results.

*Partial Quantum inventory (upwind sails)

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The Discussion

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