Finns win to Farmer

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34045, 8 January 1976, Page 10

Finns win to Farmer

(.N'.Z. Press Assn—GopyrtQh! I BRISBANE. The New Zealand Olympic helmsman. Jonty Farmer, forced his way back into the world Finn-class sailing championship contention with a decisive win in the fourth heat sailed on Waterloo Bas. • Brisbane, yesterday. Farmer, a smart tactician, ■stole the jump at the start and continued to increase his margin over the fleet as thev slogged into an 18-to-20-knot East-south-east wind and big seas. These conditions suited the heavyweight Farmer, who held a commanding 22sec lead at the first windward ,mark over Robert But let (Canada), with New Zealand's Bret de Thier, 21secs awas. third. The race produced one of the hardest tests in windward sailing of the series, and it was under these conditions • that the tough New Zealand skippers excelled. •Surprisingly, England's Chris Law, the points leader [with a 2-1-1 scorecard at the end of three heats, became far too tentative and was boxed in at the start, which caught four boats over the line. and ultimately disqualified. Law and Australia's John Bertrand, using almost identical technique in wave-riding, improved their placing to reduce the margins that Farmer held on them at the previous mark. When sheets were hardened for the second windward beat. Farmer was 22se< ahead of Bennett with Law only 7sec away third. The tactics shown by Farmer in relentlessly protecting his lead allowed vers little leeway for any of the back boats to attack On the remaining legs of the course, he just concentrated on maintaining his winning lead and conserving his energy in what appears to be an interesting fight fot the over-all championship re[sult. Results: Jonty Farmer (N.Z.) 1, John Bertrand (Aust.), 2, Chris Law (England) 3, Bret de Thier (N.Z.) 4, James Douglas (N.Z.) 5. Lennart Gustafsson (Sweden) 6.