New Aussie Melges 24 Team is a Family Affair

On the 13 October 2007, David Farrimond took delivery of his new Melges 24 in Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

‘Team Faz” have the ideal set up with David and his four sons ranging in age from 20 – 30 years old racing their new boat “Vitesse” .

David’s mother and a bottle of champagne blessed the boat at the official launch. As the wife of a merchant seaman this was an important part of the ceremony.

Two of David’s sons spotted a Melges 24 flying downwind in last years Skandia Geelong Race Week. They checked it out closely at a Boat Show soon after and said, “we saw you guys screaming downwind and thought we’ve got to get one of those.”

Scott Farrimond then flew to Sydney to race with Heath Walters of Melges Asia Pacific in the Sydney Audi Regatta on their M24.

The Farrimond’s family background is in displacement yachts, so their expectations were exceeded when on the first sail they were reaching at 19 knots, turning heads and having a blast, until David ended up with a dunking in the chilly bay……not for long though.

Racing out of Geelong, “Vitesse” will be right at home in this years Skandia Geelong Race Week, the first Australian Melges 24 Nationals to be held in January in conjunction with the Sports Boat Nationals.

Heath was impressed at how the whole family was involved, and are keen to learn more about the Melges 24 and racing them. As the Melges 24 is relatively new to Australia the entire fleet is learning how to really crank them up at the same time so there should be some exciting stuff at Geelong Race Week.