Sometimes the days can seem endless when you're spending time in a tropical paradise such as Miami Beach, Florida, but not so for the 33 international teams making last-minute preparations for the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship.

The regatta, scheduled for April 16-19 and the 11th in the Class's history, has brought together the top names in professional sailing that will be found alongside some of the best amateur sailors in one design racing.

After sailing in the Rolex Farr 40 Pre-Worlds (April 11-12) and another two days of further sail measurement, crew weigh-in and boat tuning; no one can be accused of slacking off before the big event.

Most teams put in full days of training and tuning and today, many can be seen out on the Atlantic Ocean lining up for practice starts and mark rounding maneuvers as boat-handling consistency is one main ingredient for obtaining the top 10 scores needed in each race to assure a victory in this cut-throat fleet.

One of the many boats turning heads during the Pre-Worlds series and the eventual winner was Goombay Smash (USA). With less than a year in Farr 40 competition, owner William Douglass (New York, N.Y.) couldn't contain his big grin moments after returning to the dock.

"That was a lot of fun," he said. "The Goombay always has fun, but I was told it was bad luck to win the Pre-Worlds. I thought you were supposed to save it for the worlds."

"Being a newcomer on the block, it is fun to try and do well. We're getting better. The conditions were tough. They were light and choppy and getting a good start was helpful."

Sounds like Douglass has already learned the magic words uttered by all Farr 40 tacticians including Goombay Smash's Ian Walker. "

The key to doing well is getting a good start."

Only one point separated Goombay Smash from second-place Ramrod (USA), with 2003 World Champion Nerone (ITA) one point behind in third.

"Second place is great," said Ramrod's owner Rod Jabin (Annapolis, Md.) of his boat's best result to date.

"We achieved everything we set out to do, which was to make sure our team, tactics and our boat speed was on the mark and I think we proved that. I am very, very happy to get second."

Also a relative newcomer to the class, Jabin credits his crew, especially tactician Gavin Brady.

"The real stuff is later this week. There will be a little bit more pressure and I couldn't be happier with how the crew has come together."

"We can walk around thinking, we can play with these guys, there are some very intimidating players here. We try to impress on the crew that we are as good as anybody out there, but we know we're just a bunch of rednecks from Annapolis."

"We can do it and what comes out of this is that if we focus and keep our heads down, then watch out. We're coming through."

Over the past 10 years there have been seven world champions and two owners have captured the title twice. Jim Richardson on Barking Mad (USA) in 2004 and the class's first world championship in 1998 is one; while the other is Vincenzo Onorato on Mascalzone Latino (ITA) in 2006 and 2007.

As the reigning world champion, Onorato admits to having his sights set on a third title in Miami.

"Being a double world champion is a lifetime dream. Farr 40 sailing is the best sailing on the planet," said Onorato who has most of the same crew as he did at the 2007 Rolex Farr 40 Worlds in Copenhagen, Denmark, including tactician Adrian Stead who also was onboard in 2006.

Although Onorato makes winning back-to-back world championships look easy, he will face stiff competition from the entire fleet.

Considered the most challenging one-design racing in the world, the Farr 40 fleet is known for its high level of competition. Make one mistake and any chance of victory can slip away. Consistency pays off and that is what Onorato will rely upon.

At the 2007 worlds where 36 Farr 40s competed, Mascalzone Latino scored all top-10 finishes in the nine-race series and finished 35 points ahead of Ernesto Bertarelli's second-placed Alinghi, with Jim Richardson,s Barking Mad in third.

Bertarelli has with him tactician Brad Butterworth and a core group that includes Warwick Fleury and Andrew Graham, who also sailed aboard Alinghi when it won the 2001 Farr 40 Worlds.

The boat with the fewest professional sailors onboard (with only one) and probably the one boat with the most to gain in this experience is Nimbus Blue (USA). Crewed by all midshipmen from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) and owned by Hunt Lawrence from Oyster Bay, N.Y., this is the second world championship for the boat after competing in the 2006 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, in Newport, R.I.

"Having practiced only one day together as a team before coming into this event, I think we did remarkably well," said helmsman Chris Branning .

"The first two races we had beautiful starts with clear lanes, allowing us to round the first mark in the top 12 or 14 boats. While some of our mechanics are a bit off the pace, overall we seem to be getting together as a team very well, and I think are poised to have some stellar finishes."