Extreme 40's act 1

[Guest]

Thought id put in a different place.

 

Well I completely forgot about these guys as Im thinking about a number of other sailing events at the moment. Heres some info about act 1 and whos racing.

 

Danish Team Complete Act 1 Line-Up Starting Tomorrow…

Fighting talk on the dockside, find out what the sailors expectations

are ahead of the first day of racing for 2012

 

A new team in the form of Team Trifork from Denmark can finally

be unveiled today as the 8th team in the starting blocks for the first

Act of the Extreme Sailing Series™ 2012 in Muscat, Oman. The

team will be co-skippered by Jes Gram-Hansen on helm and

Rasmus Kostner, tactician, who both come from a World Match

Racing Tour and America’s Cup background, alongside the youngest

member of the team, 26-year-old Jonas Hviid-Nielsen on bow

combined with the Extreme 40 race experience of Pete Cummings

(skipper of the winning Extreme 40 team in 2009) and Simon

Hiscocks from the UK. It has been a long journey for the Danish

team that began a year ago as Jes Gram-Hansen explained:

“Rasmus and myself went into different sailing programmes like

RC44 and Farr 40 after the 32nd America’s Cup in Valencia but all

the time our dream was to create our own team. We analysed what

kind of circuit would be the one to go with, and with the changes to

the America’s Cup and the Extreme Sailing Series being more and

more the series to be in, we decided to try and build a team for the

Extreme Sailing Series. So we invested all our money into buying a

boat a year ago and then we spent most of the year in Denmark

taking out business people from companies to show them what we

love and what we think would be a good way to be involved in the

project. We have long-support from Trifork (a software company)

which we have in been a good relationship over the years along

with our clothing partner, Simon Spurr, to help get us here to the

start line in Muscat.”

 

The team’s expectations are as you would expect for the ‘newbies’

to the tour: “We have a lot of respect for the guys who have been

on the tour and some of them have sailed multihulls for a long

time,” continued Jens. “We’re here to learn and I’m sure we will

make some mistakes but we’ve got two great English guys with us,

Simon Hiscocks and Pete Cummings, so, hopefully, they will keep

us out of trouble! Hopefully, we’ll improve over the season with a

longer term goal of overall victory in a couple of years time.”

After various stints of team training up the Omani coast at

Massanah, the racing starts for real tomorrow, Tuesday, 28th

February, in Muscat. The live race coverage will start at 1130 GMT

on Wednesday (29th Feb), streaming on Thursday (1st March) and

Friday (2nd March). Glamour conditions expected and the sailors

are talking it up on the dockside…

 

Roman Hagara, skipper, Red Bull Sailing Team:

“We’re starting with a new team here with 2 new crew members –

new bowman, Graham Spence from Australia and an amateur sailor

from France, Pierre, sailing as our 5th sailor for this event – so we’re

looking forward it. We did some good training in Massanah and

we’re ready for the first Act. We’ve capsized here before on the Asia

Tour (09/10) then last year we made it to the podium. Our goal

here is to make to the podium again.”

 

Morgan Larson, skipper, Oman Air:

“We’re looking forward to having some fun with the new team and

doing really well. We’ve gelled really well with Will, Charlie, Nasser

and Max so I think we’ve got a really good team. The competition is

the highest it’s been in a while I think but I think we’ve got some

great sailors on board and we’re expecting to be up at the front

every race!”

 

Leigh McMillan, skipper, The Wave, Muscat:

“I think we’re in pretty good shape and we’ve done some good

training races but we haven’t raced in anger against any of these

guys yet. We hope to get on the podium and start the season well.

I think on paper Groupe Edmond de Rothschild maybe favourites

but we hope that by the time we get to the end of the season we’ll

be challenging for overall victory.”

 

Loick Peyron, helmsman, ZouLou:

“I’m happy to be back here after a couple of years… We are here

with a new team, good friends, good sailors although we have not

raced together and we have only trained for 3 days which is not

nearly enough. But the game is so interesting and so exciting, and I

think it will be more ‘open’ than last year. We will be quite safe – I

am fast but not furious!

 

Tanguy Cariou, Tactician, Alinghi:

“We all know the stadium racing is a very different game and we

will have some good races and some bad ones! We made two

training sessions with Ernesto in Massanah. I would say it is a new

boat for him, a new format but we are used to sailing together on

the D35 on the lake. There are new faces, new people and not all

the teams have had the same level of training - I’m pretty sure that

in Qingdao and Istanbul the strong teams will emerge but for the

first event I’m not so sure, it’s a shakedown.”

[Guest]

Losing a crew over the side hardly broke the stride of Oman Air, sharing the top of the leaderboard with French favourites Groupe Edmond de Rothschild...

American Morgan Larson, new skipper of Oman Air, had an incredible start to his Extreme Sailing Series career on the opening day of Act 1 in Muscat, Oman. The forty-year-old, a passionate surfer, who lives in Oregon, USA, has an outstanding sporting CV including 3 America’s Cup campaigns and 6 World Championship titles but few pundits would have predicted the outcome today which resulted in Oman Air sharing the top of the leaderboard after 6 races alongside pre-season favourites Groupe Edmond de Rothschild: “I didn’t really know what to expect to be honest. I know there are a lot of talented teams but I think the format of the sailing suits my style.” Modest on the day but when pushed there is an underlying confidence: “I believe we can win this, but we need podium positions at every event.”

 

Morgan Larson at the helm of Oman Air on day 1 © Lloyd Images

Tomorrow the 8-boat Extreme 40 fleet will race in stadium mode inside the breakwater, surrounded by the outstanding residential development known as The Wave and home to Oman Sail. Watch the racing live online from 1130 GMT for the next 3 days.

The question everyone is asking here – who will win this season? The French team skippered by Pierre Pennec is renowned for their form and have been overall runners-up for the past two years. “We won the event last year and it’s always good to ‘mark’ your territory so to be competitive 100% on day one is good,” said trimmer Hervé Cunningham. On paper, this is the team to watch. Available online tomorrow, Daily Sail editor, James Boyd’s, 2012 form guide.

 

Groupe Edmond de Rothschild in action on day 1 in Muscat © Lloyd Images

It was Leigh McMillan and his crew on The Wave, Muscat who scored first blood in the first race of the day. The conditions may not have been challenging with the breeze ranging from 6-10 knots throughout the afternoon and it wasn’t long before Pennec’s team took control to win the next 2 races. Race 4 delivered the drama of the day when Oman Air 5th crew member Max Bulger went over the side. “He somehow hung on to the rudder! I have seen a lot of people fall over board but I have never seen anyone hang on the way he hung on, it was quite impressive,” said Larson. He was quickly retrieved and Larson’s team of Will Howden, Charlie Ogletree and Nasser Al Mashari managed to regain their lead to win the race.

 

The new team on the Extreme Sailing Series circuit, Team Trifork, had their taste of their first real Extreme 40 competition and the Danish-led team loved it: “Difficult, lot of learning but lot of fun! We finished 3rd in one of the races and we were in the fight all the time,” said co-skipper Jes Gram-Hansen.

GAC Pindar, skippered by match racing supremo Ian Williams, were the new kids on the block last year but a year on and they are now contenders, ending the first day 3rd on the leaderboard.

 

GAC Pindar finish day 1 on the podium © Lloyd Images

Extreme Sailing Series 2012 Act 1, Muscat, Oman standings after Day 1, 6 races (28.2.12)

Position / Team / Points

1st Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA) Pierre Pennec / Jean-Christophe Mourniac / Hervé Cunningham / Bernard Labro / Adeline Chatenet 36 points

2nd Oman Air (OMA) Morgan Larson / Will Howden / Charlie Ogletree, Nasser Al Mashari, Max Bulger 36 points

3rd GAC Pindar (GBR) Ian Williams / Mark Ivey / Mark Bulkeley, Adam Piggot / Andrew Walsh 34 points

4th The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Hashim Al Rashdi, Rachel Williamson 30 points

5th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Matthew Adams, Graeme Spence, Pierre Le Clainche 26 points

6th ZouLou (FRA) Loick Peyron, Philippe Mourniac, Jean-Sébastien Ponce, Bruno Jeanjean, Antoine Joubert 22 points

7th Alinghi (SUI), Ernesto Bertarelli, Tanguy Cariou, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey, Pierre-Yves Jorand 17 points

8th Team Trifork (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Kostner, Pete Cumming, Simon Hiscocks, Jonas Hviid 15 points

 

More skipper quotes:

 

Ian Williams, skipper, GAC Pindar: “We really targeted trying to get the boat in the top 3 so it’s a great start and we’re in 3rd place not too far behind the leaders. The preparation this year has been much better, the boat is in better condition and the crew have been in training leading up to this so we’re feeling much more settled. The goal is to be inside the top 5 all the time and that’s what we’ve got to do going forward.”

 

Hervé Cunningham, trimmer, Groupe Edmond de Rothschild: “We’re pretty happy, we didn’t know where we were this morning in terms of performance of the boat and some crew changes so at the end of the day we are tied first with Oman Air so we’re pretty happy. Oman Air did a really, really good job. I know Morgan Larson and his crew and they are really good, so no surprises. We won the event last year and it’s always good to ‘mark’ your territory so to be competitive 100% on day one is good.”

Jes Gram-Hansen, co-skipper, Team Trifork: “Difficult, lot of learning but lot of fun! We finished 3rd in one of the races and we were in the fight all the time. The starting is the hardest point right as it’s quite different from the monohulls I have raced in my life.”

 

Morgan Larson, skipper, Oman Air: “I didn’t really know what to expect to be honest. I knew there are a lot of talented teams but I think the format of the sailing suits my style so I knew that would help a little but we have a long way to go that’s for sure. The race we won Max slipped off at the bottom mark, and he somehow hung on to the rudder! I have seen a lot of people fall over board but I have never seen anyone hang on the way he hung on, it was quite impressive. That was key to the day really, otherwise we could have been an eight point swing and wouldn’t be in the position we are in at the end of today.”

[Guest]

Live coverage is available in 20 minutes for the start of stadium racing.

 

http://www.extremesailingseries.com/console

[Guest]

 

Yesterday new skipper Morgan Larson ended his first ever day on the Extreme Sailing Series tied in 1st place with tour favourites, Groupe Edmond de Rothschild… Today his impressive form continued as Pierre Pennec’s team clung on to the top spot by just 1 point. Five different race winners out of 8 races on day 2, keeps the competition close… Read Daily Sail’s James Boyd 2012 Form Guide online…

 

Groupe Edmond de Rothschild in action on day 2 in Muscat © Lloyd Images

It was a game of cat and mouse on day 2, Act 1, Muscat as Oman Air’s new skipper, Morgan Larson, continued his impressive form to keep the pressure fully on the all-French team Groupe Edmond de Rothschild. Oman Air won the first race of day, the French team the next two, then another Oman Air victory – as the two teams traded places at the top of the Extreme Sailing Series leaderboard, now only separated by 1 point. It was not until the fifth race of the day by which time the breeze was starting to go light, that another team got a look in – this time, Leigh McMillan and his team on The Wave, Muscat.

 

Close racing on day 2 © Lloyd Images

“We did a really nice job on the more traditional windward/leewards,” said Larson after racing. “Then when the reaching starts came into play I didn’t really have the timing to well and made a few errors that cost us a couple of points. But all in all the guys are doing a great job, we would be really happy with a podium finish and that’s our goal.” The Wave’s win broke the dominance of these two front-runners and both Roman Hagara, driving Red Bull Sailing Team and Ernesto Bertarelli, new skipper on Alinghi, each scoring their first race win of Act 1 – for Bertarelli, his first win in his Extreme 40 debut: “We’re happy with the last race and winning it – to be positive in the debrief and look forward to tomorrow. I think everyone is going to win a race, I mean, the boats are fairly equal, everyone is quite good at what they do and the question is to be better than everyone else on average and we’re not quite there yet.” The Swiss team only just 1 point adrift of ZouLou driven by Loick Peyron in 6th place. But five different race winners out of eight races on the second day, keeps the competition close.

 

Red Bull Sailing Team racing in front of the race village on day 2 © Lloyd Images

On the short stadium courses, there was plenty of close racing and some boat to boat contact between the teams, which made for great online viewing from the multi-camera live race coverage that started today: “Sailing inside the harbour is very tricky especially in the downwind starts,” said Roman Hagara, skipper, Red Bull Sailing Team. “And the next days will be the same – it’s easier with a little bit more breeze but we have to deal with the lights winds also.” In the final race of the day, led by Bertarelli from start to finish, Groupe Edmond de Rothschild were penalized for not giving room to The Wave, Muscat at the downwind gate which, ultimately, cost the French the chance to extend their lead over Oman Air going into the halfway stage of Act 1.

 

Although this is only the first Act out of eight international events this year, James Boyd’s form guide reveals a more than close resemblance to the current form here in Muscat. “For 2012 we feel there is one stand-out crew, but with little to choose between the remainder of the teams,” said Daily Sail editor James Boyd. “Any of them are capable of getting on the podium this season. In short the fight for the podium is likely to be the tightest we have ever seen in the Extreme Sailing Series.” Read the full form guide online here.

 

Extreme Sailing Series 2012 Act 1, Muscat, Oman standings after Day 2, 14 races (29.2.12)

Position / Team / Points

1st Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA) Pierre Pennec / Jean-Christophe Mourniac / Hervé Cunningham / Bernard Labro / Adeline Chatenet 85 points

2nd Oman Air (OMA) Morgan Larson / Will Howden / Charlie Ogletree, Nasser Al Mashari, Max Bulger 84 points

3rd The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Hashim Al Rashdi, Rachel Williamson 72 points

4th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Matthew Adams, Graeme Spence, Pierre Le Clainche 65 points

5th GAC Pindar (GBR) Ian Williams / Mark Ivey / Mark Bulkeley, Adam Piggot / Andrew Walsh 62 points

6th ZouLou (FRA) Loick Peyron, Philippe Mourniac, Jean-Sébastien Ponce, Bruno Jeanjean, Antoine Joubert 51 points

7th Alinghi (SUI), Ernesto Bertarelli, Tanguy Cariou, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey, Pierre-Yves Jorand 150 points

8th Team Trifork (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Kostner, Pete Cumming, Simon Hiscocks, Jonas Hviid 35 points

 

Morgan Larson, skipper, Oman Air: “We did a really nice job on the more traditional windward/leewards, then when the reaching starts came into play I didn’t really have the timing to well and made a few errors that cost us a couple of points. But all in all the guys are doing a great job. It’s a challenge, when you can’t really see the wind and it comes and goes, to be consistent and do all the little things right. We would be really happy with a podium finish and that’s our goal.”

 

Ernesto Bertarelli, skipper, Alinghi: “I think everyone is going to win a race, I mean, the boats are fairly equal, everyone is quite good at what they do and the question is to be better than everyone else on average and we’re not quite there yet. We’re happy with the last race and winning it – it’s a good way to go home - to be positive in the debrief and look forward to tomorrow.”

 

Roman Hagara, skipper, Red Bull Sailing Team: “For sure, we were trying hard today but we also had a last place which is not so good. In the end we were quite happy with the 2nd place in the last race so overall a pretty good day. Sailing inside the harbour is very tricky especially in the downwind starts and the next days will be the same – easier with a little bit more breeze but we have to deal with the lights winds also.”

[Guest]

[Megwyn 2]

We're running out of water!

 

Did you hear that too? Strident tone.

He still had to repeat himself. (why does that feel familiar?)

[Guest]

Groupe Edmond de Rothschild lead going into the final day of Act 1 but Oman Air are just one point off first place. Tomorrow the finale with at least five teams in contention for the podium…

 

The penultimate day of the Extreme Sailing Series, Act 1 in Muscat, Oman saw the wind speed ratchet up a few knots, as did the competition. The intense head to head between Groupe Edmond de Rothschild and the impressive new team on Oman Air continued unabated and, once again, only 1 point separates these two teams going into the final day of Act 1, in favour of the French favourites. “Radical!” said Morgan Larson back on the dockside. “It was an entertaining day definitely. We knew we might struggle a bit when the breeze came up… Today has tightened the field up a lot with Red Bull, GAC Pindar and The Wave right on our heels…” There could not be two more contrasting skippers in the laid-back, stocky, surf-loving Californian and the intense, focused, slightly built Pierre Pennec. It’s going to make for an outstanding final day tomorrow with three other teams in the hunt for the podium snapping at their heels. All the action will be streamed live online, starting earlier than usual at 1030GMT.

 

The Extreme 40 racing started in around 9 knots of wind that increased to 12 then 14 knots delivering plenty of hull-flying action and close combat at the top mark. Reaching start, 100m sprint to the top mark, 6 Extreme 40s screaming into the mark got the adrenalin pumping for the sailors and spectators. It made the racing full-on for the 8 Extreme 40 teams on the short, sharp stadium race courses with reaching starts that caught out the new and less experienced skippers where timing the fast approach to the start line demands accuracy and skill, punishing those who get it wrong. The tight stadium action resulted in numerous penalties and a few scrapes, whilst Alinghi found themselves entangled with the race mark on two occasions

 

Getting a taste of the Extreme 40 action was Omani footballer, Saad al-Mukhaini, who was celebrating his team’s win against Thailand the night before to continue on their World Cup qualifying journey. Al-Mukhaini, who is taking part in the Arsenal selection trials, went racing with Oman Air and watching the racing was His Highness Sayyid Tariq bin Shabib Al Said, of the Sultanate of Oman royal family.

 

Pierre Pennec’s team scored the first win of the day but could only claim one more race win out of the 8 races today, as the other teams jostled for places at the front. Loick Peyron’s team on Zoulou won the second race, Alinghi the third, then GAC Pindar who are showing bursts of fantastic form in their second season of racing. In the next race GAC Pindar crewman Mark Bulkeley suffered a minor head injury, diverting the crew’s attention as Pennec claimed the win: “Coming in for a hoist, the spinnaker gets thrown round the shroud to keep it out of the way,” explained Bulkeley. “And the furling unit just caught me on the side of the head – there was a bit of blood but nothing too serious.” With Bulkeley’s head injury attended to the British team bounced back to win the next race. Leigh McMillan’s team on The Wave, Muscat did enough to maintain their 3rd position on the leaderboard: “We managed to keep it quite clean,” said Brit McMillan. “We only get 1 penalty today – we got too close to Red Bull and took a penalty but that’s what the racing was like today. We’re getting into a good place and we’re hoping to go out tomorrow and finish it off.” Roman Hagara’s Red Bull Sailing Team also managed to hold on to their 4th place ahead of GAC Pindar going into the final day of Act 1 tomorrow. As always, plenty of points to play for and a double-points final race decider.

 

Racing will start an hour earlier than scheduled tomorrow at 0900 GMT (1300 local time) to take advantage of the good winds forecast and the live streaming will start at 1030 GMT so you can follow the action all the way to the end.

 

Extreme Sailing Series 2012 Act 1, Muscat, Oman standings after Day 3, 22 races (1.3.12)

Position / Team / Points

 

1st Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA) Pierre Pennec / Jean-Christophe Mourniac / Hervé Cunningham / Bernard Labro / Adeline Chatenet 121 points

2nd Oman Air (OMA) Morgan Larson / Will Howden / Charlie Ogletree, Nasser Al Mashari, Max Bulger 120 points

3rd The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Hashim Al Rashdi, Rachel Williamson 116 points

4th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Matthew Adams, Graeme Spence, Pierre Le Clainche 110 points

5th GAC Pindar (GBR) Ian Williams / Mark Ivey / Mark Bulkeley, Adam Piggot / Andrew Walsh 102 points

6th ZouLou (FRA) Loick Peyron, Philippe Mourniac, Jean-Sébastien Ponce, Bruno Jeanjean, Antoine Joubert 85 points

7th Alinghi (SUI), Ernesto Bertarelli, Tanguy Cariou, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey, Pierre-Yves Jorand 74 points

8th Team Trifork (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Kostner, Pete Cumming, Simon Hiscocks, Jonas Hviid 64 points

 

Quotes from the sailors:

 

Morgan Larson, skipper, Oman Air: “Radical! It was an entertaining day definitely. We knew we might struggle a bit when the breeze came up with me and my timing, mainly it was the starting as I didn’t have any training on the reaching starts and I need a lot! I guess when you go out there and do 8 races, you can some practice, and finally in the last race I got it. It’s a challenge, there’s a lot of team pushing hard and it can go either way on the start if you get it one second wrong you get shot out the back or over early. Today has tightened the field up a lot with Red Bull and Pindar, and The Wave who had an awesome day, are right on our heels and anyone can still win this one.”

 

Tanguy Cariou, tactician, Alinghi: “It was tough and too many marks too round! It was the first ‘real’ Extreme stadium day as yesterday was quite light and longer races. Today was a lot more intense with the course and the reaching starts. From the start full-speed on 16-17 knots boat speed and it was a tough day for us. As a team we have so many things to learn to be efficient.”

 

Leigh McMillan, skipper, The Wave, Muscat: “The firsts reach was only about 100m long so we always came to the first mark, 3 or 4 boats wide, gennakers unfurling, lots of close contact manoeuvres, full on! We managed to keep it quite clean, only get 1 penalty today – we got to close to Red Bull and took a penalty but that’s what the racing was like today. We’re getting into a good place and we’re hoping to go out tomorrow and finish it off.”

 

Mark Bulkeley, mainsheet, GAC Pindar: “Coming in for a hoist, the spinnaker gets thrown round the shroud to keep it out of the way and the furling unit just caught me on the side of the head – there was a bit of blood but nothing too serious. We had four good races and four not so good races today – it was a hard race course to get back in if you got it wrong.”

 

Heres a 12 minute video of racing last night.

 

[Guest]

Massive Omani celebrations at The Wave, Muscat as Oman Air and The Wave score a one-two, squeezing out the French team of Groupe Edmond de Rothschild who had finished every day but the last on top

 

Going into the first Act of the Extreme Sailing Series 2012, the all-French team of Groupe Edmond de Rothschild led by Pierre Pennec were favourites on paper and few would have predicted the final outcome that saw Morgan Larson’s team on Oman Air triumph in their debut here in Muscat, Oman. Four teams were in contention for the podium going into the final double-points race – the new Danish entry, Team Trifork, won the race, but Oman Air did enough to secure victory after an intense battle with the favourites. Leigh McMillan’s team on The Wave, Muscat muscled their way into the two-way fight and raced brilliantly on the final day to finish 2nd overall ahead of Groupe Edmond de Rothschild with Austria’s Roman Hagara (Red Bull) in fourth, having been just one point behind the French going into the final race.

 

“It’s an amazing feeling! It was a challenging week and obviously our learning curve was quite steep,” said Larson. “But this was really hard racing and any team could have won going into those last couple of races and we were just lucky they went well for us.” Morgan Larson’s team that includes four-time Olympian Charlie Ogletree and Max Bulger from the States, Britain’s Will Howden and Omani Nasser Al Mashari competing in his second Extreme 40 season, held on to a marginal lead from the opening race today but in the fourth race of the day the pressure mounted… Pushed over the line at the start, Oman Air had to restart and trailed the fleet, Larson’s team finished 7th leaving them on equal points with The Wave, Muscat and Groupe Edmond de Rothschild 2 points adrift. In the next race, won by Loick Peyron’s team on ZouLou, McMillan’s team finished ahead of their teammates and pulled ahead by 1 point. By the end of the penultimate race the two Oman Sail teams were back on equal points going into the final double-point decider and Pennec’s team had to win the final race with Oman Air and The Wave, Muscat finishing no better than 6th place. It was too tall an order for the French favourites who managed to get ahead of their rivals to finish the race in 2nd but Oman Air crossed the finish line in 3rd to clinch overall victory after 4 days and 29 races.

 

“Surely I feel disappointed about not having sailed well today,” said Pierre Pennec, skipper, Groupe Edmond de Rothschild. “But this is the nature of the sport and even if this sounds strange, I feel very happy about this week’s competition. I really enjoyed being on the water and despite the fact that this is my fourth year in the Extreme Sailing Series, we have learned a lot in these last few days. My new crew sailed here for the first time and they have shown great human, mental and technical potential. I think it’s fantastic that the two top crews here in Muscat are the local teams. They are going to be seriously competitive this season.”

 

It proved to be a thrilling opening Act to the season and, after five years of Extreme Sailing Series competition, there is a feeling that 2012 is going to be one of the closest yet. “It’s up to us to catch up and be competitive in China because the goal is to win overall. Third is still a good result – it could be worse! It’s a warning for us,” said Hervé Cunningham, tactician Groupe Edmond de Rothschild. Next stop China – Act 2, Qingdao 17th-20th April.

 

Extreme Sailing Series 2012 Act 1, Muscat, Oman standings after Day 4, 29 races (2.3.12)

Position / Team / Points

 

1st Oman Air (OMA) Morgan Larson / Will Howden / Charlie Ogletree, Nasser Al Mashari, Max Bulger 165 points

2nd The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Hashim Al Rashdi, Rachel Williamson 159 points

3rd Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA) Pierre Pennec / Jean-Christophe Mourniac / Hervé Cunningham / Bernard Labro / Adeline Chatenet 155 points

4th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Matthew Adams, Graeme Spence, Pierre Le Clainche 148 points

5th GAC Pindar (GBR) Ian Williams / Mark Ivey / Mark Bulkeley, Adam Piggot / Andrew Walsh 138 points

6th ZouLou (FRA) Loick Peyron, Philippe Mourniac, Jean-Sébastien Ponce, Bruno Jeanjean, Antoine Joubert 111 points

7th Alinghi (SUI), Ernesto Bertarelli, Tanguy Cariou, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey, Pierre-Yves Jorand 109 points

8th Team Trifork (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Kostner, Pete Cumming, Simon Hiscocks, Jonas Hviid 95 points

 

Quotes from the sailors:

 

Morgan Larson, skipper, Oman Air: “It’s an amazing feeling! It was a challenging week and obviously our learning curve was quite steep. But this was really hard racing and any team could have won going into those last couple of races and we were just lucky they went well for us. I’m sure there was a bit of beginner’s luck to this one and we just dug in and focused hard but I know its going to be a challenging season and we’ll get tougher conditions thrown at us and for sure we’re going to have to eat a few of them and we’re just need to keep enjoying the sailing as I think that was the key to our success working together. We knew if we held our position things would be good but in these boats you never know what can happen so you just have to keep on pushing all the way to the finish.”

 

Leigh McMillan, skipper, The Wave, Muscat: “All day long – we had some really great races, posted a win and some second places, but we couldn’t get away as they all just putting in good results as well. It was really tight and we’re very happy to get second, it came down to a very close light wind race and we got sucked in to a fight mid-fleet and Oman Air got away. But we’re really happy they got their win and it’s great for Oman as a whole.”

 

Hervé Cunningham, tactician, Groupe Edmond de Rothschild: “Some days you have days like this when nothing comes your way. I’m not looking for excuses but on board today nothing comes our way, it’s not working, bad rhythm, you just wake up a feel like something is wrong and it just shows on the water. The result was not good – few OCS’, too many penalties and lack of confidence because the team is old but it is a new crew. Hats off to Oman Air and The Wave. I understand that we are favourites but inside the team it is a new crew so there is no miracle, we are not as good as we were last year and the other guys have done better than us. They managed to sail at a higher level than us so its up to us to catch up and be competitive in China because the goal is to win overall. Third is still a good result – it could be worse! It’s a warning for us – it’s not going to be easy this year.”

 

Pierre Pennec, skipper, Groupe Edmond de Rothschild: “Surely I feel disappointed about not having sailed well today, but this is the nature of the sport and even if this sounds strange, I feel very happy about this week’s competition. I really enjoyed being on the water and despite the fact that this is my fourth year in the Extreme Sailing Series, we have learned a lot in these last few days. My new crew sailed here for the first time and they have shown great human, mental and technical potential. I think it’s fantastic that the two top crews here in Muscat are the local teams. They are going to be seriously competitive this season.”

 

Ian Williams, skipper, GAC Pindar: “We’re a bit disappointed with the overall result of 5th as I think maybe we deserve better. We were way off the pace on day two and those were the 20 points we gave away to pretty much everybody and after that it was very tough to get back.”

 

Roman Hagara, skipper, Red Bull Sailing Team: “The team did a good job but we had a few problems with communications and boat handling. We always worked hard in the races and came up from the back for the last race was not the best for us in the end but that’s the sport.”

 

Ernesto Bertarelli, skipper, Alinghi: “It was fantastic, fantastic. For me it’s great, a different format but I learnt so much every day, every race, it’s what I’m here for. I’m here to experience something different, something the excitement of this format and I really enjoyed myself. It’s close, it’s not very different from a normal regatta, it’s just that everything happens so much faster. In a normal regatta you have close contact or tactical situation with a boat maybe every 10 minutes, here it is every 15 seconds!”