Extreme Sailing Series™ 2014 Act 5, Cardiff, Wales - Day 3
by Extreme Sailing Series 25 Aug 2014 08:15 BST
22-25 August 2014
Small breeze & big tactics takes The Wave, Muscat into pole position ahead of final Cardiff showdown
What a difference a day makes. If Saturday's Extreme 40 racing on Cardiff Bay was all about power, Sunday was about tactics and finesse, with light breeze dancing across the bay, at Act 5 of the Extreme Sailing Series™ presented by Land Rover. Just five points scoring races were added to the tally – but five all important leaderboard changing races – with the pressure piling on the teams to lay down a strong performance ahead of tomorrow's final day. One team with huge pressure on their shoulders in Cardiff is The Wave, Muscat, who need an Act win here to keep in touch with the top of the overall Series leaderboard and skipper Leigh McMillan more than rose to the challenge, adding 33 points to their score to overhaul Alinghi, and lead the pack for the first time, heading into tomorrow's racing. McMillan is well aware of what's at stake: "It's very important for us to win tomorrow. We've been on the back foot with Alinghi this season so far and it will be good to get one back on them, that's for sure. We're solid as a team, everyone's working really hard together so we are looking forward to closing this one out."
The forecast was for eight to 10 knots, but three races in it looked like a complete shut down with just light zephyrs of breeze across the track. The teams thought it was all over, before the breeze filled in quashing those fears, and their patience was rewarded with eight knots and two final races, allowing the fleet to brush away their frustrations and really stretch their legs. The change in conditions called for a change in mindset, as SAP Extreme Sailing Team's co-skipper Rasmus Kostner explained: "You just have to keep focused and be ready for a race to come in late, which I think we were. We knew what we were fighting for but we didn't execute it too well. It will be full on tomorrow, we are ready to fight until the end and really want to step up our game from today."
It temporarily looked like the wheels had fallen off the Swiss campaign today and we saw Morgan Larson and the team on Alinghi rattled for the first time this year, unable to touch the top half of the pack in the opening three races. But the team used the delay in racing to their advantage, digging deep, debriefing, and regrouping, to finish the day on a high with a fourth and second place. A visibly frustrated Larson commented after racing: "It went quite badly, we couldn't really do much worse. I didn't come out on form, my head wasn't clear and I wasn't making clear decisions and lost us a lot of points, which we didn't need. So it was disappointing, but the crew stayed tough and everyone was focused and we finished with some keepers. Luckily there is another day."
For the first three races, the top of leaderboard was changing with every finish; first McMillan overhauling Larson, then Ben Ainslie taking advantage of a penalty for Alinghi to temporarily overhaul the Swiss, before Alinghi's late surge secured them second place. J.P. Morgan BAR are now seven points shy of Alinghi, but with a fairly comfortable – but by no means untouchable – 20 point cushion over fourth placed Realteam. The Swiss skipper Jerôme Clerc was modest about the team's performance after racing: "We need to sail thinking about the team rather than focusing on the podium. We managed to stay consistent and climbed one place in the ranking to fourth position, which is good. We are sailing well but we still have potential to improve. We will need to stay focused tomorrow and avoid big mistakes if we want to be within the top three. We have been on the podium twice this year so it would be amazing to show the consistency of our team, which is far from being among the favourites of the circuit."
The battle mid leaderboard is also raging, with SAP Extreme Sailing Team only three points behind Realteam, Oman Air a further six points back and Red Bull Sailing Team three points behind them in seventh place – and with 20 points up for taking in tomorrow's final double points race, the podium is not an insurmountable challenge for any of those teams. There is frustration in the Kiwi camp for Emirates Team New Zealand, who have finished on the podium for the last three Acts, but for who tomorrow will be a big ask, with a 26 point deficit to Red Bull Sailing Team.
GAC Pindar are a further four points back, but were the form team of the day clocking up more points then any other, in what was their best day of the season, to gain a place in the rankings, teach the old dogs some new tricks, and give the team a boost in morale. "I think windward-leeward courses suited us today, we tried to stay clean and away from the main pack, get good starts and it seemed to work. The first three races we had really good starts, good positioning and got away. The aim was to keep our noses clean and get away in good shape," commented Aussie Olympic champion skipper Nathan Wilmot after racing.
Tomorrow will call with a shift in mindset, with a big weather front on the way, bringing with it 25 knots of breeze and thunderstorms to round out what has so far been a spectacular event as the headline Act of the Cardiff Harbour Festival. Watch the final races live from 1530 BST, where you can bet it is going to go down to the wire.
Standings after Day 3: (25 races)
1st The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Kinley Fowler, Nasser Al Mashari 172pts
2nd Alinghi (SUI) Morgan Larson, Anna Tunnicliffe, Pierre-Yves Jorand, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey 165pts
3rd J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR) Ben Ainslie, Nick Hutton, Paul Campbell-James, Bleddyn Mon, Matt Cornwell 158pts
4th Realteam by Realstone (SUI) Jérôme Clerc, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Bruno Barbarin, Bryan Mettraux, Thierry Wassem 138pts
5th SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Thierry Douillard, Jonas Hviid-Nielsen, Brad Farrand, Nicolai Sehested 135pts
6th Oman Air (OMA) Rob Greenhalgh, Ted Hackney, Kyle Langford, Hashim Al Rashdi, Musab Al Hadi 129pts
7th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans-Peter Steinacher, Mark Bulkeley, Shaun Mason, Stewart Dodson 126pts
8th Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) Dean Barker, Ray Davies, James Dagg, Jeremy Lomas, Edwin Delaat 110pts
9th GAC Pindar (AUS) Nathan Wilmot, Hugh Styles, Ed Smyth, Seve Jarvin, James Wierzbowski 106pts
10th Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) Igor Lisovenko, Phil Robertson, Matt Adams, Pete Cumming, Aleksey Kulakov 105pts
11th Groupama sailing team (FRA) Franck Cammas, Romain Motteau, Tanguy Cariou, Thierry Fouchier, Devan Le Bihan 99pts
www.extremesailingseries.com
The Wave, Muscat tops Cardiff Extreme Sailing Series leaderboard with a day to go while Oman Air holds firm (from Oman Sail)
The Wave, Muscat leapfrogged rivals Alinghi to go into pole position in Act 5 of the Extreme Sailing Series in Cardiff while Oman Air claimed another outright win to boost their campaign for a series best finish.
A lack of wind reduced the day's programme in Cardiff Bay to just five races but defending Extreme champion Leigh McMillan and his crew of Nasser Al Mashari, Pete Greenhalgh, Sarah Ayton and Kinley Fowler stayed patient and focussed and added another two podium places to their impressive tally.
These vital points nudged them higher up the leaderboard and eventually to the top, giving them a slender seven point cushion over Alinghi going into the last day which is expected to be wet and windy.
Consistency once again proved key and it helped that sparring partners Alinghi were unusually slow in finding form, McMillan said afterwards.
"We weren't winning any of the races but we were putting in some good performances, making some good gains and working well as a team which was all we could do," he said.
"Our main rivals had a worse day than us though not by much but it meant we jumped into the lead.
"Tomorrow is difficult to forecast but we shall treat it like every other day and be ready for anything but this is the first time all season that we have gone into the final day in the lead so we are pretty happy about that."
Rob Greenhalgh and his Oman Air crew of Kyle Langford, Ted Hackney, Hashim Al Rashdi and Musab Al Hadi are still to crack the consistency code and today mixed a resounding win with a couple of mid-fleet and 'bringing up the rear' results, typical of a newly-formed team finding its feet in a very tough fleet.
There was plenty to work with, said Al Hadi and the good results are a motivation for raising the bar, to finish in fifth position which would be their best result of the series so far, with a sixth in Qingdao the performance to beat.
"It wasn't as consistent as we would have liked," he said.
"We had a first and a last and a few mid-fleet results, but it was good when we were able to turn things around. Hopefully tomorrow, we will get more breeze and we can smash it."
The Extreme fleet have now completed 25 races in Cardiff Bay, where the Extreme 40 fleet action is staged close to shore, providing a superb viewing platform for "Stadium Racing". In addition, there is live music, street and open-air theatre, children's entertainment and sporting and food events since Act 5 is one of the highlights of the 2014 Cardiff Harbour Festival.
Absent With-Out Leave – the Wind (from J.P. Morgan BAR)
It was another long day out on the waters of Cardiff Bay for Day 3 of Extreme Sailing Series Act 5. However, after two long days with a record-breaking 19 races sailed, the wind barely showed up until the end this time, and only another five races were contested.
It was another steady day for the team aboard J.P. Morgan BAR, with a race win in the opener, followed up by a solid series of results to finish the day still in third place.
They now have a 14 point deficit to the new leaders, The Wave, Muscat, with Alinghi splitting the pair evenly, seven points ahead of J.P Morgan BAR. The rest of the competition is 20 points or more adrift, so there is everything to play for, with a good podium finish at stake in the final day.
It's been a big three days for the team's fifth man, Bleddyn Mon, a former Team GB 49er sailor making his third consecutive appearance at the Cardiff Acts. "It has been great to join the team," commented Bleddyn. "I have had experience before in this series. It has been a good few days of racing for us so far, and today has been another long day; although there were only five races there was a lot of sitting around.
"I guess I am the youngest guy in the team by a long way, but on the water we all have our roles and our jobs to do. It is fantastic to be in front of the home crowd; being Welsh as well it is great to be here with the home team."
GAC Pindar dominates on day 3 with four podium finishes from five races (from GAC Pindar)
On a day of racing impacted early on by light wind conditions, GAC Pindar were able to dominate the field with an incredible four podium finishes from five races, including their first victory of Act 5 in race 23 to leave them in 9th place.
Nathan Wilmot and his GAC Pindar crew continued their good form from yesterday with a dominant day of racing. As well as their maiden victory of Act 5, they claimed 2nd place finishes in races 22 and 24 and a third place finish in the first race of the day, to complete their best day yet in the 2014 Extreme Sailing Series.
GAC Pindar skipper Nathan Wilmot was full of praise for his crew, "Today was a great day of racing. The light winds made it tough, but the boys did a great job so we were able to build momentum throughout the day. We're delighted to claim our first victory of this regatta and post our best set of results yet. We've really gelled as a team and are confident going into tomorrow's racing."
The fleet set out in what were very light winds of 4-6 knots in the first race of the day. The winds remained light throughout the day, until the final two races of the day, where stronger winds moved into the bay and made for an exciting spectacle for the large Cardiff crowd.
GAC Pindar moved up to 9th in the standings with 106 points, sitting just 4 points behind Emirates Team New Zealand who sit on 110 points. The Wave, Muscat are top of the leader board with 172 points.