Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 4 Cardiff - Day 2
by Extreme Sailing Series 19 Jun 2015 23:54 BST
18-21 June 2015
It was a huge day both on and off the water on day two of the Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 4 Cardiff presented by Land Rover, with thrilling 25 knot gusts delivering some of the best and most physically demanding racing of the year; whilst on shore Series organisers OC Sport announced the future of the Extreme Sailing Series will be foiling.
Cardiff turned on breeze, blue skies and beautiful conditions for racing today treating the spectators lining the Welsh shore to Stadium Racing at its best. Despite a number of minor damage delays interrupting the flow, the eight elite level Extreme 40 teams completed seven tough but satisfying races, sorting the men from the boys. Rising to the top with four race wins and two podiums finishes out of a possible seven, The Wave, Muscat were unstoppable and dominated the day, allowing Leigh McMillan and his experienced crew to significantly extend their lead at the top of the overnight leaderboard to 153 points. "It has been pretty relentless over the last two days and I think we have the same to come with these strong reaching conditions from the West," explained McMillan. "For us it was important to keep focused, which was quite a challenge race after race, but it was a great effort from the whole team making sure we kept pushing forward and trying to get those race wins and pushing as hard as we can the whole way through."
Current overall 2015 Extreme Sailing Series leaders SAP Extreme Sailing Team had an inconsistent day, at times just on the edge of control in the testing conditions. Despite that, the team managed to add 55 points to their score line by the end of the day, enough to gain a place in the overall ranking but still 21 points adrift of first place. Like many teams, tonight's debrief will be all eyes on The Wave, Muscat using the SAP Sailing Analytics [PDF] to decipher just where the Omani team found their consistency.
However the day belonged to British Olympian and Series veteran Chris Draper and the crew on board GAC Pindar. Draper's influence on the team in today's testing conditions was clear: in control when other more experienced teams were visibly battling with their Extreme 40s. Draper explained: "It was absolute glamour sailing, it was full noise on the boats, and you are kind of nursing them round but pressing them when you have to. I don't think we had as many hairy moments as we did yesterday but everybody was still quite cautious, but you had to be because you could really get yourself into a pickle if you did something radical!"
Co-skippers Draper and eight times 18-foot Skiff World Champion Seve Jarvin finished the day with four podium results and their first Act race win, moving themselves on to the podium in third on 128 points.
Leading the chasing pack and holding onto fourth place, Red Bull Sailing Team's Hans Peter Steinacher summed up the day: "The sailing is absolutely amazing, we love the breeze but it is also hard with the number of boats on this small course. The start is everything." The Oman Air boys struggled to find their rhythm, physically blown out from the previous days racing, dropping off the podium to fifth after a challenging day.
With more of the same predicted for the next two days the teams will need to dig deep to keep their performance high throughout the final days of glamour racing in Cardiff Bay as the free to enter Race Village gets into full swing over the weekend.
Standings after Day 2, 17 races:
1st The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Ed Smyth, Nasser Al Mashari 153 points
2nd SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Thierry Douillard, Mads Emil Stephensen, Brad Farrand 132 points
3rd GAC Pindar (GBR) Chris Draper, Seve Jarvin, Tyson Lamond, James Wierzbowski, Kazuhiko Sofuku 128 points
4th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Hans Peter Steinacher, Jason Waterhouse, Jeremy Bachelin, Shaun Mason, Stewart Dodson 122 points
5th Oman Air (OMA) Stevie Morrison, Nic Asher, Ted Hackney, Ed Powys, Ali Al Balashi 109 points
6th Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) Igor Lisovenko, Phil Robertson, Garth Ellingham, Alexander Bozhko, Aleksey Kulakov 104 points
7th Team Turx powered by Kaya Ropes (TUR) Mitch Booth, Can Bayulken, Selim Kakýþ, Diogo Cayolla, Pedro Andrade 92 points
8th Lino Sonego Team Italia (ITA) Lorenzo Bressani, Enrico Zennaro, Andrea Tesei, Tom Buggy, Stefano Ciampalini 74 points
Update from GAC Pindar
In perfect sailing conditions, Chris Draper and his crew made a fantastic start in the first flight of the day, finishing third, before another third place finish in race three. The only British boat in the series then claimed two second place finishes; before ending the day in style with victory in the last race of the afternoon.
With two days left in Act 4, GAC Pindar lies in third place with 128 points, just four behind SAP Extreme Sailing Team in second.
Co-skipper Draper comments: "It's a real pleasure to be sailing in such proximity to the crowd here in Cardiff and we're delighted to be challenging for a podium finish at the halfway stage. If we continue to get off the line well as we did today I genuinely believe we can claim GAC Pindar's first podium finish on the Extreme Sailing Series this year."
GAC Pindar Team Principal Andrew Pindar comments: "This week has seen one the best performances in our Extreme Sailing Series history. We're in genuine contention for a podium finish if we continue to progress over the weekend. It's a real joy to watch the team working so well together after just two days of competitive sailing. With similar weather conditions forecast we're hoping for more podium finishes tomorrow."
Update from Oman Sail
Leigh McMillan's The Wave, Muscat crewed by Nasser Al Mashari, Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh and Ed Smyth were super consistent securing six podium finishes out of seven races to close day two at the top of the leaderboard, 21 points ahead of closest rival SAP Extreme Sailing Team. Sister ship Oman Air started Friday in second place overall having had a fabulous first day, but found the gusty conditions on the Cardiff course a handful, not quite finding their stride. The team of Ali Al Balushi, Ed Powys, Nic Asher and Ted Hackney finished the day in fifth.
Olympic sailor and skipper, Stevie Morrison, was hungrier than ever to get back out on the water and racing again: "It was a tough day, the racing really comes down to the starts – yesterday we were brilliant and today we weren't so great, but we know from day one that we can do it, so we will brush ourselves off and get on with looking at tomorrow.
"It was a good learning day for us – it was the first time we have raced with a reef in for example... I always tend to look at the day that we were very good and say well guys, why don't we go out and do that again tomorrow."
Oman Air had a special guest onboard today when MyAnna Buring, a UK based actress who grew up in Oman, of Twilight and Downton Abbey (Edna) fame, came to Cardiff to cheer on the team. "I came to support Oman Air today, Oman is very close to my heart as I grew up in the Sultanate, so when I heard that they were going to be in Cardiff this weekend, I just had to come along!"
Leigh McMillan and the crew on the Wave, Muscat had an incredible day continuing the consistency that they showed on day one. "It was pretty relentless – the conditions were fantastic but exhausting at the same time," he said. "Everyone is pushing absolutely to the max but the difference for us today compared to other events and other days was that our starts were more consistent and we were able to convert that and we kept on pushing as hard as we possibly could.
"It was a fantastic effort by the whole team in making it happen – if something goes wrong, they are incredible at making sure it doesn't affect our results, we were operationally really good today."
Leigh welcomed OC Sport's exciting news, announced today, that the Extreme Sailing Series is moving to foiling boats in the future.
"It's fantastic news, the Extreme Sailing Series has been an incredible showcase for the sport and these latest developments of planning to go to foiling catamarans is really exciting, it's where the sport is going and OC have recognised that as the way forward and are taking the steps to make sure the Extreme Sailing Series is THE circuit to be on. I think it will be incredible to bring those kind of boats into a stadium environment.
"One of the most fantastic things about the Extreme Sailing Series is that they have amateurs and female sailors as part of the rule and that is something I really support, so I think if the boats are designed well then that is something that can happen for sure."
The final word of the day goes to Oman Air's bowman Ali Al Balushi who is no stranger to the ups and downs of Extreme Sailing: "Yesterday was awesome, today was not so, tomorrow is another day and it is not over until it is over."