Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 6, Saint Petersburg - Day 3
by Extreme Sailing Series 22 Aug 2015 23:04 BST
20-23 August 2015
Lino Sonego Team Italia eye first ever podium, as The Wave, Muscat rule the waves in Russia
The Wave, Muscat sailed a text book penultimate day at the Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 6, Saint Petersburg presented by SAP, adding an impressive 65 points to their score line over eight races. Helm Leigh McMillan now holds a 20-point buffer at the top of the leaderboard going into the final day of racing on the River Neva tomorrow.
On the dock, McMillan was quietly pleased with his day: "We made the best of all the opportunities and were in the right spots at the right time, it just worked today. We've got different conditions on the forecast tomorrow so we just have to keep our focus all the way to the end."
After a strong start to the Russian Act leading at the end of the opening day, Red Bull Sailing Team, helmed by Austria's legendary Olympic sailor Roman Hagara, today struggled to find their flow. Three low scoring races in the middle of the day saw the team almost lose their grip on the podium, only just holding on to second place by one point, on 161 at the close of play.
Giving the Austrians a run for the their money, Lino Sonego Team Italia exploded on to the racetrack this morning with back-to-back wins on the tricky tidal course. In the fluctuating six knot breeze the duo of Enrico Zennaro as skipper and Switzerland's Arnaud Psarofaghis on helm continued their sparkling form with a string of podium results, finishing the day one point off second place Red Bull Sailing Team in third place.
The Italian's now have an eye firmly fixed on their first ever top-three finish, since joining the fleet at the beginning of the year. Zennaro said: "We want this. It felt like Red Bull Sailing Team performed better than us today, but on points we actually did better. Tomorrow will be our day and we hope to stay on the podium."
Elsewhere in the fleet, Oman Air hover 13 points off the podium in fourth on 147 with SAP Extreme Sailing Team one point behind in fifth. GAC Pindar had an exceptional day, second on the day's leaderboard only to The Wave, Muscat, giving the British-flagged boat a well deserved confidence boost and gaining a place on the leaderboard moving up to sixth at the close of play.
"It's been a real learning curve for me figuring out what I can and can't do driving this boat, some tough lessons and tough points," explained new helm Kiwi Adam Minoprio. "But I'm learning fast and hopefully we can kick some ass tomorrow."
Home favourites Gazprom Team Russia suffered a string of last place finishes today, dropping down the leaderboard to seventh with Team Turx rounding up the rankings in eighth.
As the sixth stop on the eight Act global tour, the Series is well and truly into the business end, and one man who is clearly focused on the bigger picture is Leigh McMillan. In the final races today the crowds that lined the beach at the Peter and Paul Fortress witnessed McMillan hunt his biggest rival for the overall Series title, Danish team SAP Extreme Sailing Team, around the track, seemingly trying to push the Danes as far down the rankings as possible. Currently 20 points off The Wave, Muscat in fifth and with a target on their back, the Danes will need to work hard tomorrow to keep McMillan in their sites.
The final day of the Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 6, Saint Petersburg presented by SAP, including the all to play for double points final race, kicks off tomorrow from 14.30 (GMT+3) with live coverage from 16.00 (GMT+3) on the YachtsandYachting.com homepage.
Results after Day 3: (23 races)
1st The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Ed Smyth, Nasser Al Mashari 185pts
2nd Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans-Peter Steinacher, Shaun Mason, Stewart Dodson, Kate Macgregor 161pts
3rd Lino Sonego Team Italia (ITA) Enrico Zennaro, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Bryan Mettraux, Nevio Sabadin, Tom Buggy 160pts
4th Oman Air (OMA) Stevie Morrison, Nic Asher, Ted Hackney, Ed Powys, Ali Al Balashi 147pts
5th SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Thierry Douillard, Mads Emil Stephensen, Brad Farrand 145pts
6th GAC Pindar (GBR) Adam Minoprio, Seve Jarvin, Joel Turner, James Wierzbowski, Adam Piggot 140pts
7th Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) Igor Lisovenko, Phil Robertson, Garth Ellingham, Alexander Bozhko, Aleksey Kulakov 138pts
8th Team Turx (TUR) Mitch Booth, Tom Dawson, Diogo Cayolla, Can Bayülken, Henry Bomby 117pts
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The Wave, Muscat on the hunt for a hat-trick and Oman Air up two places on St Petersburg leaderboard (from Oman Sail)
The Wave, Muscat hopes to claim a hat-trick of Extreme Sailing Series wins after dominating the action on the third day of racing in St Petersburg to stretch their lead at the top of the table while Oman Air rose two places in the rankings.
On an exceptional day for both Oman Sail's Extreme 40 crews, a total of 10 podium places were achieved including two outright victories for Stevie Morrison's Oman Air and one for the crew on The Wave, Muscat.
By the end of the day, two-time Extreme champion McMillan had extended The Wave, Muscat's lead over second placed Red Bull to a sizeable 24 points which according to the skipper put them in a good position to close down an overall victory on the final day.
"We have had a very good day and our plan is to hold firm to the end to make it three victories in a row following our wins in Cardiff and Hamburg and match what we did three years ago," said McMillan.
"Everyone was in sync today, working really well together and putting into practice what we have learned. But tomorrow is the last day and we can take nothing for granted because the wind will be blowing in a different direction which is bound to mix things up a bit."
One of McMillan's key crewmembers Sarah Ayton said they were revelling in the conditions on the River Neva and enjoying racing together as a team.
"These results today reflect the really good teamwork on The Wave, Muscat with Leigh and Pete Greenhalgh at the back and Nasser Al Mashari on the bow – it is really high energy and very enjoyable."
Spirits were high too on Oman Air who at the start of the day were lying in sixth place overall but by the close had risen two places to fourth, after scooping two wins in nine races with two other podium places added to boost their score.
"We had a good day's racing and for once, our results reflected our performance!" said skipper Stevie Morrison.
"Luck plays a part in this sort of racing and today a couple of gaps opened up that we were able to capitalise on so we kept chipping away. As a crew we are definitely understanding the boat better and feel we are sailing well."
Omani bowman Ali Al Balushi, who is new to the Extreme Sailing Series this year, was also getting a taste for success and looking ahead to what they might be able to achieve on the last day, including the final double points race.
"There are 13 points between us and Lino Sonego Team Italia but if we sail well and post some good performances, we will be pushing for a podium place," he said.
"We feel like we are sailing well and getting better all the time. It will be tight but we will be doing everything we can to close the gap and win our first podium place."
GAC Pindar find their rhythm on podium filled third day in St Petersburg (from GAC Pindar)
GAC Pindar showed what they are truly capable of on the third day of The Extreme Sailing Series in St Petersburg with a dominant display of racing. The crew claimed two first placed finishes taking maximum points in race 19 and 23.
Their victory in the final race of the day was representative of their racing all day long, using clever tactics and excellent execution to manoeuvre themselves into a dominant position and then holding off their rivals through to the finish line.
They claimed a further two top three finishes and were involved in a number of incredibly close races in which they narrowly missed out on the podium places to move up the leader board and finish the day in 6th place overall on 140 points, just two points behind SAP in fifth.
The team's performance today was in stark contrast to their performance on day two, where they struggled for consistency and form. Skipper Adam Minoprio commented: "That was much more like it. We were really disappointed with our performances yesterday so we were determined to come out today and prove ourselves. We really found a good rhythm today and proved what we are capable of when we get it right. We're looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow for more of the same."