Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 8 at Rio de Janeiro - Day 3
by Extreme Sailing Series 9 Dec 2012 06:40 GMT
6-9 December 2012
Into the end game – Championship podium places up for the taking going into the final day
On a day that saw the strongest winds so far here in Rio de Janeiro – a city that will have the world's eyes on it for the next four years in the build up to the 2016 Olympic Games – the pressure turned up a tempo on the water. A collision between Brazil's greatest ever Olympian and the Extreme Sailing Series tour leader The Wave, Muscat, and the French Groupe Edmond de Rothschild finding their best form of the season, has set the scene for tomorrow and left us poised for the final day for the 2012 season, with every podium place still open.
Groupe Edmond de Rothschild went up a gear in a near picture perfect day for skipper Pierre Pennec. Three race wins have elevated them to the top of the leaderboard and for the first time this Act there is a little light between the top four teams. Pennec's sights are firmly set on a win in Rio, although he is realistic about the fight for the 2012 championship. "Tomorrow will be a real battle, and I hope the conditions will be as good. We work well on board and have good crew communication and good boat speed. I would like to be on top of the podium for Act 8 Rio and second overall in the championship".
All the teams were pushing hard and in 20 knots of wind with gusts that peaked at 24, bearing-away at the windward mark proved particularly challenging and the risk of incidents on the water increased. SAP Extreme Sailing Team came closest to a capsize in the opening race as co-skipper Rasmus Kostner explained: "It was a full on day and pretty challenging. The races lasted about 8 minutes each and so you are working the boat really hard. We had a close call! There was a lot of breeze and the bows dug really far in. We recovered but it's the closest we have been."
Leigh McMillan's team The Wave, Muscat, who are the favourite for the 2012 championship title, started the day on the back foot after crashing into the British team GAC Pindar at the start of race two. The British skipper, who has London 2012 Olympic silver medallist Hannah Mills as part of his crew in Rio, turned it around going on to score three race wins and relishing the stronger breeze. McMillan looked unstoppable – that was until Torben Grael's Team Brasil slammed into The Wave, Muscat's back beam in the penultimate race, causing damage not only to the boat but also some minor muscular damage to Omani bowman Hashim Al Rashidi. While a win in Rio would be the icing on the cake for McMillan, his focus is on the bigger picture. "The conditions were absolutely brilliant today in Rio. The team was working really well together in the breeze and we are really happy with our performance. We're looking forward to another great day tomorrow, and while we would really like to win this Act, the main goal now is securing the overall Series title."
Morgan Larson kept it cool today on Oman Air, staying out of trouble and wrapping up the penultimate day in third place. Roman Hagara's Austrian Red Bull Sailing Team – just one point behind Larson in fourth place – will be disappointed not to head into the final day in a podium position. But with the potential for 8 races tomorrow and 81 points up for the taking, the Act 8 leaderboard is wide open.
The Jaguar NeilPryde Racing Series was in full swing today with some of Brazil's top windsurfing talent testing out the 2016 Olympic waters including Brazil's 2012 Olympic representatives Patricia Freitas and Ricardo 'Bimba' Santos.
The only certainty tomorrow is that The Wave, Muscat have guaranteed themselves a podium position in the overall 2012 Championship – the question is what place and who will be joining them. Tune in from 1500CET to watch as the battle for the 2012 championship concludes on the live video streaming at www.extremesailingseries.com
Results after Day 3: (22 races)
1. Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Hervé Cunningham, Romain Petit, Bernard Labro 144pts
2. The Wave, Muscat (OMA), Leigh McMillan, Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Hannah Mills, Hashim Al Rashdi 138.2pts
3. Oman Air (OMA), Morgan Larson, Will Howden, Charlie Ogletree, Andy Maloney, Nasser Al Mashari 125pts
4. Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT), Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Matthew Adams, Pierre Le Clainche, Graeme Spence 124pts
5. Alinghi (SUI), Pierre-Yves Jorand, Jean-Christophe Mourniac, Bruno Barbarin, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey 117pts
6. SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN), Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Pete Cumming, Mikkel Røssberg, Jonas Hviid 112pts
7. GAC Pindar (GBR), Andrew Walsh, Anna Tunnicliffe, Mark Bulkeley, Adam Piggot, Richard Peacock 93.6pts
8. ZouLou (FRA), Erik Maris, Philip Mourniac, Jean-Sébastien Ponce, Patrick Aucour, Bruno Jeanjean 83pts
9. Team Brasil (BRA), Torben Grael, Alex Welter, Diogo Cayolla, André Mirsky, Marco Grael 61pts
The Wave, Muscat on course for victory as Oman Sail fight for their podium position (from Oman Sail)
Both Omani boats, The Wave, Muscat and Oman Air, remain in contention for podium places in the 2012 Extreme Sailing Series championship, going into tomorrow's concluding day of racing.
Any preconceptions of Rio de Janeiro being a light wind venue were dispelled today with the breeze at times gusting to over 20 knots, conditions in which the powerful Extreme 40 catamarans were screaming around the race track, their hulls flying.
Sadly after an exceptional day for The Wave, Muscat, that saw them finally score a race win – in fact three of them, the crew as usual enjoying the fresher conditions – a collision with Team Brasil, skippered by Brazilian sailing legend and five time Olympic medallist Torben Grael, in the penultimate race resulted in the injury of Omani bowman, Hashim Al Rashdi.
The Wave, Muscat skipper Leigh McMillan recounted: "We were sailing on starboard up to the exclusion zone with a string of two or three boats up to windward of us. We asked for room to tack and everyone said 'you tack', so we did, and Torben just sailed into the back of us. It caused quite a bit of damage and somehow Hashim got injured. He wasn't good at all, so we had to get him on to the safety boat."
Al Rashdi was taken ashore where he was seen by some medics, who administered some painkillers. He has since made a full recovery.
Prior to the last race, with Al Rashdi out of action, a replacement bowman had to be sought for The Wave, Muscat and Tom Buggy, one of the course marshalls who has sailed on the Extreme 40s before was hurriedly recruited. "He had to adapt very quickly to how we do it," said McMillan. "Fortunately it was a light start and we weren't under too much pressure on the boat handling in that race. It didn't cost us anything."
Unable to finish the last but one race following the collision, The Wave, Muscat was awarded average points. Team Brasil ran into their stern and fortunately this only broke the tiller extension but may have caused some other damage to the steering mechanism. Otherwise the hulls were unharmed in the crash.
Apart that incident and Al Rashdi being injured, McMillan was pleased with their day and to have won some races finally. "We sailed really well - a really great job by all the crew. We have a few people ill in the team. Pete [Greenhalgh] is coughing and struggling as soon as he is doing any exertion and I haven't been feeling great for the last 24 hours. But we are pushing hard and once the gun goes that all gets forgotten. Tomorrow we hope to do the same as today and win here in Rio. We are keen to go out on a high."
Generally Oman Air had a solid, but not exceptional day – "below average" as skipper Morgan Larson described it: "We got caught up in traffic a lot and I didn't keep it clean enough and we got bounced around in the middle. Everybody was sailing the boats well and we just didn't find our way. And it was shifty and a little bit unpredictable. We can't blame it on anything, but ourselves. Unfortunately Gitana [Groupe Edmond de Rothschild] had a good day, so we are in this position. If we can reel ourselves back into the top two and have a good a day tomorrow, we'll be alright."
Oman Air's Nasser Al Mashari added: "It was a hard very difficult day today. It was a bit windy. We are doing well, the boat handling is good, but we are just missing some luck actually. I hope, Inshallah, that tomorrow we will do better than today."
In terms of points, The Wave, Muscat now lies in second on 138.2 points (after receiving average points for the race they were unable to finish following the collision) behind the French boat Groupe Edmond de Rothschild on 141. If they hold this position tomorrow, then The Wave, Muscat will have secured the 2012 Extreme Sailing Series victory.
For Oman Air, Morgan Larson and his crew have their work cut out for them – currently lying in third place with Red Bull Sailing Team one point behind in fourth. As it stands at present this would leave Oman Air third overall in the championship. Can they fight back? We'll find out tomorrow when racing starts at 1400 local time (1600 UTC).