Extreme Sailing Series™ 2014 Act 1, Singapore - Day 1
by Extreme Sailing Series 20 Feb 2014 14:49 GMT
20-23 February 2014
The much-anticipated opening Act of the 2014 Extreme Sailing Series™ began today in Singapore under the gaze of the cities soaring skyscrapers, where eight races produced six different winners.
The Swiss flagged Realtstone were the form team, executing a consistent strategy in the trying conditions, to finish the opening day of the global tour top of the leaderboard – their best result since joining the circuit last year. Some of the newer teams struggled to get to grips with the stadium racecourse, posting a mixed bag of results and a crash between defending champions The Wave, Muscat and GAC Pindar will leave the Aussies with a night of repairs ahead.
Realstone, who after yesterday's practice racing described themselves as 'the underdogs' played a low risk game, setting up for manoeuvres and executing them precisely to give themselves some breathing space on the packed racecourse. Skipper Jérôme Clerc commented "We rotated the team a lot in 2013 to finally be in a position to chose the best people for the best positions and get here with an optimal configuration. We have sailed well with good starts, Arnaud made the boat go fast and we have followed simple schemes with starts on the same side and regular tacks in each leg. We noticed this worked out well so we have kept this strategy. It's the first day, all the teams are warming up so we are still the outsiders!"
Eight races were sailed – the first of up to 250 this year – and in the continually shifting breeze, which ranged from 4-10 knots with slightly bigger gusts, the teams tacticians had it all on. Groupama sailing team's skipper Franck Cammas – who won the seventh race of the day, only to follow it up with a last place – explained how tough the conditions were. "We have had more wind than expected so it was pretty hairy on the water. The wind flows in between the buildings and it all becomes very shifty. We had to take what we could. The teams who started well were not necessarily the teams who finished at the top. The key, in short, is a mix of a little bit of luck, be at the good spot, try to anticipate things and being opportunist." The French team finish the day tied on points with second placed Alinghi.
On such a compact course, and with such short, intense races, the mark roundings were nail bitingly close, and those on shore found themselves holding their breathe as the Extreme 40s seemingly created space where there was none. In the sixth race of the day, The Wave, Muscat and GAC Pindar found out just how tight the course is, when the Omani boat t-boned into the back of the Aussies in a port-starboard incident, leaving a significant hole in their boat and the team with a night of repairs ahead in the pitlane, as Leigh McMillan explained: "GAC Pindar put in a tack, and at the last minute they looked like they weren't going to avoid us. I tried to smash it into a tack but there wasn't anywhere to go – plus I lost grip of the tiller and tripped over, and unfortunately went into them. We've had plenty of bad days and we will have to go back, look at the videos and take some lessons out of today and come back stronger tomorrow."
Many of the fleet struggled for consistency today, and none more so than newcomers Emirates Team New Zealand and J.P. Morgan BAR, who finished the day with two race wins a piece – but also a handful of last places. Olympic champion Ben Ainslie commented: "We're all having to learn pretty quickly, and certainly in this tight venue – even for the experienced guys it's pretty tough. It's a really strong fleet, it's one of the toughest fields we've ever had and we're obviously very new to this so we really learnt a lot today."
There is little light on the leaderboard after day one, with just 18 points separating first placed Realstone from eighth placed Oman Air. The Wave, Muscat, Gazprom Team Russia, GAC Pindar and the local boat Team Aberdeen Singapore have a bit of catching up to do – and with up to 24 races still to come, there is plenty of opportunity to do it.
Marina Bay Reservoir will provide a temporary residence for the 12 Extreme 40s for the next three days of Stadium Racing, and if today's racing is anything to go by, Act 1 with the support of Local Event main partner Aberdeen Asset Management, could be anyone's game. The racing will be streamed live online tomorrow from 1600 -1730 local time / 0800-0930 GMT / 0900-1030 CET to fans around the world – watch it on the official event website, www.extremesailingseries.com.
Standings after Day 1: (eight races)
1st Realstone (SUI) Jérôme Clerc, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Bruno Barbarin, Thierry Wassem, Nils Palmieri 56pts
2nd Alinghi (SUI) Morgan Larson, Stuart Pollard, Pierre-Yves Jorand, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey 48pts
3rd Groupama sailing team (FRA) Franck Cammas, Sophie de Turckheim, Tanguy Cariou, Thierry Fouchier, Devan Le Bihan 48pts
4th Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) Dean Barker, Glenn Ashby, James Dagg, Jeremy Lomas, Edwin Delaat 46pts
5th J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR) Ben Ainslie, Nick Hutton, Paul Goodison, Pippa Wilson, Matt Cornwell 44pts
6th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans-Peter Steinacher, Mark Bulkeley, Nick Blackman, Haylee Outteridge 43pts
7th SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Thierry Douillard, Peter Wibroe, Nicolai Sehested 39pts
8th Oman Air (OMA) Rob Greenhalgh, Tom Johnson, Will Howden, Hashim Al Rashdi, Musab Al Hadi 38pts
9th The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Kinley Fowler, Nasser Al Mashari 29pts
10th Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) Igor Lisovenko, Paul Campbell-James, Alister Richardson, Pete Cumming, Aleksey Kulakov 28pts
11th GAC Pindar (AUS) Seve Jarvin, Troy Tindill, Ed Smyth, Sam Newton, Alexandra South 20pts
12th Team Aberdeen Singapore (SIN) Nick Moloney, Adam Beashel, Scott Glen Sydney, Tom Dawson, Justin Wong 17pts
TEAM FRANCE in the major league (from TEAM FRANCE)
Two months after its creation was announced at the Nautic Paris Boat Show, and thanks to Groupama, Team France is competing in its first international competition at the Extreme Sailing Series, which starts in Singapore this Thursday. Up against some of the world's top racers like Dean Barker (NZ) and Sir Ben Ainslie (GB), Franck Cammas and his crew will be defending France's colours with their trademark determination.
At the same time, Team France is also unveiling itself on the web with a dedicated website, a Facebook page, a Twitter feed and a channel on Dailymotion to enable this fantastic sports project and the whole of the network to be closely monitored. Together for excellence, starting now!
TEAM FRANCE gets to the heart of the subject:
The setting is sumptuous. Surprising even, since it's amidst the buildings that make up the capital's Business Centre that the twelve 40-foot (12 metres) catamarans competing in the eighth edition of this international championship will do battle.
Created by Briton Mark Turner, the ESS stands out through its short 10-minute long courses within the direct vicinity of the public. Suffice to say that at this pace, the slightest error costs dearly: "If you stuff up your start, you've had it. It's the same if you make the slightest manoeuvring error and given that there are a lot of them, you constantly have to anticipate your moves", explains Tanguy Cariou, mainsail trimmer and project manager for Groupama sailing team.
Alongside him, Thierry Fouchier adds: "In contrast to the races we usually compete in, here we're never on a straight line course for more than 30 seconds. As such you need to be really good in the transitions so you immediately reach the target speed. You don't have the time to hunt for it because you're already having to prepare for the next manœuvre. The helmsman is the only one who has the time to watch what's going on around him. For us crew, often we don't even know where we are in the race anymore, whether we still have another lap to do or if it's the finish." Coming from the mouth of one of just two Frenchmen to have won the America's Cup (BMW Oracle in 2010), it's an edifying explanation.
It now remains to be seen how the crew of Team France will perform in its return to the series, which the majority of its rivals has never left: "Clearly we're not the favourites. I'd even go so far as to say that we may struggle at times against the specialists, who are often Olympic medallists, not to mention the three sailors who have recently won the America's Cup (Barker, Ainslie, Bertarelli). However, we have a good team, that is capable of making progress," Franck Cammas comments.
Practice day has confirmed the fleet's high level as well as its uniformity. The Wave Muscat, JP Morgan, Team New Zealand, Groupama and Alinghi took it in turns to shine in a breeze of 4 to 10 knots. The victims of slight damage, the Australian and French teams weren't able to compete in all the races.
However, whatever happens, determination combined with a certain calmness was etched on the faces of Barker and Ainslie. Acknowledged champions, they're quite looking forward to the start of hostilities to show protagonists like Jarvin and Cammas that the Cup has to be earned. And it's the kind of confrontation that the skipper of Team France isn't the type to shun. Far from it in fact, as he is convinced that, beyond the result, he will again learn more valuable lessons...
The first results will be in tonight with the weather forecast indicating an easterly wind of around ten knots, a temperature of 30° and quite a high ambient humidity...
TEAM FRANCE 2.0 – Join us in the adventure!
The first sporting competition for a Team France skipper is a great opportunity to put in place the tools to enable you to follow the project and get all the latest news.
As such, we look forward to seeing you on the Team France website. This website has been created in collaboration with Ecole 42 to bring together French talent within the Team France project, in the spirit of the team's motto "Together for Excellence".
A day of highs and lows for J.P. Morgan BAR (from J.P. Morgan BAR)
There were highs and lows for J.P. Morgan BAR as they delivered their Extreme Sailing Series debut at Act 1, Singapore. Across the fleet all 12 ESS teams struggled to maintain consistent performances in the tricky racing venue but despite the challenging sailing the British team still secured two race wins, in the fifth and sixth races of the day.
The comeback was welcome after the team were left disappointed with two last place finishes and relentlessly being tested by fluky shifty wind, sharp manoeuvres and the compact, tight fleet.
"Well it was definitely a really exciting day today, with lots happening on the race course! The morning and first few races started well for us, we had an OK middle of the day where we didn't quite get everything right - but we did manage to avoid some potential crashes which is the main thing. The day picked up in race five and we really worked well and came together as a team. Looking forward to tomorrows racing, today has set the scene for a tricky, interesting event" commented the team's Mainsail Trimmer, Paul Goodison.
Sir Ben Ainslie continued: "We are all having to learn pretty quickly and certainly in this tight venue - even for the experienced guys it's pretty tough, because the wind changes so quickly and then you have to manoeuvre. Everyone had an up and down day, but I'm sure it was exciting to watch for the spectators, it's a fantastic venue and we really enjoyed it. It's definitely a very strong fleet, I did a couple of ESS events three seasons ago and I would say it's one of the toughest there has been. We've just got to keep trying to improve; we're obviously very new to this so we really learnt a lot today. Tonight we will go away, look at what we can take forward and as there are so many races, just keep doing the best we can."
The Wave, Muscat and Oman Air roll the dice in fickle breeze at Extreme Sailing Series Singapore (from Oman Sail)
The opening day of racing in the Extreme Sailing Series offered a sign of things to come in the 2014 season with defending champions The Wave, Muscat and sister ship Oman Air both taking time to get into the swing of things in the fickle breeze of Singapore amid a seriously upgraded Extreme 40 fleet.
Light and shifty winds posed a stern test for all 12 crews who were having to manoeuvre their 40-foot catamarans around the tightest of stadium courses surrounded by high rise office blocks and shopping malls.
The upshot was some exciting bumper-to-bumper racing in which Extreme 40 experience counted for little. There were also a clutch of mistakes on the start line and issues on the racetrack including with Leigh McMillan who earned a 45 second penalty following a collision with GAC Pindar.
By then however, McMillan's new look crew, featuring Olympic gold medallist Sarah Ayton, America's Cup sailor Kinley Fowler and Nasser Al Mashari as well as seasoned professional Pete Greenhalgh had already posted their first outright victory of 2014 with an emphatic win in Race 3.
But across the day, consistency, the quality that has earned them two consecutive championship titles in 2012 and 2013 proved elusive as the unpredictable, fickle conditions and the arbitrary nature of the competition produced six different winners in eight races.
"It was a very difficult day – we had some good starts but we kept getting pinged on the wrong side of the course so the results didn't go our way," said McMillan.
"The day didn't pan out as well as we hoped but we know there will be a few days like this so we have to push on. We don't need to change anything except to sharpen up a little bit and keep cool."
After her first day of Extreme 40 racing, British Olympic gold medallist Sarah Ayton was relishing the experience.
"It was full on. We did a lot of racing and they all roll into one but it was good fun. We had a crash, Kinley fell out and we got a penalty turn but we have come away knowing we are a strong team, always looking for an opportunity so although we have a long way to go, we can't wait to get out there again tomorrow."
Rob Greenhalgh's crew on Oman Air saved their best until last with an exciting tussle at the finish of Race 8 with Dean Barker in Emirates Team New Zealand. The Kiwis edged over the line first but Oman Air were worthy runners up, achieving their third podium place of the day and closing their day in 8th place overall, one place ahead of The Wave, Muscat.
"The day was as hard as we expected," Greenhalgh said. "It was very shifty and gusty so it was a matter of rolling the dice a little bit and keeping your fingers crossed. I think there is some method to the madness but there is a high degree of lottery because there were 90-degree wind shifts and it was patchy. By the end of racing, some trends had started to emerge – being aggressive on the right side of the course paid off – but it will be different tomorrow."
A debrief after the day's racing saw all the crews analyse their own performances and on Oman Air, there were two striking conclusions, according to Musab Al Hadi. This Extreme 40 contest was as good as it gets in top-level competitive sailing and there is a long way to go. "This is a full on contest," said Al Hadi who campaigned on winning boat The Wave, Muscat in 2013.
"It was very difficult and quite stressful. There are some great guys in this fleet so we have a lot to learn but on the evidence of the first day we are in the mix and that is a good place to be."
GAC Pindar Endures Challenging First Day in Singapore (from Adam Tanous)
Following a challenging first day's competition in Singapore today, including a heavy collision with The Wave, Muscat in Race 6, the GAC Pindar shore team is now in over-drive to make overnight repairs and get the team's Extreme 40 back ready for action tomorrow.
The all-Aussie GAC Pindar crew, racing together for the first time on a tight course in breezy conditions, knew they would have their work cut out to be competitive on their series debut. They fared well early on however, finishing sixth and fourth within a fleet of twelve, in Races 1 & 2.
Their fortunes took a turn in Race 6 however, when the Omani boat collided heavily with the back of GAC Pindar in a port-starboard incident, resulting in significant damage. The team managed to keep racing, picking up minor place points, but the boat requires urgent overnight attention to be competitive tomorrow.
GAC Pindar's skipper, Seve Jarvin commented: "The day started off well, but then we got into a bit of slump and that was followed by a bad collision. Hopefully we can get the boat back in the water for tomorrow, get into a good grind of a few good races and jump straight back up the leader-board."
Following her debut performance, fifth crew member Alexandra South commented: "We are really looking forward to tomorrow, it was our first day racing in the boat and we are still coming together as a team. We managed to pick each other up and there were good bits in each race. If we continue to build on that we'll be doing well by the end of the week".
GAC Pindar ended the day 11th in the standings with 20 points. Realstone remains on the top of the leader-board with 56 points.
Racing resumes tomorrow at 14.30pm local time.