Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 5, Hamburg - Day 1
by Extreme Sailing Series 23 Jul 2015 23:24 BST
23-26 July 2015
On the opening day of the Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 5, Hamburg presented by Land Rover the teams meant business with The Wave, Muscat and SAP Extreme Sailing Team taking the lion's share of the podiums. But it was Gazprom Team Russia that was the stand out performer, taking three bullets in the final three races.
With the breeze blowing directly against the current from the west, the teams were treated to a fluctuating 10 knots, flat water and a straight windward-leeward drag race against the tide on the narrow river racetrack. The racing offered a great spectacle for the fans as the boats tacked within metres of the shore, trying to make the most of every inch of the 300m race track.
The Wave, Muscat skippered by Leigh McMillan, showed their dominance at the start of the day posting a 2,1,2 scoreline straight out of the blocks. But the fleet were not about to let them run away with the lead and a series of mid-fleet finishes in the second half of the day saw them only just top the overnight leader board on 57 points. Two points adrift on 55, SAP Extreme Sailing Team got to grips with the challenges of the new venue finishing with two race wins and two seconds.
Rounding up the leaderboard, Gazprom Team Russia came into the Act confident that the strong tidal conditions and tight racecourse would suite Kiwi helm Phil Robertson's style of racing. As he tweeted before the action got underway: "The plan is to smash it."
Tipped by Race Director Phil Lawrence as the ones to watch after yesterday's practice race, the team didn't disappoint. After a slow start they stormed the final three races to take convincing wins in each, rounding up the overnight leaderboard in third place, one point behind SAP Extreme Sailing Team in second.
"Racing in Hamburg is extremely difficult. You've got big walls either side of the course which get higher and higher as the tide goes out. This means extremely shifty winds and nine boats on a very small racecourse, which is hard," explained Robertson after racing.
"The starts are super-important as is trying to get away from everyone else and finding clean air. We started off fairly well but it took a while to get into the swing of things.
The smallest mistakes really show in this competitive fleet. We had a horrible middle section of races when we just got caught up in the pack, and then finished really strong."
With nine points separating third place from the chasing pack, Red Bull Sailing Team in fourth, Team Turks powered by Kaya Ropes in fifth and Oman Air in sixth each had moments at the front of the fleet but struggled with the consistency needed to challenge for the podium.
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Standings after Day 1, 7 races:
1st The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Ed Smyth, Nasser Al Mashari 57 points.
2nd SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Hervé Cunningham, Mads Emil Stephensen, Nicolai Sehested 55 points.
3rd Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) Igor Lisovenko, Phil Robertson, Garth Ellingham, Alexander Bozhko, Aleksey Kulakov 54 points.
4th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Hans-Peter Steinacher, Jason Waterhouse, Jérémy Bachelin, Shaun Mason, Stewart Dodson 45 points.
5th Team Turx (TUR) Edhem Dirvana, Mitch Booth, Selim Kakýþ, Diogo Cayolla, Pedro Andrade 44 points.
6th Oman Air (OMA) Stevie Morrison, Nic Asher, Ted Hackney, Ed Powys, Ali Al Balashi 40 points.
7th Lino Sonego Team Italia (ITA) Lorenzo Bressani, Enrico Zennaro, Stefano Ciampalini, Stefano Rizzi, Manuel Modena 39 points.
8th GAC Pindar (GBR) Seve Jarvin, Adam Minoprio, Marcus Ashley-Jones, James Corrie, James Wierzbowski 29 points.
9th Team Extreme Germany (GER) Paul Kohlhoff, Philip Kasueske, Johann Kohlhoff, Peter Kohlhoff, Max Kohlhoff 13 points.
Update from Oman Sail
Leigh McMillan's championship winning team on The Wave, Muscat made a German debut to remember winning the second race of the day outright and adding another four podium places to earn a two point lead at the top of the table.
Second placed SAP Extreme Sailing Team, who are vying with the Omani team as overall series leaders, posted some strong results to give their opponents notice of the fiercely competitive match that lies ahead over the next three days.
"We are happy to be leading but frustrated because there were opportunities to increase it," said McMillan who survived the day without causing further damage to the hand he broke three weeks ago while racing GC32s in Cowes, UK.
"We made a hash of the last race because we had a chance to come right back at the fleet but messed it up.
"We need to continue to try and improve over the weekend. We had some issues with the hydraulics for the first few races which was a bit of problem but we fixed it and were fully up to speed after that."
Bowman Nasser Al Mashari paid tribute to Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said of Oman on Oman's Renaissance Day, a celebration that had inspired their performances, he said.
"We are very happy and very proud because today is the anniversary of Oman's Renaissance Day, the day our Sultan ascended the throne in 1970 so this is a big gift to His Majesty," said Al Mashari. "He is a king, a father and a Sultan to us and we love him."
Stevie Morrison, skipper of Oman Air described the city centre venue as 'superb' but admitted to feeling frustrated by performances that left them in sixth place overall, some 17 points behind their Oman Sail stablemates.
"We had really nice breeze and a good day's racing though it has been frustrating for us," said Morrison, who put together his new crew of Ed Powys, Ali Al Balushi, Nic Asher and Ted Hackney at the start of this year.
"We are going fast but are struggling to execute the last 100m of the first leg so have ended up with some average windward mark roundings.
"We need a few more breaks but are happy enough because the racing is so good. It has been superb today, as good as you can hope for. If the wind shifts tomorrow, the race course could become very small very quickly so we shall wait and see what happens."