Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 5, Hamburg - Day 2
by Extreme Sailing Series 24 Jul 2015 22:24 BST
23-26 July 2015
Another outstanding performance by Gazprom Team Russia on day two of the Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 5, Hamburg presented by Land Rover, as they posted four second place results and one race win. Following their impressive opening day off the HafenCity waterfront, they now leapfrog Extreme 40 heavy weights SAP Extreme Sailing Team and The Wave, Muscat to take the lead on 111 points.
After racing, a calm and collected helm Phil Robertson explained that good communication among the crew was the key to their success: "It is so much better and that's the biggest thing we are working on. It just helps when the wind is light, it gives us more time to talk which means more time to translate from the Kiwi to Russian."
A testing day on the River Elbe, a patchy 4-9 knot breeze but strong tides and regular brakes for passing commercial traffic interrupted the flow of racing. The result, a game of snakes and ladders for the teams that didn't allow them to lose focus for a moment: "It was tricky today, the name of the game was to be as flexible as possible, and adapt to the changing conditions and the other boats," said helm of Team Turx powered by Kaya Ropes, Mitch Booth.
"There were no set patterns, every race was different, every strategy had to be different, I had to use all my knowledge and experience today to try and weasel our way through it. It was really tough," he added.
Drawing on his Olympic medal race experience, Booth sailed to victory in race 10 whilst fellow Olympian Lorenzo Bressani at the helm of Lino Sonego Team Italia took a third in race 13. But the unexpected moment of glory today went to GAC Pindar in race 12. Australian skipper Seve Jarvin chose a risky port start, ducked the fleet, broke from the pack and popped out ahead to lead from start to finish.
Struggling with consistency and decision making, Leigh McMillan, helm on The Wave, Muscat unusually finished low in the fleet, losing his overnight lead and ending the day in third place overall. SAP Extreme Sailing Team, meanwhile, were consistent mid-fleet performers and held their second place in the overall standings.
To follow the action, tune in to www.extremesailingseries.com
Act 5 standings after Day 2, 14 races:
1st Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) Igor Lisovenko, Phil Robertson, Garth Ellingham, Alexander Bozhko, Aleksey Kulakov 111 points.
2nd SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Hervé Cunningham, Mads Emil Stephensen, Nicolai Sehested 107 points.
3rd The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Ed Smyth, Nasser Al Mashari 106 points.
4th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Hans-Peter Steinacher, Jason Waterhouse, Jérémy Bachelin, Shaun Mason, Stewart Dodson 91 points.
5th Team Turx powered by Kaya Ropes (TUR) Edhem Dirvana, Mitch Booth, Selim Kakýþ, Diogo Cayolla, Pedro Andrade 87 points.
6th Oman Air (OMA) Stevie Morrison, Nic Asher, Ted Hackney, Ed Powys, Ali Al Balashi 80 points.
7th Lino Sonego Team Italia (ITA) Lorenzo Bressani, Enrico Zennaro, Stefano Ciampalini, Stefano Rizzi, Manuel Modena 71 points.
8th GAC Pindar (GBR) Seve Jarvin, Adam Minoprio, Marcus Ashley-Jones, James Corrie, James Wierzbowski 67 points.
9th Team Extreme Germany (GER) Paul Kohlhoff, Philip Kasueske, Johann Kohlhoff, Peter Kohlhoff, Max Kohlhoff 34 points.
Update from GAC Pindar
British sailing team GAC Pindar show improvement at the Extreme Sailing Series in Hamburg following their first race win of the Act.
After a slow start on day 1, the crew found more competitive form with a win in race 12 and a podium finish in race 9, closing the point's gap on Lino Sonego in 7th place.
Team Skipper Seve Jarvin commented "I said at the beginning of the day it was all about the start, that's where we needed to improve and fortunately today we did. We were also a little bolder with our decision making which was demonstrated by our choice of route in race 12"
Jarvin continues "It's been an improvement from yesterday and there's more to do but we are hoping to take this momentum into tomorrow."
For Team Principal Andrew Pindar the results are just part of the team's bigger plan. Pindar explains "'Of course it's fantastic to see the team improve today and even more exciting for them to achieve a race win, but for us it's still about the bigger picture.
Pindar continued "I was asked whether we were happy with our results in the Extreme Sailing Series, a question in which I was happy to reply 'very'. Of course they meant specifically our position on the leader board and my answer was to a far bigger question."
"The GAC Group and our specialist division of GAC Pindar are worldwide in reach and therefore we celebrate the international diversity of our sailors as they allow us to engage with our target audiences far better than if we were say all Brits or all Kiwis. This philosophy and policy means that over the years of various GAC Pindar campaigns we have had sailors compete for us from China, USA, Japan, UK, Poland, Australia, France and New Zealand."
"The international flavour of the sport of sailing and the ESS fittingly puts Gazprom Team Russia at the top of the leaderboard at the end of day 2."
Update from Oman Sail
Racing on the city centre stadium course once again proved tricky with sunshine and the welcome breeze from day one giving way to light and shifty winds spiced up with strong gusts that kept umpires busy watching for infringements.
These conditions served to wrong foot experienced crews and create opportunities for others so after topping the leaderboard overnight, Leigh McMillan's crew on The Wave, Muscat moved to third place.
A dip in consistency saw them start and finish the day with maximum point wins with just one other podium place to add to their tally but in one of the tightest contests of the year so far, they were sitting just five points behind new leaders Gazprom Team Russia at the close and a single point behind SAP Extreme Sailing Team.
"It was tricky and while we had some good races, there were a few that didn't go our way and a few where the jury did not pick up on the situation," admitted McMIllan.
"It was frustrating because we were not picking the right strategy in the starts. We were working as hard as we could but things kept on going against us, again and again. Hopefully we can get back up on top tomorrow.
"But it is still only day two of the regatta and it is very close, points wise - there are still two days remaining and a lot of wind coming tomorrow which we are 100% pleased about."
Oman Air incurred several penalties during the day though maintained their sixth place overall and left skipper Stevie Morrison mulling over new ideas for their race strategies.
"Perhaps we need to think about buying the umpires an ice cream because I lost count of the penalties we received," he said.
"We are racing hard and working well as a team but we need to avoid incident. We have had some very close racing but it was a tough day with the jury. They did what they thought was right but we thought we only deserved one of the penalties. We are frustrated but you win some and lose some and we will fight on."
The variable breezes made life difficult for everyone added Oman Air's Ali Al Balushi.
"The wind was really tricky. Sometimes on the right and sometimes on the left so it was impossible for the tactician to decide where to go but it was the same for everyone. We did not have a great day but tomorrow will be different," he said.
A forecast for storms and strong winds on the third day of racing has created a stir of anticipation among the crews since yet again, the conditions are likely to cause more upset and further changes on the leaderboard.