Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 6, Saint Petersburg - Day 2
by Extreme Sailing Series 22 Aug 2015 09:00 BST
20-23 August 2015
Tides turn in Saint Petersburg as The Wave, Muscat make their move
Three race wins for The Wave, Muscat see the Omani team take control of the leaderboard
Day two of the Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 6, Saint Petersburg presented by SAP delivered a mixed bag of results for all eight international teams, as the hidden currents of the River Neva delivered a race track riddled with passing and losing lanes – with big wins, and even bigger loses to be had.
Mastering the light winds and strong current was no mean feat, but Leigh McMillan and his team on The Wave, Muscat took it in their stride. Three race wins saw the Omani crew clock up an impressive 68 points and an average 8.5 points per race according to the SAP analytics, to gain control of the leaderboard.
McMillan's experienced crew, including British tactician and double Olympic gold medallist Sarah Ayton pulled on their wealth of experience as a two-times Series winning crew, and played the conditions right.
"It was what I call a puff and patch day today," reflected Ayton. "Having to sail really aggressively into the next manoeuvre and being really proactive around the track." The team close the day on 120 points, taking the overall lead from Austria's Red Bull Sailing Team on 114.
Lino Sonego Team Italia were able to match their impressive performance from day one, winning two of the day's eight races, which was enough to hold off the onslaught from SAP Extreme Sailing Team and Gazprom Team Russia, the three teams trading places on the leaderboard with almost every race. The Italians round up the day in third place overall, but tied on points with the Danes. "This is a dream for us, we really hope we can keep this position until the end of the event," explained Enrico Zennaro, who has inherited skipper duties this week, on the dock.
Sitting fifth overall on 99 points the local Russian team are perfectly poised to pounce, but are feeling the pressure: "It didn't feel like we got a break today when we usually get a few. We just battled at the middle of the pack, putting on a string of fifth places which isn't really ideal," commented helm Phil Robertson.
10 points back is Oman Air who hit form late in the day with two second places, with GAC Pindar another 10 points behind them. In eighth place, but narrowing the gap after a win in the opening race of the day, is Team Turx.
Racing continues tomorrow with live coverage from 16.00 (GMT+3, 2pm UK time) on the YachtsandYachting.com homepage.
Standings after Day 2: (15 races)
1st The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Ed Smyth, Nasser Al Mashari 120pts
2nd Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans-Peter Steinacher, Shaun Mason, Stewart Dodson, Kate Macgregor 114pts
3rd Lino Sonego Team Italia (ITA) Enrico Zennaro, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Bryan Mettraux, Nevio Sabadin, Tom Buggy 101pts
4th SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Thierry Douillard, Mads Emil Stephensen, Brad Farrand 101pts
5th Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) Igor Lisovenko, Phil Robertson, Garth Ellingham, Alexander Bozhko, Aleksey Kulakov 99pts
6th Oman Air (OMA) Stevie Morrison, Nic Asher, Ted Hackney, Ed Powys, Ali Al Balashi 89pts
7th GAC Pindar (GBR) Adam Minoprio, Seve Jarvin, Joel Turner, James Wierzbowski, Adam Piggot 79pts
8th Team Turx (TUR) Mitch Booth, Tom Dawson, Diogo Cayolla, Can Bayülken, Henry Bomby 74pts
www.extremesailingseries.com
The Wave, Muscat reaps benefit of lessons learned to go top and Oman Air finish day on form (from Oman Sail)
The Wave, Muscat fought their way to the top of the Extreme Sailing Series leaderboard in St Petersburg with five podium places from seven races while Oman Air hit form late in the day to claim two more.
The second day of action on the River Neva was a repeat of day one with the light winds and strong current combining to upset the best laid plans.
But Leigh McMillan and his team on The Wave, Muscat were by their own admission feeling more relaxed and reeled off a string of impressive results.
They posted back-to-back wins then added another for good measure to lift them above Red Bull in the rankings with a 5 point cushion and two days remaining.
According to Nasser Al Mashari, the Omani bowman and a key member of this double championship winning crew, everyone settled in to their roles quickly today and were extra watchful to make sure they stayed on top of the shifts.
"We felt quite relaxed today and it showed in our performance because we were thinking ahead and focussing more on our boat handling," said Al Mashari, referring to his teammates Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Ed Smyth and of course his skipper.
"That was our aim after our debrief on Thursday night and everyone worked hard to make it happen. There are still two days to go so our next aim is to keep up the momentum."
Skipper McMillan was delighted by today's scoreline but cautioned against getting overexcited sicne there were still two days to go and plenty of hard work ahead to defend their lead.
"It was a pretty good day with conditions similar to Thursday and we were successful in putting into practice the things we learned on the first day," he said.
"There was a good tempo among the crew and we had a reasonable handle on the conditions and reacted well to every situation. It was a good all round performance and it felt really good."
Oman Air wrestled with adversity in the early races of the day, suffering technical issues with the boat and attracting a couple of penalties from the umpires. But they battled back and scored two second places in the last three races which earned the crew high praise from skipper Stevie Morrison.
"It was a frustrating day for us but for the guys to come back at the end to post those results was a real testimony to their patience and teamwork.
"We all stayed calm through all the difficulties and managed to finish the day well. When we are good, we are very good and when the chips are down, there is a very strong team bond. When things are happening fast, our communication loops get a bit blurred so we have to work on that.
"But we are on the right track as those two back to back seconds showed and we will be looking to build on that over the next two days."