|
Extreme 40 Series 2010 in Almeria 09.-12.Oktober 2010
www.extremesailingseriesasia.com/ - Übersicht
Übersicht
October 10th 2010
Day 2: Big breeze and big action
as Guichard retains top spot in the final…
The second day of the final round of the 2010 Extreme Sailing
Series™ in Almeria delivered exactly what it says on the tin…
Extreme racing, on the limit of control, with an abundance of
thrills and spills.
|
© Paul Wyeth/ OC Events
|
The thousands of Spanish public who flocked
to the race village today were enthralled as the boats flew past
within touching distance of the stadium walls: "It was
unbelievable, the crowds give you a real buzz, it's fantastic,"
said Dean Barker, Team Emirates New Zealand skipper.
© Paul Wyeth/ OC Event
A consistent 20+ knots of breeze saw the Extreme 40s 'fly' along
at boat speeds in excess of 30mph (46kmph). Today was about
staying in control, minimizing mistakes and staying out of
trouble… The race management decided that in light of the
forecast the fleet would race in groups with no more than four
boats on the race course at one time, set inside the tight
confines of the port. Each group was determined by the current
rankings after yesterday's racing.
In the end, it was Yann Guichard's crew on Groupe Edmond de
Rothschild who did it best, winning three out of their four
races, and increasing their lead to 59 points at the top of the
leaderboard: "The committee made a wise choice by splitting the
fleet," said Guichard. "We showed that we had to be reckoned
with even in strong winds, I think yesterday Paul said these
were his conditions, but we proved they were ours too. We're in
the match and I'm sure it will all go down to the last race of
the last day, just like last year."
© Paul Wyeth/ OC Event
The Ecover Sailing Team posted two first places, a second and a
third and this consistent performance keeps them in hot
contention, just 6 points from the top spot: "It was very
difficult today, conditions were very puffy, although we kept
control throughout there was definitely the potential for either
a nasty crash or worst still a capsize," said Ecover Sailing
Team skipper, Mike Golding. "It is nice flat water here which
helps to keep the boats on their feet, but I think what is
extreme here is the space, or lack of space! You make a mistake,
you're going into a concrete wall so it's good to be back on the
dock all in one piece."
Yesterday The Wave, Muscat skipper Paul Campbell-James was
relishing the prospect of stronger breeze but today their
aggressive sailing nearly ended in disaster on two occasions -
one a near high-speed collision with a wall and another near
collision with teammates Oman Sail Masirah skippered by Loick
Peyron: "We were three up coming into the downwind mark
[Masirah, The Wave and Rumbo Almeria] and we were pushing hard to
get the overlap," explained Campbell-James. "We didn't quite get
it but we were in a position that we couldn't really do anything
else but go in there […to the mark]. We managed just at the very
last minute to miss Masirah's stern basically with our rudders
out of the water before spinning round the mark. I'm looking
forward to seeing the footage!" His team stay in third place but
reindex confident: "We didn't make the most of today, it was
windy and we're normally pretty good in that stuff but we just
didn't sail very well, it's as simple as that. But we're still
within punching distance and that's the index thing."
© Paul Wyeth/ OC Event
The first three races were set over a windward/leeward course of
three laps – even with the indexsails reefed and no gennakers,
the Extreme 40s flew round the tight course, each race taking
only 6-7 minutes, each leg approximately 60 seconds! Just
watching was exhausting and nerve-wracking for the public; for
the sailors the adrenalin was pumping and it proved hard to
control their competitive drive as the crowds witnessed some
aggressive tactics. Roman Hagara, Red Bull Extreme Sailing
skipper: "The boats were really exciting today especially for
the spectators. The guys love it too because there is so much
action on the boat, so much speed." In their penultimate race,
Hagara and his crew caught the top buoy dragging it at least 200
meters off target – their competitors complied by rounding the
're-set' mark on the final lap!
© Paul Wyeth/ OC Event
Franck Cammas seemed to relish the conditions today nailing two
wins early in the day until a bad mark rounding and an OCS (on
course side) upset their day: "It was intense, and a good thing
to race four boats at a time otherwise the starts would have
been a catastrophe for everyone. It was important to start well
and to manage the moments of crisis, notably the bearaways which
are always tricky on these boats. We are rather fast in those
conditions, but today we made two mistakes, touching a mark and
starting too early, which really doesn't help on such short
courses."
The forecast for tomorrow is for less wind but that won't take
the heat off the skippers as they head into the penultimate day
of the final round of the season.
Extreme Sailing Series™ Almeria Results after Day 2
1st Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, Yann Guichard, 59 points
2nd Ecover, Mike Golding, 53 points
3rd The Wave, Muscat, Paul Campbell-James, 48 points
4th Oman Sail Masirah, Loick Peyron, 48 points
5th Groupama 40, Franck Cammas, 39 points
6th Rumbo Almeria, Guillermo Altadill, 33 points
7th Red Bull Extreme Sailing, Roman Hagara, 28 points
8th Team Emirates New Zealand, Dean Barker, 24 points
Overall Standings Extreme Sailing Series™ 2010
Team / Skipper / Points
1st The Wave, Muscat, Paul Campbell-James, 28 points
2nd Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, Yann Guichard, 27 points
3rd Ecover, Mike Golding, 25 points
4th Oman Sail Masirah, Loick Peyron, 24 points
5th Groupama 40, Franck Cammas, 13 points
6th Red Bull Extreme Sailing, Roman Hagara, 13 points
7th The Ocean Racing Club, Mitch Booth, 7 points
8th Team GAC Pindar, Nick Moloney, 3 points
|
|
|
|