|
Extreme 40 Series 2010 in Cowes Week
www.extremesailingseriesasia.com/ - Übersicht
August 04th 2010
Fast and Furious, Paul Cambell-James Clings On To The Top Spoty
On the penultimate day of the Extreme Sailing Series at Cowes
Week, the pace was fast and furious. After a light wind first
afternoon race in 8 knots, the wind accelerated to 15-18 knots
and the Extreme 40s were off – power reaching at speeds of 20-25
knots. It was fast, it was wet and hugely physical for the crews
as they pushed hard, playing a balancing act on a high wire. It
was potential capsize conditions - the windward hulls flying
insanely, leeward bows digging into the waves – misjudge the
situation and it would be game over. The fifth man guests were
having the ride of their lives and the spectators were loving it
After the morning's offshore race – won by Groupe Edmond de
Rothschild – the predicted cold front swept through The Solent,
unleashing a couple of downpours on the crowds – before the
clouds broke and the sun reappeared along with a brisk northerly
breeze. It was perfect racing conditions and the stage was set
for some of the most exhilarating racing the Cowes crowd had
seen this week. Six of the 8 boats including Veolia
Environnement, Groupama and Team GAC Pindar claimed a race win
this afternoon – their first of the regatta - along with Roman
Hagara's Red Bull Extreme Sailing.
Going into the penultimate day, only a handful of points
separated the top three boats on the leaderboard… Young gun,
Paul Campbell-James and his crew onboard The Wave, Muscat, shot
out of the starting blocks to claim the first race – were they
going to completely steam roller the afternoon?
|
Fotos: Paul Weyth/OC Events
|
Not quite, Nick Moloney's Team GAC Pindar boys claimed the next victory to the
enthusiastic support of their corporate guests on the VIP
balcony. Then 'CJ' came back with another two bullets – they
seemed to be on a roll but in the last three races of the day,
only managing a 5th, 6th and a 4th. But, once again, they had
done enough to stay at the top of the overall leaderboard with
208 points extending their lead over Britain's Mike Golding by
18 points. "We had a great morning race and a solid day and our
competitors had shockers! So we are really pleased and have a
good lead. It puts us in a strong position for tomorrow."
© Paul Weyth/ OC Events
Today was about timing the starts right - arriving bang on the
line at full pelt - as Golding explained: "It was all about the
starts and we found a good place to be in and it was going well,
but we had other boats piling in and I hate seeing collisions.
We had a little bump at the bottom mark and I don't like to see
that. Generally, we are clinging on to that podium position, I
know we are close and we have to have a good day tomorrow."
Groupe Edmond de Rothschild has come within 5 points of Ecover
Sailing Team – a penalty in race 26, relegated them to 8th but
the team managed to finish in the top half of the fleet in most
races to hold their third place overall.
Loick Peyron had a day he and the Oman Sail Masirah crew would
probably rather forget. They were fighting but getting nowhere
and in the penultimate race a collision with one of The Solent
marks put a crack in the hull. They rapidly headed for the dock
but a bit of gaffer tape application had them back out racing
for the final race of the day – a good effort but to no avail,
finishing 4th overall on 166 points.
© Paul Weyth/ OC Events
With Mitch Booth, skipper of The Ocean Racing Club, forced to
retire from the UK round after breaking his front beam yesterday
, there will be eight Extreme 40s on the startline tomorrow
afternoon.
The teams have raced 31 races so far in this UK round and
tomorrow is the final day of the Extreme Sailing Series at Cowes
Week – the racing off Egypt Point is scheduled to start at 5
.00pm and the final race of the event is a double pointer. No
doubt it will go to the wire…
|
|
|
|
