|
Extreme 40 Sailing Series 2012 - Porto, 7.-10.Juni 2012
www.extremesailingseries.com/ - Übersicht
Press release No.37
Thursday 5 July – 0600 UTC
Extreme Sailing Series Portugal Grand Prix, Act IV
Act 4 opens in Porto
After a break of just three weeks, the Extreme Sailing Series fleet is back
in the competitive arena. It’s in Porto, a first for the circuit, that the
40-foot one-design catamarans will be doing battle from today, for the
fourth act of the 2012 season.
|
Foto © Roy Riley / Lloyd Images
|
The singularity of this racing site has led
the organisers to adopt a slightly different programme to usual, with the
races split into two phases of sailing. In this way, Pierre Pennec and his
crew on Edmond de Rothschild Group are preparing for some long days of
racing, which will begin offshore in the morning and conclude in the evening
on the waters of the River Douro, on one of the narrowest race zones the
Extreme Sailing Series has navigated to date.
Second in the Istanbul Grand Prix on 10 June 2012, the men on the catamaran
fitted out by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild fully intend to continue on their
roll for the fourth meeting of the season: “Porto will be an intermediate
Grand Prix. We’ll be midway through the season at the end of this event and
it’s important to leave Portugal with a good result. We mustn’t let The Wave
Muscat steal a march on us. During the previous meeting, the crew managed to
find the keys to performance it’s been lacking since the start of the year
and the results clearly reflected that. For my part, I’m just back from
racing M2s on Lake Geneva, which enabled me to keep up my feel for helming
and not let three weeks go by without sailing. It was a good practice
session, which gives you confidence,” admitted Pierre Pennec.
As announced, Arnaud Psarofaghis is joining the crew of Edmond de Rothschild
Group in Porto. Having come straight from Newport on Tuesday, where he was
competing in one of the stages of the AC World Series, the young Swiss
sailor has only had a short amount of time to get his bearings, as much with
the craft, which he’s just discovering now, as the unfamiliar crew. However,
his many qualities as a sailor, which are what drove Pierre Pennec to choose
him, should enable him to quickly be on the pace: “It’s with a great deal of
pleasure that we welcome Arnaud to our midst. He’s enjoyed a very good start
to the season on the D35, where his crew have reigned supreme, as well as on
the AC45, and he’s got just the dynamic we’re after. We’ve been able to
coordinate ourselves over the past two afternoons of training and I don’t
have any concerns.”
This Thursday, the competition will kick off with the traditional Open Water
races at the entrance to the River Douro. The warning signal for the former,
should sound shortly after 1100 hours local time* for the start of two to
three hours of races. Following that, over the next three days, the eight
competing crews will split their days into two high points. The offshore
Open Water courses in the morning and the racing in the nautical stadium in
the second half of the afternoon, weather permitting. The upshot of this is
a busy programme with some long days in prospect, as the skipper of Edmond
de Rothschild Group conceded: “already the three-hour days of racing are
long on the Extreme circuit, as the races follow on one after the other and
there’s a lot of tension. In Porto, we have to race double the amount of
time! As such we’re anticipating a tough Grand Prix: very physical for my
crew, especially as the tendency is for medium to strong wind, and it’ll be
nerve-racking for me at the helm.”
Indeed Porto is a site, which is renowned for its feisty thermal breezes and
for now the weather bulletins provided by the organisers are confirming the
tendency for medium to strong wind throughout the four days of competition.
Such conditions normally really suit Pierre Pennec and his four crew.
Aboard the catamaran fitted out by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild, the
watchword is simple: “We need to continue making progress from one race to
the next and make the most of the virtuous circle we initiated in Istanbul!”
concluded Pierre Pennec.
* In the summertime, Porto operates on GMT +1.
Provisional standing for the Extreme Sailing Series after three Grands Prix
1. The Wave Muscat – 29 points
2. Edmond de Rothschild Group - 25 points
3. Red Bull Sailing Team – 24 points
4. Oman Air – 23 points
5. GAC Pindar - 18 points
6. Zoulou - 13 points
7. SAP Extreme Sailing Team - 13 points
8. Alinghi – 11 points
The crew on Edmond de Rothschild Group
Pierre Pennec (Skipper / Helmsman),
Arnaud Psarofaghis (indexsail trimmer),
Hervé Cunningham (headsail trimmer),
Bernard Labro (bowman)
Roindex Petit (trimmer)
Benoit Briand (coach)
The Extreme Edmond de Rothschild Group supports the Joves Navegants
foundation
The Edmond de Rothschild Foundation will be supporting Joves Navegants in
the organisation of trips out to sea during the summer, enabling the
necessary technical improvements to be made on the Galaxie and making it
possible for a team to take part in the “Ruta de la Sal” race in April.
Discover all the latest news from the Gitana Team at
www.gitana-team.com
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
|
|
|
|
