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Extreme 40 Sailing Series 2012 - Porto, 7.-10.Juni 2012
www.extremesailingseries.com/ - Übersicht
Tagesvideo Porto
Monday 9 July – 1400 UTC
Extreme Sailing Series
Portugal Grand Prix, Act IV
A bitter tasting ‘Porto’
The fourth Grand Prix of the Extreme Sailing Series season concluded early
yesterday evening in Porto. Battling for second place on the event podium,
the catamaran Edmond de Rothschild Group experienced a rather black end to
racing.
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Foto © Roy Riley / Lloyd Images
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Caught up in a collision during the fourth race of the day, Pierre
Pennec and his crew were forced to throw in the towel after suffering damage
to their bow and, most importantly, injuring one of the crew in the impact.
Deprived of the last five races of the competition, the men of Gitana Team
ultimately ranked fifth in this Act 4, which was won hands down by The Wave
Muscat and they have thus conceded some ground in the annual standing.
Usually influenced by some boisterous thermal breezes, Porto’s race zone was
forecast to be one of the windiest on the 2012 circuit. However, during the
first three races of the day, even though the eight crews were able to enjoy
some good conditions with which to try and outdo their opponents (between 6
and 9 knots), the reading on the anemometer didn’t exactly reflect the
region’s reputation. Yesterday, Sunday, the fleet of Extreme 40s had to
contend with a wind of around fifteen knots, with gusts in excess of 20
knots, guaranteeing the Portuguese spectators a unique spectacle all along
the Douro River in line with the circuit’s philosophy: “15 knots on the
inner race zone in Porto is like sailing on the exterior course in 25 knots.
However, in this enclosed stadium we don’t suffer the effects of the sea,
which is generally associated with this wind. That aside, we are surrounded
by sea walls and the stress is permanent as the race zone is narrow with a
fixed frame!” admits Pierre Pennec during the event. For the crews,
conditions on the last day of racing were tricky and on the narrow race zone
where this Grand Prix is played out, every tack crossing has to be
millimetre-perfect, which isn’t that easy with the breeze. Another
ingredient to further spice up what is already some full-on racing is the
switch in direction of the strong tidal current over the course of the
afternoon, according to the tides.
A collision and retirement for Edmond de Rothschild Group
After two fairly average races, where they ranked sixth, Pierre Pennec and
his four crew found the opportunity they’d been looking for on the line and
scored a bullet in the third race of the day. After this first place, they
were just four points shy of Red Bull and were closing on the second step of
the podium. However, during the next race, they were stopped in their tracks
following a collision involving four other boats. On his return to the Douro
Marina, Pierre Pennec looked back at how things unfolded that led to this
situation and gave us his version of events: “We were coming up to the final
course mark on race 28. We were on port tack engaged with GAC Pindar, who
was to leeward of us, and they in turn were engaged with Zoulou. Oman Air
was coming in on starboard but not very quickly. We bore away behind them.
At that point, The Wave Muscat came in and tacked about four boat lengths
behind Oman Air. When he saw us, Leigh McMillan pulled on the helm to
prevent us getting past. Edmond de Rothschild Group ended up virtually
parallel to The Wave Muscat. I requested clear water from GAC Pindar, who in
turn asked Zoulou for clear water, but there was no response. As such, I did
all I could but ultimately it was impossible to avoid colliding with The
Wave Muscat. After the impact, I saw Bernard Labro laid out on the
trampoline bleeding from the nose. It was clear that the race was over for
us. It was only after that, that the shore team informed us that our port
bow had been seriously damaged in any case.”
During the impact, the bowman on Edmond de Rothschild Group, who was in the
process of hoisting the gennaker, was propelled forward onto the catamaran’s
forward beam. Injured and bleeding from the nose, Bernard Labro was very
quickly taken care of by the race doctors and taken off to the hospital in
Porto. The sailor from La Rochelle is fine and he managed to join up with
the crew again later that evening after some X-ray checks. He came off with
a broken nose and some bruising to his face.
In the Extreme Sailing Series, the rules dictate that any decisions are made
directly on the water. To perform this task, there are umpires on the race
zone constantly, whose job involves making decisions in a very short space
of time as regards whether or not to penalise a boat, which hasn’t respected
the rules when under sail. These umpires decided that Pierre Pennec and his
crew weren’t within their rights; a position which the skipper of Edmond de
Rothschild Group doesn’t agree with: “In my view and that of our coach,
Benoit Briand, who was on the water, we weren’t in the wrong and the umpires
are guilty of an error of judgement! GAC should have let us have clear water
and Zoulou should have let GAC have clear water. Another factor, which sheds
new light on the matter, is The Wave Muscat’s change of trajectory. That’s
why we requested that the jury reopen our case once we were ashore, which
they finally agreed to. After the end of racing, we gave our version of
events to the jury. Some representatives from GAC Pindar and Zoulou, present
at this hearing, commented that we were fully engaged with them. However,
Zoulou indicated that due to the proximity of the sea wall on this section
of the course, they very quickly called for clear water as there was no more
room to bear away. The different teams don’t seem to agree on this point,
which is where the nub of the problem lies. As a result, the jury decided
that we were at fault, as we didn’t do everything we could to avoid making
contact.”
Filed a nonsuit by the Extreme Saling Series’ international jury, the
skipper of Edmond de Rothschild Group makes no secret of his bitterness
yesterday faced with this situation, which came as an unfortunate reminder
of the disappointments encountered by the team last year, during the Cowes
Grand Prix: “We are not happy about the decision taken by the jury and
uphold our version of events. It’s hard because to our mind, that’s twice
now that errors have been committed with very serious consequences for us.
We have no option but to heed their decision, but we are leaving Porto with
a bitter taste in our mouths. It’s extremely frustrating for everyone
concerned to end an event like that. This emotion is heightened by the fact
that, like The Wave Muscat, we asked the race committee to reposition the
mark in question. It appeared to us to be too close to the sea wall and
dangerous for any tack crossing given the wind strength,” explained Pierre
Pennec.
Incapable of contesting the last five races of the Portuguese competition,
Pierre Pennec and his four crew have however managed to limit the cost by
ranking fifth in Porto. It’s certainly a disappointing place for the men of
Gitana Team but it hasn’t completely dashed the crew’s dreams of victory in
the annual standing, as the skipper of Gitana Extreme explained: “Obviously
it’s disappointing as the result is certainly not representative of the
quality of my crew and the superb work carried out by our shore team
(Sébastien, Hubert and Cyril), who had to finish late on a number of
occasions during this Grand Prix to enable us to make the start line the
following day. However, we have to move on from this. There are four Grands
Prix left to contest and even though The Wave are really sailing very well
this year, they’re not infallible. I have every confidence that we’ll bounce
back very soon.”
The next Extreme Sailing Series meeting will take place in Cardiff, Wales,
from 30 August to 2 September.
* In the summertime, Porto operates on UTC +1.
Final standing in the Porto Grand Prix (32 races)
1. The Wave Muscat – 198 points
2. Red Bull Sailing Team – 183 points
3. Oman Air – 156 points
4. Alinghi – 145 points
5. Edmond de Rothschild Group - 137 points
6. SAP Extreme Sailing Team - 129 points
7. GAC Pindar - 126 points
8. Zoulou - 123 points
Provisional overall standing for the Extreme Sailing Series after four
Grands Prix
1. The Wave Muscat – 39 points
2. Red Bull Sailing Team – 33 points
3. Oman Air – 31 points
4. Edmond de Rothschild Group - 31 points
5. GAC Pindar - 22 points
6. Alinghi – 18 points
7. SAP Extreme Sailing Team - 18 points
8. Zoulou - 16 points
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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