2015 Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour – Blown away

by Oman Sail on 31 Jul 2015 The first day’s racing at the Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour in Kiel was abandoned when race management, backed up by the whole fleet including Oman Sail’s Sultanate of Oman, decided that strong gusts in excess of 30 knots were not favourable for fair and safe sailing.

In the morning media and corporate sailing session, the Swiss boat Alinghi was upturned though fortunately there were no injuries and no damage to the boat.

“The gusts came from nowhere and there is little you can do to control the boats when you go from zero to 30 knots in a second,” said Sultanate of Oman skipper Leigh McMillan.

“This is the first of four days of racing and there is a lot of good competition remaining so there was no need to take any risks. For us, calling it off was the right decision but we are looking forward to tomorrow and getting some good racing in.”

Racing will get underway tomorrow afternoon.

Sultanate of Oman - crew

Leigh McMillan (GBR)
Pete Greenhalgh (GBR)
Nasser Al Mashari (OMA)
Ed Smyth (NZL/AUS)
Alister Richardson (GBR)