Extreme Sailing Series - Oman Air opens Cardiff campaign with a bang

by Oman Sail on 23 Aug 2014 Oman Air wasted no time in getting points on the board when they opened their Cardiff campaign with an outright win while conditions on the first day of Act 5 in the Extreme Sailing Series drew Leigh McMillan into a ‘step by step’ plan for The Wave, Muscat’s defence of the season championship crown.

The fresh breeze in Cardiff Bay remained stable throughout most of the nine races that were held yet there were six different race winners, a crash – but no injuries - and a familiar place in the rankings for McMillan and his crew of Sarah Ayton, Nasser Al Mashari, Pete Greenhalgh and Kinley Fowler, lying just three points behind rivals Alinghi of Switzerland.

'We didn’t set the world on fire but we were pretty consistent and had some solid results,' said McMillan.

'There is plenty to improve on but the important thing is we are in the running at the end of the first day with very few points in it so we are happy. We are doing a lot of things really well but there are a couple of things we can improve on like the starts and our communication and then we will be off.'

The Wave, Muscat is lying in fourth place to Alinghi’s third but it was Sir Ben Ainslie’s BAR team that caused the biggest upset of the day, McMillan said, to earn their place at the top of the leaderboard.

'BAR had an amazing day – it was only a matter of time before they started putting those sorts of results together. It is going to be difficult to beat them this week.'

In all, Oman Sail’s two Extreme 40s achieved an auspicious four podium places on the first day, including a stunning first for Rob Greenhalgh on Oman Air, which gave his crew, especially new crewmember Ted Hackney from Australia, a major confidence boost.

After nine races, they were in sixth place and according to Oman’s Hashim Al Rashdi, everyone was delighted with their performance.

'It was our first time here in Cardiff and we made a great start by winning the first race,' he said.

'The addition of Ted to our crew worked right away and we were very happy with what we did today to be sitting in sixth place.

'In this strong fleet, with some of the best sailors in the world, sixth is good so we are looking forward to the next few days and getting a good result here.'

Oman Air has two Omanis on board with Musab Al Hadi and Al Rashdi on the bow and with Kyle Langford and now Hackney on the team, there are now two Australians, who are both relishing their Extreme 40 experience.

'We started with a bang,' enthused Hackney who has added to Oman Air’s sense of ambition.

'Then we were battling around mid-fleet but it was pretty tough out there, with lots of passing lanes so it was pretty exciting.

'I didn’t expect it to be so fast. You finish one manoeuvre and are straight into another – everything I thought it would be, only faster. Sixth is a good starting point for us and it is interesting to see how consistent some of the other teams are. That is what we are aiming for.

'By the end of the series, we want everyone to be afraid of the mighty Oman Air but we need to give no quarter out on the racecourse!'

Cardiff Bay, where the Extreme 40 fleet race close to shore from 22 to 25 August, provides a superb viewing platform for 'Stadium Racing' and in addition, there will be live music, street and open-air theatre, children’s entertainment and sporting and food events since Act 5 is one of the highlights of the 2014 Cardiff Harbour Festival.

There will be live online race commentary at Extreme Sailing Series from Saturday 23 to Monday 25 August from 1530-1700BST.