Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour-Glenn Ashby to sail on Sultanate of Oman GC32

by Oman Sail on 25 May 2015 Oman Sail’s new foiling GC32 “Sultanate of Oman” will bank on tried and trusted teamwork at the inaugural Bullitt GC32 Tour starting in Austria on Wednesday but have boosted their learning curve by adding Emirates Team New Zealand America’s Cup sailor Glenn Ashby to their line-up.

For the first event on Lake Traunsee, an Alpine lake surrounded by the beautiful Salzkammergut Mountains, British skipper Leigh McMillan has made sure he has his Extreme 40 teammates Nasser Al Mashari and Pete Greenhalgh on board knowing their successful collaboration on The Wave, Muscat will stand them in good stead in this brand new venture.

In addition, he has recruited the Australian foils specialist Ashby as well as Britain’s Alistair Richardson, another multihull expert who until recently, was with the Luna Rossa America’s Cup team to make sure their progress is rapid.

“There are a lot of challenges ahead of us trying to get the boat competitive and ready to race but we are lucky in that we have the expertise on board to learn quickly,” said McMillan.

“We are hoping that Alistair and Glenn will prove good sources of knowledge and by the end, we are hopeful of posting some good results. This is the kind of challenge that we really enjoy so it is exciting.”

McMillan’s crew have completed just four days of training together in England where a big breeze propelled their GC32 along at speeds in excess of 30 knots. In the light Lake Traunsee airs, the opening races in the five-day event (May 27-31) might prove to be more of a work up.

“This is the first time these boats get to race together on a proper circuit and there are some big budget teams like Spindrift and Alinghi who already have done a lot of training,” McMillan said.

“We are a late entry and on the back foot a bit, but we will look to be competitive as soon as we have enough learning under our belts and will push hard. We have no expectations but it will be nice to have a good first week!”
'Sultanate of Oman', backed by Oman’s Ministry of Tourism and co-sponsor EFG Bank Monaco, will line up against four other GC32s for this curtain raiser including Swiss team Alinghi with McMillan’s old Extreme 40 rival Morgan Larson on the helm.

“From what we have seen, Alinghi are favorites and will be the team to beat but there is a lot of experience in this fleet,” said McMillan.

“This is the first event and it will be tough racing so we are keen to learn a lot, make our mark and have a solid week.”

For Oman’s Nasser Al Mashari, the GC32 is his first experience of foiling but he is relishing the new challenge.

“These are very fast boats, faster than I am used to,” he explained. “It was very breezy during training in Southampton and we really enjoyed it. Other teams on this tour will have more experience in the GC32s but we have had a lot of success as a team on the Extreme 40 so we are confident we can be competitive. We are all really excited about this new challenge and to be representing Oman at the forefront of our sport.”

The first event of the 2015 Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour, called the Austria Cup, kicks off at 1100 CET on Wednesday, 27th May. For more information, click here