Extreme Sailing Series, Act 4 - Tricky first day for J.P. Morgan BAR

by Sarah Alexander on 27 Jun 2014 The first day of the Extreme Sailing Series Act 4, Saint Petersburg and J.P. Morgan BAR were set up to expect both a demanding venue and difficult racing conditions from the famous Russian city. The wind was highly inconsistent, extremely light, and it eventually forced officials to abandon sailing after only four races.

The task of managing the ripping Neva River current, while focusing on the demands of the Extreme racing, made it incredibly difficult for all the teams to perform. Across the board, the twelve-strong fleet struggled with consistency, jostling for positions and pushing hard to optimize their boat speed.

Tactician, Paul Goodison summarized the day’s racing. 'It was a lottery out there and really hard to predict at times. But we expected it to be tough and we learnt some useful things about the venue, the conditions and what our strategy needs to be for the week.'

'Overall it was an interesting day with enjoyable racing. The trickiness of it all just means you have to react quickly – the wind drops off and comes back in from quite random spots so you have to act fast.'

J.P. Morgan BAR brought home a mixed bag of results, enjoying a clean get-away off the start line in race one to take second place. A ninth place followed in race two, a sixth in race three and the British team finished the day with a fourth, leaving them sixth overall with 20 points on the scoreboard.

Bowman, Matt Cornwell commented, 'As a team we are taking small steps forward and making improvements on-board which will help make a big difference in the long run. It is unique racing, we are still learning how each of us works, and together we did a reasonable job of dealing with it all today.'

'All in all not a bad opener to the event for us, it’s a competitive fleet so it’s tough and now there are things for us to build on for tomorrow.'

As the series progresses, the pressure builds and the team is looking for a top three finish from the event, to set them up in a good position to head into the next half of the circuit.

Watch the racing action live from: 1200-1330 GMT / 1400-1530 CET / 1600-1730 local time St Petersburg at JP Morgan BAR blog.

Full J.P. Morgan BAR Act 4, Saint Petersburg crew list
Skipper – Ben Ainslie
Tactician – Paul Goodison
Bowman – Matt Cornwell
Main Sail Trimmer – Nick Hutton
Trimmer – Phil Sparks

Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 4, Saint Petersburg presented by Land Rover standings after Day 1, 4 races

1st Alinghi (SUI) 37 points.?
2nd The Wave, Muscat (OMA) 28 points.
?3rd Realteam by Realstone (SUI) 26 points.?
4th Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) 25 points.?
5th SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) 22 points.?
6th J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR) 20 points.
?7th Groupama sailing team (FRA) 17 points.?
8th Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) 16 points.
?9th GAC Pindar (AUS) 15 points.?
10th Oman Air (OMA) 11 points.?
11th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) 7 points.?
12th Russian First (RUS) 4 points.