Extreme Sailing Series – The Wave and Oman Air poised for final day

by Oman Sail on 4 Oct 2015 Extreme Sailing Series – Leigh McMillan and his Extreme 40 crew on The Wave, Muscat are set to establish a new record for the biggest win of an event after another high octane day on the Bosphorus Straits in Istanbul which also saw Oman Air climb to second place.

With one day’s racing remaining, The Wave, Muscat has a 35 point lead over Oman Sail challengers Oman Air and look set to beat the biggest win margin in recent years which was in Singapore in 2013 when Alinghi put 35 points between them and the rest of the fleet.

The two times Extreme champion McMillan admitted to being ‘super happy’ with their performance in Istanbul but warned against easing back on the final day when an historic fourth victory in a row after wins in Cardiff, Hamburg and St Petersburg, was so tantalisingly close.

“We have sailed really well here but we need to keep it up tomorrow on the final day because we need this win if we are to stand a chance of winning the series overall which is what we set out to do at the start of the year,” said McMillan.

“But so far, we have had some good results so I am super happy. The whole crew are happy and relaxed though a bit exhausted because we have had 15-20 knots every day so it’s been a challenge to keep energy levels high.”

Of the 23 races completed so far in Istanbul, The Wave, Muscat have achieved a remarkable 11 wins with a total of 19 podium places while Stevie Morrison’s Oman Air have to date posted 13 podium spots including one outright win, which according to the skipper accurately reflects a strong performance.

“We are loving Istanbul and feel we deserve these results because we always knew we had good sailors on board and have worked very hard all season but have never made it onto the podium which we are keen to do,” said Morrison.

“We feel confident we can carry on sailing well and if we do that, and continue enjoying some good fortune, the result will take care of itself.”

Oman Air are heading for their best result of the series. Their previous best was fourth in Muscat earlier this year and Ali Al Balushi, who joined the Extreme circuit for the last event in Sydney in 2014, describes the prospect of finishing on the podium in Istanbul as ‘something huge’.

“We are fighting hard and pushing hard all the time and have been improving with each event which you can see in our results. We are sailing well here and loving it so are really excited about the results. Finishing in second overall will be something huge.”

Both Oman Sail crews took inspiration from Sultanate of Oman’s success in winning the inaugural Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour title after coming third at the final event in Marseille. McMillan, the GC32’s regular skipper paid tribute to skipper Nathan Outteridge who stepped into his shoes for the event while he was in Istanbul.

“We have really enjoyed the GC32 racing this year and as a crew were sorry we weren’t able to finish it off but Nathan and his team did a fantastic job so we are thrilled for them and hope we can follow in their footsteps with a win here tomorrow,” said McMillan.

Live coverage of the Extreme Sailing Series Istanbul continues on Sunday at 14:00 local time (GMT+3) with live video streaming, live 3D graphics, all viewable on Sail-World.com