Extreme Sailing Series - SAP Extreme ready for Act 7

by Sarah Branson on 2 Oct 2013 In Act 7 of the Extreme Sailing Series next week in Nice, the SAP Extreme Sailing Team, led by co-­skippers Rasmus Kostner and Jes Gram-­Hansen will feature a wealth of European talent and their performance sees them placed firmly as ‘contenders’ heading into the event.

With a significant number of podium finishes under their belts, the team has paused to give some thought and insights into the SAP Extreme Sailing Team story so far as they arrive in Nice ahead of the penultimate Act.

The team is unanimous in highlighting their podium finish in Singapore as a pivotal moment for the team, a great come back and a demonstration of how they consolidated their efforts and fought back. Their highly sought after fourth position the leaderboard is down to sheer hard work, smart boat handling and some gutsy decisions on the race course.

'Every team takes a while to ‘bed in’, learning to work together, areas to pick up on and where the real strengths lie, and for me, standing on the podium in Singapore was the result of an outstanding fight back,' enthuses Pete Cumming, 'As Rasmus says it was down to fantastic team work.'

The roles on the boat are now very clearly defined with co-­skippers Rasmus Kostner and Jes Gram-­Hansen keen to get even the smallest details right all the time. 'Our shore team can see that we are calm, confident and convert, we take all the positives and push harder after a tricky day on the water,' comments Rasmus Kostner.

'Communication on the boat during racing is far better now and this has helped our performance, I am sure of it,' adds Mikkel Rossberg.

With their successes raising the SAP Extreme Sailing Team profile on the circuit it is clear from the breadth of support that they are a particularly well-­liked team, backed by friends all over the world and of all ages. The striking team kit leads them to stand out in the race village and they are never far from people wanting ask questions. 'Support from family and friends is a good motivator for us as sharing the great moments with them makes the hard work worthwhile! We seem to have made some new friends this year and I hope we can build on this as we head through Nice and on to Rio,' Comments co-­skipper Jes Gram-­Hansen.

Behind the hard-­core racing team is a great deal of warmth and humour, they share many guilty pleasures from chocolate, parties, Steven Seagal movies, right through to Shakira. Nicolai Sehested has absolutely no limits for fun stuff and was the first to admit that his guilty pleasure is absolutely the Extreme Sailing Series post Act party. Rasmus, with the most interesting of vices claims he likes to indulge in a glass of beetroot juice whilst pouring over a data-­filled spreadsheet!

Ahead of racing Jes Gram-­Hansen adds 'Nice is a fantastic venue, The crowds are always huge and very supportive and last year the conditions were perfect. We are a tight team with a good strategy, let the games SAP Extreme Facebook Page