Oman Air tightens grip on 2016 Extreme Sailing Series leaderboard

by Oman Sail on 26 Jun 2016 Oman Air swept to their second win in three Extreme Sailing Series events when they finished on the podium in all but one race on the final day in Cardiff to tighten their grip on the overall 2016 leaderboard.

They stretched their lead at the top of the season table to three points over second placed Red Bull Sailing Team after a close contest in Cardiff that left the Austrian team just six points adrift by the end of the final race.

Morgan Larson’s crew notched up ten outright wins from 29 races with another nine podium places to add to the mix, reaffirming their status as the most consistent team in the fleet and confirming them as Cardiff champions.

A win in the final race may have eluded them but achieving overall victory, and fending off the 11th hour challenge from Red Bull, was reassuring, Larson said.

“It’s a fantastic result because it was tough right up to the final moments of the last race, but we did what we needed to do and came away with a win.

“Red Bull did an awesome job - they are really getting the hang of the boat and coming up strong so we have work to do to make sure we stay ahead of them.”

Their success reaffirmed Oman Air’s strong track record in Cardiff, added Pete Greenhalgh but it also signified a bright future for the next generation of young sailors coming through Oman Sail’s youth programmes.

“I love doing the Cardiff event and it is amazing to win here,” he said.

“The Oman Sail squad track record has been pretty good over the past four, five years and fortunately we have managed to keep that going so we are really happy.

“We’ve been working really hard on bringing talented Omani sailors up through the project whether it is on the Oman Air boat or as part of our shore crew and it is really paying off with these results.

“It is starting to filter down into the younger generations who are starting off in the Optimists and in years to come will hopefully be racing these boats and getting the same results.”

Among the Omani sailors inspiring those youngsters with his growing collection of titles and trophies is Nasser Al Mashari, Oman Air’s super strong bowman and a rock solid member of the crew for many years. He was already looking ahead to the next Act in Hamburg next month.

“It’s not the first time Oman Sail has won in Cardiff but this is a fantastic achievement,” he said.

“We worked hard and sailed well and had a great time on the water. But there are still five events to go in 2016 and the other teams, as we saw with ChinaOne and Red Bull, are on our heels so we have to work even harder to make sure we carry on winning.”

Extreme Sailing Series Act 4 takes place in Hamburg from July 28 to July 31 when Oman Air will be back in action aiming for their third event crown in 2016.