Extreme Sailing Series - A show of characteristic consistency

by Oman Sail on 27 Jun 2014 The Wave, Muscat closed their first day of Extreme Sailing Series Act 4 in St Petersburg in a promising second place with a show of characteristic consistency in tricky conditions while Oman Air toiled hard to gain a foothold.

Despite being new to the circuit, St Petersburg is already being billed as the trickiest sailing venue of the year and possibly of all time due to the challenges posed by a small stadium racecourse on the Neva River where the current is notoriously strong. A forecast for light winds on the opening day coupled with strong currents was greeted cautiously by all 12 crews racing against the spectacular backdrop of the Winter Palace and the Hermitage Bridge.

By the end of four races, defending champion Leigh McMillan and his crew had notched up three podium places, each of them hard fought for in a highly competitive fleet.

'It was a good opening day because they were challenging conditions with lots of current and a shifty wind but we were pretty happy with our performance,' said The Wave, Muscat’s Sarah Ayton.

'It was patchy but it was the strength of the current when the breeze died that was catching people out so it was especially important to get a good start and our one disappointing result was down to a bad start.'

The long running battles with rival Alinghi, the current series leader, resumed immediately the flag went up on the first race but according to bowman Nasser Al Mashari, they refuse to be distracted from their aim to win three ESS championship titles in a row.

'With each and every event, the competition is getting harder but it is very important we focus on our own performances,' he said.

'It was our first day in Russia today and apart from the fact that it was really cold, we found the current to be very strong which made it very difficult to sail.

'But we are second at the end of day one and tomorrow we will be aiming to go first so we are feeling positive about our performances.'

Rob Greenhalgh and his Oman Air team, who finished the last event in Qingdao on such a high after finishing fifth overall, were also feeling positive about the challenge ahead.

'This is a city centre venue with a strong current and no wind. What wind we did have was very shifty so it wasn’t easy and the quick boats came out on top which was down to technique and sail trimming with a little bit of luck and a little bit of skill.

'We felt we were a little bit off the pace today but we will be playing catch up tomorrow, looking for significant improvements so we can work our way through the fleet. It is going to be very hard here for everyone.'

Act 4 St Petersburg continues through until Sunday with live commentary from 0800GMT/1000 CET and live video from 1200 GMT/1400 CET at Extreme Sailing Series throughout the remaining three days.