Extreme Sailing Series - Day 1 for SAP Extreme Sailing Team

by Sarah Branson on 27 Jul 2013 In the Extreme Sailing Series, the SAP Extreme Sailing Team finished the first day of stadium racing on the Douro River in Porto, Portugal with a ‘first’ across the line in the final race putting them points ahead of the Red Bull Racing team in Act 5. Despite tension at the start of the days racing, due to the anticipation of the compact course and risk of getting squeezed out rounding marks, the Danish led team stepped up and fought hard to achieve consistent performance on what was an intense day on the water.

Speaking after racing today, Co-skipper and Tactician, Rasmus Kostner said: 'We knew that the conditions would be tricky here in Porto and the whole team stepped up to fight hard to ensure we broke from tied points with Red Bull after the open water racing yesterday. Communication on-board was key to secure our positioning was as accurate as possible on such a tight course with little margin for error. It’s all to play for with two more days of racing so we won’t back down in terms of focus and energy. We’ve had a taste of how it feels to finish on the podium in Singapore and Qingdao and we’re keen to repeat our success.'

Sheer determination to move on from the joint fourth in points with the Red Bull Sailing Team spurred the SAP Extreme Sailing Team on to claim their top position finish in the final race of the day. This combined with strong starts and good tactics has translated into two seconds in race 11 and race 14 on the first day in the stadium.

The overall series results show that both The Wave and Alinghi are in joint first place followed by Red Bull and the SAP Extreme Sailing Team. The SAP Extreme Sailing team are set to push for a lead above the Red Bull Sailing Team overall, two more days of racing will mean the close contention SAP Extreme Sailing