Extreme Sailing Series - Not all plain sailing for SAP Extreme

by Sarah Branson on 28 Jul 2013 In Act 5 of the Extreme Sailing Series, the Douro River provided the playground for the second day of Stadium Racing in Porto today, where some teams thrived and others suffered within the confines of the tight racecourse measuring just 70 metres wide at its narrowest point. Everything is magnified and decisions have to be made in split seconds and intricate manoeuvres executed smoothly, which in patchy breeze, proved to be all change within the stadium.

For the SAP Extreme Sailing Team it certainly wasn’t all plain sailing today with the team contending with the most challenging conditions so far in Act 5. Up to 13 knots of flukey breeze and a strong current saw the SAP Team finishing the day holding fourth with just one point ahead of the Red Bull Sailing team.

Mikkel Rossberg, SAP Extreme Sailing Team trimmer commented: 'I've mixed emotions today. It’s been tricky on the racecourse - one minute the hulls are flying, the next the teams are struggling against the current and we are trading positions all the time. We were definitely the most consistent team for the first half of the race day, leading in the third exhibition race after winning the first one. We maximized every opportunity presented to us to try overhaul the other teams and take the win. But we are hungry to move on from holding fourth on the leader board'

The SAP Extreme Sailing Team made some great calls tactically to capitalize on the boat speed and the encouragement from the spectators lining both sides of the Douro River was fantastic. Tomorrow the intensity will go up a notch and the SAP Extreme Sailing Team will be pushing hard to improve on today's Extreme Sailing Series