Extreme Sailing Series - J.P. Morgan BAR look ahead to Act 6 racing

by Sarah Alexander on 11 Sep 2014 Five Extreme Sailing Series Acts down, just three remaining and J.P. Morgan BAR turn their focus to Act 6 – Istanbul, Turkey, a firm favourite on the series with both Extreme 40 sailors and spectators.

Racing on the Bosphorus Strait, one of the world’s busiest waterways, begins on Thursday 11th and concludes on Sunday 14th. Looking ahead to racing in the iconic and historic city, bowman, Matt Cornwell commented:

'By Extreme standards it is a much more open venue, especially compared to the last two events [UK and Russia], which is a good start. We have been looking at the weather forecast for the week and it’s looking like it could be the best sailing conditions we have had of the series so far.

'We are expecting around 10-15 knots each day, sunshine, flat water, slightly shifty and puffy wind – due to the nature of the direction it is coming in from the city. It should be a nice spacious racecourse and classic racing conditions for us here in Turkey.'

It’s just over three weeks since the team delivered their home racing debut in Cardiff Bay, where they placed their first podium position of the series. With only three Acts remaining, it leaves a narrow window for experimenting and their efforts will be focused on making more gains and claiming the points.

Trimmer, Nick Hutton continued, 'We learnt a lot from Cardiff, which has definitely given us some confidence and now it is all about building on our positive result. The team are moving forward and are looking to move even further up the leaderboard, we are hoping Istanbul will be the place for us to do this.'

The sixth Act also brings another new line up, Tactician, Paul Goodison, returns to join Cornwell, Hutton, Skipper, Ben Ainslie and fifth man, Bleddyn Mon, who made his racing debut with the team last month, to complete a full British entry.

The team head into Act 6 in fifth place overall, with 25 points and are supported in the Turkish leg by Performance Sailing coach and Olympic silver medallist, Ian Barker. Racing will be streamed live, with commentary, on JP Morgan BAR blog from Friday 12th to Sunday 14th.

Full J.P. Morgan BAR Act 6, Istanbul, Team list:
Skipper – Ben Ainslie
Tactician – Paul Goodison
Bowman – Matt Cornwell
Trimmer – Nick Hutton
Fifth Man – Bleddyn Mon
Shore Team
Jono Macbeth
Johnny Mourdant
Ian Mccabe
Ian Barker
Alex Hopson

Extreme Sailing Series™ 2014 overall standings
1st Alinghi (SUI) 47 points.
2nd The Wave, Muscat (OMA) 45 points.
3rd Realteam by Realstone (SUI) 34 points.
4th Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) 33 points.
5th J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR) 25 points.
6th Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) 22 points.
7th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) 20 points.
8th SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) 18 points.
9th Oman Air (OMA) 16 points.
10th Groupama sailing team (FRA) 15 points.
11th GAC Pindar (AUS) 5 points.