Extreme Sailing Series - Good opener for JP Morgan BAR
by Sarah Alexander on 3 Oct 2014
The J.P. Morgan BAR Extreme 40 racing in Nice. Lloyd Images/Extreme Sailing Series
Day one of Act 7 of the penultimate event of the Extreme Sailing Series and J.P. Morgan BAR opened well, winning the first race of the day and finishing third in the second. It was a great start – and while the team struggled to hold that form through the middle of the day in lighter and more fickle conditions – they went on to consolidate, made the gains they needed, and brought it home tidily in the final races.
Bowman, Matt Cornwell, summed up the first day, 'It was very tricky, very light and very easy to put yourself in situations where you’re looking to be in the top three, and then very quickly you can be in the bottom three, so it’s very difficult to get those calls right.
'I think it was the same for everyone and there’s a lot of teams out there that looked frustrated with today’s racing but actually I think we’re all on similar points and it’s all very tight, as per normal at these events.'
J.P. Morgan BAR fifth man, Bleddyn Mon, continued 'I think the most positive thing was that when we didn’t get ourselves into difficult situations we were up there and we had good boat speed. When we kept it simple and made had starts, we were finishing within the top five.
'Tomorrow condition wise it will be quite similar, we got a lot of races in today and that will be the plan tomorrow too. But, there’s a long way to go, probably around a quarter of the races done, a lot more to go but we are positive with today’s start.'
Although the day was consistently light it was still eventful with a penalty in race three, followed by a pre-start collision with Alinghi, which left the team with boat damage and a night of repair work.
After the first day the team sit in fifth over and Sailing Team Manager, Jono Macbeth, is confident there are good opportunities for the team from the rest of the week. 'I think it was a really good day and a strong day for us – we were a little up and down and inconsistent with our results, but it paid off in the end.
'Overall the top of the fleet is really tight on points but, it’s early days, I think everyone is in there with a shot after day one.'
The racing in France will be streamed live, with commentary, on JP Morgan BAR blog from tomorrow until Sunday. The action will also be broadcast live on Canal + sport.
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