Extreme Sailing Series - Oman Sail teams firmly in contention

by Oman Sail on 4 Oct 2014 Light airs in Nice conspired to create another day of up and down performances across the Extreme Sailing Series fleet but Oman Sail’s crews on The Wave, Muscat and Oman Air were able to build enough consistency to stay in contention with two days of racing remaining.

With Friday's seven races producing six different winners, a light and shifty breeze, while stronger than on day one, continued to make life extremely tricky for the teams and Leigh McMillan had to wait until the third race of the day, the 11th of the event, to post a first victory for The Wave, Muscat with a second coming three races later.

Oman Air also claimed a couple of podium places to finish the day in eighth place but just 19 points separate the top eight teams, reflecting a tight and compact contest and turning Act 7 into the closest event of the series so far.

The action took place on the Baie des Anges just off the crowded beach in front of the Extreme Race Village on the Promenade des Anglais, providing beach-goers with some exciting viewing!

Racing was tight, the starts were hard fought and any mistakes proved costly, said McMillan, racing with his regular crew of Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Kinley Fowler and Nasser Al Mashari.

'It was an up and down day and although we did a lot of things well, the mistakes we made were big ones and cost us a lot of points.

'We kept on battling, it's always a bit trickier in light airs, and there are holes all over the race course. It's difficult, but it's difficult for everyone.

'We have got plenty of game left in us for the next few days. We will be focussed on continuing to improve and come back strong,' he said.

Nasser Al Mashari, bowman on The Wave, Muscat said the mixed results across the fleet showed how big a part luck played in the outcomes.

'It was a very hard day. We had good boat handling, good starts but we were unlucky on the course. The second day was better than the first, but hopefully we will do better tomorrow,' he said.

The intensity on board Oman Air was just as apparent but Kyle Langford said they were happy to still be in the hunt for honours with around another 15 races remaining on Saturday and Sunday.

'It was a tough day, but we felt like we did alright, we are certainly still in the hunt,' he said.

'It's hard to keep track of the results out there with so many races but we improved throughout the day, and our last few races were quite good.

'The biggest difference today was that we got better and better as the day progressed so got some decent results towards the end.

'It's supposed to be light for the next few days - we'll have the same strategy to be trying to do as well as we can in every race and hopefully we'll be in the mix for the last day.

'We learn something new every race we do and just have to make sure we don't make the same mistakes twice!'

Racing continues through to Sunday with live commentary on Extreme Sailing Series from 1530 local time, Oman Sail