Oman Air wins inaugural Land Rover Extreme 40 exhibition event

by Oman Sail on 13 Oct 2014 Oman Sail’s Extreme Sailing Series team on Oman Air won the inaugural Land Rover Extreme 40 exhibition event at Barcolana, the largest regatta in Europe held in the Adriatic city of Trieste, over the weekend.

As part of their preparations for the final Extreme Sailing Series event in Sydney in December, the Oman Sail Extreme 40, skippered by Britain’s Rob Greenhalgh was one of four Extreme 40s to be invited to Italy for four days of exhibition racing by the organisers, Società Velica Di Barcola e Grignano, to celebrate the launch of the Land Rover Discovery Sport.

In light conditions, the four teams raced ten races - Oman Air won all four on the opening day and clinched the inaugural Land Rover Cup on day two, just three points ahead of rivals Red Bull Extreme Sailing.

It was a convincing win in front of 300,000 spectators that gathered along the sea front to watch the four-day event. 'I had never been to Trieste before and it was an amazing experience,' said skipper Rob Greenhalgh.

'I had never seen so many spectators crowd the docks and with 1,878 boats racing at Barcolana, there was a fantastic atmosphere. We were very happy to take the win and are looking forward to the final Act in Sydney in December.'

The third Extreme 40 entry was the Land Rover Extreme Sailing Team, skippered by Adam Piggott while Italian entry, Fincantieri skippered by Lorenzo Bressani, plus Olympic silver and bronze medallist Mitch Booth added a local flavour to proceedings.

'It is fantastic to have these Extreme 40s here; we have realised a dream to have some of the most iconic catamarans in the world sailing here in Trieste. We are very happy!' said President of the Società Velica Di Barcola e Grignano, Mitja Gialuz.

Oman Air will resume their Extreme Sailing Series campaign on December 11-14 when they compete in the last of the eight Acts of 2014 in an all or nothing decider in Event website