Extreme Sailing Series - Realteam steps onto the podium

by MaxComm Communication on 29 Jul 2013 Realteam achieved one of its primary objectives at Act 5 of the Extreme Sailing Series in Portugal over the weekend posting a third place and stepping onto the podium for the first time in international competition.

Skippered and helmed by French sailor Pierre Pennec, Jerome Clerc’s professionally crewed Realteam made a big leap forward last weekend at Act 5 of the Extreme Sailing Series from 25-28 July in Porto, Portugal. The Swiss team notched up 18 podium finishes out of 30 races to post a well-earned third place overall behind Alinghi and the overall winner The Wave, Muscat.

'We are very pleased with our performance this weekend,' said Jerome Clerc. 'We trained for six days before the race, so have had 10 solid days of sailing and for a new team such as ours, that is very important. Having Pierre Pennec onboard made a difference, he has very high standards in all areas, and the team learned to raise its game and be more alert and ready to act or help a teammate at any moment. It’s a very different style of sailing; everything can change within a fraction of a second.'

The Realteam was crewed by helmsman Pierre Pennec, mainsail trimmer Nils Palmieri, trimmer Cedric Schmidt, floater Bryan Mettraux and bowman Thierry Wasem while Jerome Clerc observed from ashore.

Act 6 of the Extreme Sailing Series is scheduled for the 23-26 August in Cardiff, UK, and Jerome Clerc will step back on board as skipper helmsman. The team is scheduled to do some training on the D35 and will also race the Volvo Match Race Cup, the Swiss Match Racing Championships, hosted by the Société Nautique de Genève.