The Wave, Muscat Victorious On Home Waters

Pre-event favourites The Wave, Muscat win on home waters for the third consecutive year, narrowly denying the Danish SAP Extreme Sailing Team their first ever Act victory, after a down to the wire final double points race shoot out at the Extreme Sailing Series Act 2, Muscat.

After six races, just two points separated the Omani and Danish teams – with the advantage in the hands of Rasmus Kostner and Jes Gram Hansen on SAP Extreme Sailing Team, after winning the first two races of the day. The teams went toe to toe in the final race and it was The Wave, Muscat who took control from the start, playing the light seven-knot wind shifts expertly, to extend away from the fleet and take the race win and overall Act victory – SAP Extreme Sailing Team taking third place to secure them second.

“It was a tough day, it didn’t go to plan, we had some really difficult starts and SAP (Extreme Sailing Team) really put the pressure on, so it was pretty evenly matched,” explained helm McMillan. “We had to dig deep and we knew it would come down the last race, all we had to do was beat them or they beat us. Everyone on the boat kept pushing hard to make the best of the situation and in the end we got the result, but it wasn’t easy.”

Third place was a battle between the Austrian Red Bull Sailing Team and Oman Air and the pressure was evident. On the start line of race two, Oman Air collided into the back of the Austrians, knocking off their rudders and causing irreparable damage. An average points redress for Red Bull minimised the points damage – the Olympic champion from Austria Hans Peter Steinacher and his team finishing the Act in third overall, ahead of Oman Air, who were unable to recover from their black flag disqualification resulting from the collision, despite a strong performance all week. Morrison summed up the week on the dock after racing, “We were hoping for third but we unfortunately had a little bit of a run in with Red Bull. We made some mistakes today and it was a little frustrating but over the week as a whole its been great, hopefully we will go and shake the Red Bull guys’ hands and they will forgive us for the little tap we gave them.”

Series Main Partner to the Extreme Sailing Series, Land Rover presented the Above and Beyond Award to relative newcomers, Team Turx powered by Kaya Ropes, co-skippered by Edhem Dirvana and Mitch Booth. The team posted six podium positions, one race win and were the third highest point scoring team on the final day.

After 2 Acts this year, (the first in Singapore just five weeks ago), Red Bull Sailing Team, The Wave, Muscat and SAP Extreme Sailing Team are all tied on 18 points on the Series standing. Next up, the Series moves to Qingdao, China, 30 April – 3 May.

Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 2 Muscat standings after Day 2, 14 races (12.03.15)
Position / Team / Points
1. SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Thierry Douillard, Mads Emil Stephensen, Brad Farrand 113 points.
2. The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Ed Smyth, Nasser Al Mashari 106 points.
3. Oman Air (OMA) Stevie Morrison, Nic Asher, Ted Hackney, Ed Powys, Ali Al Balashi 103 points.
4. Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Jason Waterhouse, Shaun Mason, Stewart Dodson 96 points.
5. GAC Pindar (GBR) Seve Jarvin, Ian Williams, Marcus Ashley-Jones, Tyson Lamond, James Wierzbowski 84 points.
6. Lino Sonego Team Italia (ITA) Lorenzo Bressani, Enrico Zennaro, Gabriele Olivo, Tom Buggy, Stefano Ciampalini 82 points.
7. Team Turx powered by Kaya Ropes (TUR) Mitch Booth, Edhem Dirvana, Selim Kak, Diogo Cayolla, Matteo Auguadro 79 points.
8. Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) Igor Lisovenko, Phil Robertson, Garth Ellingham, Alexander Bozhko, Aleksey Kulakov 53 points