After a quiet opener to Act 1, Leigh McMillan’s team arrived on the race course today with a new energy and enjoying the fresher breeze, immediately clocked two outright victories which later became three when they pipped Alinghi to the post in the final race.
Facing complicated wind patterns, created by the skyscrapers around Marina Bay which meant wind holes on some parts of the course and 25 knot gusts on others, they saw and read the shifts more clearly than rivals and managed to take control of the favoured side of the course to consistently hold the advantage.
Of the six races completed, the Omani boat won three of them and were on the podium for another two, signalling a rising dynamic in McMillan’s new look team and an appetite for a third consecutive championship title.
It also signalled a cool head when the pressure is on – Alinghi recovered well from a near capsize, boats were flying hulls all around the course, Groupama found themselves disqualified and Oman Air was unable to avoid a crash with Swiss boat Realstone in the penultimate race of the day.
Sarah Ayton, a new The Wave, Muscat crewmember with a gold tinted Olympic career behind her said the disappointment of the first day had led them to make some changes for day two, which had worked.
“We learned a lot yesterday and had an evening to reflect so came up with some things we would do differently and as a team, we executed those things well and had a really good day,” she said.
“The tempo in the team was energetic and we are working well together. By the end, my arms are going to be a couple of inches longer because there are so many races but the plan is to take one race at a time. Try to be there or thereabouts in our results and not aim too high.”
Another new team member Nasser Al Mashari from Oman was confident they could take their success into the third day where conditions are forecast to be similar. “We are happy with what we did today,” he said. “We had more breeze and hopefully we can continue tomorrow. We were disappointed yesterday but today we performed more as we know we can and came up with the goods.”
Skipper Leigh McMillan was also upbeat about performances saying his new team were clicking as a smart, tidy and hungry unit. “It was another really tough day – difficult conditions with some terrific gusts and close moments on the race course but we had a better day and managed to climb up the board a little,” he said.
“We are learning how to race as a new team – the communication and the dynamic is brand new but we made some big steps forward today. The guys did a fantastic job but there are still improvements to be made.”
The Wave, Muscat were lying in third place having leapfrogged the elite crews, Sir Ben Ainslie’s JP Morgan BAR from Britain and Franck Cammas’ crew on Groupama, while Oman Air fell one place to ninth after a disappointing day where they were given a 45 second starting penalty for the collision with Realstone.
“Big crashes where boats get damaged are upsetting,” said Oman Air skipper Rob Greenhalgh. “What was a comfortable dip became an issue in a wind shift and more pressure and we misjudged it and caught the transom of Realstone and very unfortunately damaged their boat. In this fleet it happens quite a lot – it is very close quarters tight action stuff and we just misjudged it.”
Racing in Act 1 of the 2014 Extreme Sailing Series takes place in Singapore from February 20-23. Watch the Stadium Racing, live, Friday 21st – Sunday 23rd February, 1600-1730 local time / 0800-0930 GMT / 0900-1030 CET. Timings subject to change.
