In the final race of a tumultuous day, Leigh McMillan and his crew swept to their third and final win, making it seven out of 21 races so far in this remarkable contest. It also moved them into second place behind Alinghi and came just moments after a spectacular pile-up at the end of Race 20 where Aberdeen Asset Management, powered up by a sudden gust, landed on top of Franck Cammas’ Groupama causing a dismast – the crew leapt into the water.
No one was injured and safety boats were soon disentangling the two vessels, which were quickly craned out to be repaired – hopefully in time to resume racing on Sunday.
“We could feel the conditions getting fruity and were massively relieved to have got through the finish line,” McMillan said afterwards.
“The wind was coming in so fast and there was this bottleneck with nowhere for the boats to go. When these gusts hit, you lose control and there is nothing you can do. We were extremely concerned about everyone’s safety and were very happy to hear that everyone was ok. Even in the last race there were plenty of close moments on the race course when things could have gone horribly wrong, there has got to be some consideration for the safety of the crew.” The results reflect an evolving team that is bonding by the day and is determined to go from strength to strength, McMillan added.
“It’s a new team and we knew it would take a few races to get to the stage where we have an unquestioning understanding of what needs to be done.
“Things happen so quickly in these races, as everyone saw today, and there is no time for discussion. Every race sees an improvement in the communications and dynamic in the team and when you see who else is in the line up this year – it’s a tough field to be beating – we are pretty happy to be putting in some good results.”
Sarah Ayton, the British Olympic gold medallist who is making her debut on The Wave, Muscat this year, is taking the dramas in her stride, grateful that there is so much experience on board their boat.
“It was a really tough day in terms of the changing wind strength – going from 8 knots to gusts of 18 knots,” she said.
“But these were conditions that rewarded experience and we were lucky to have so much experience in our boat. I felt in very good hands and what the guys were doing in terms of boat handling and positioning was impressive.” After racing, Ayton then went to talk about her own experiences with The Wave, Muscat and her career as an Olympic sailor with more than 60 children from Singapore Sailing Federation as part of a “Chat With Champions” event at the Extreme Club in Singapore.
Two-time Extreme champion McMillan has spent years refining a template for success in Extreme 40 racing with consistency always featuring high in his priorities and Rob Greenhalgh is on that same learning curve with his new crew on Oman Air.
One podium place and a fourth were mixed in with some lower placings that put Oman Air in 10th place overall but according to Omani crew Musab Al Hadi, communications on board are improving race by race and after such a dramatic day, they were thankful to finish in one piece.
“We think we are improving all the time, making progress towards working as a team” he said. “Our communication is getting better onboard. With the breeze so up and down we have seen a few crashes this week, ourselves included. When I saw the crash between Aberdeen and Groupama, it was a big reminder that we have to be very, very careful and keep a close eye on everything on the race course – we are just very thankful that everyone onboard is unhurt.”
Click here to download the video from Day 1 and here for the video from Day 2 – more to come tomorrow!
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.
