A turnaround in the Hamburg weather saw a shift in fortunes among the Extreme Sailing Series fleet which left The Wave, Muscat and Oman Air stepping up their plans for the remaining two days of competition.
Racing on the city centre stadium course once again proved tricky with sunshine and the welcome breeze from day one giving way to light and shifty winds spiced up with strong gusts that kept umpires busy watching for infringements.
These conditions served to wrong foot experienced crews and create opportunities for others so after topping the leaderboard overnight, The Wave, Muscat’s crew on had to move to third place.
A dip in consistency saw them start and finish the day with maximum point wins with just one other podium place to add to their tally but in one of the tightest contests of the year so far, they were sitting just five points behind new leaders Gazprom Team Russia at the close and a single point behind SAP Extreme Sailing Team.
The variable breezes made life difficult for everyone added Oman Air’s Ali Al Balushi. “The wind was really tricky. Sometimes on the right and sometimes on the left so it was impossible for the tactician to decide where to go but it was the same for everyone. We did not have a great day but tomorrow will be different,” he said.
“It was tricky and while we had some good races, there were a few that didn’t go our way and a few where the jury did not pick up on the situation,” admitted McMIllan.
“It was frustrating because we were not picking the right strategy in the starts. We were working as hard as we could but things kept on going against us, again and again. Hopefully we can get back up on top tomorrow.
“But it is still only day two of the regatta and it is very close, points wise – there are still two days remaining and a lot of wind coming tomorrow which we are 100% pleased about.”
Oman Air incurred several penalties during the day though maintained their sixth place overall and left skipper Stevie Morrison mulling over new ideas for their race strategies.
“Perhaps we need to think about buying the umpires an ice cream because I lost count of the penalties we received,” he said. “We are racing hard and working well as a team but we need to avoid incident. We have had some very close racing but it was a tough day with the jury. They did what they thought was right but we thought we only deserved one of the penalties. We are frustrated but you win some and lose some and we will fight on.”
A forecast for storms and strong winds on the third day of racing has created a stir of anticipation among the crews since yet again, the conditions are likely to cause more upset and further changes on the leaderboard.
