Top of the 2016 Extreme Sailing Series leaderboard Oman Sail’s Team Oman Air were locked in a three-way match on the opening day of Act 7 in Lisbon with French wildcard team Norauto spicing up the action on the River Tagus.
By the end of the day, with just five races completed due to the light conditions, Oman Air were sitting in third place, just five points behind leaders Alinghi with Norauto sandwiched in between on 53 points after a day of close and gritty competition between the three leading contenders.
A strong tide combined with light airs made tactics tricky for all nine crews with some boats veering off the race course but Team Oman Air welcomed the challenge, especially the additional team, said mainsail trimmer and tactician Pete Greenhalgh.
“It is good to have the extra competition,” he commented.
“Norauto are probably the most experienced GC32 team in the world and the open course is geared more to their skill set than to an Extreme crew.
“Having them in the mix makes such a big difference because it is another boat at the front boxing people back which brings other boats into it.
“We had a 1-2-3-4-5 which made it an average day for us but a five-point lead at the end of day one is nothing really, no big deal and we are excited by this contest because everyone is pretty evenly matched.”
The second day of the Act will see the fleet completing a coastal race as part of the daily programme which will be an opportunity to make gains, said bowman and experienced campaigner Nasser Al Mashari.
“Hopefully it will be windy so it will be nice to stretch our legs and we are looking forward to getting more races under our belt and reeling in the guys in front of us,” he said.
“We sailed well today and came away with three podium places in five races. There are still three days of racing ahead so we will work hard at chipping away at their lead.”
Racing continues tomorrow through to Sunday 9 October with live online coverage at www.extremesailingseries.com. On Saturday and Sunday, there will be live video streaming in addition to twitter updates and the dynamic SAP Sailing Analytics.
The Race Village is located at Doca Pedrouços where visitors can experience the full range of Extreme Sailing entertainment including a kids zone with commentary, a market and food stalls.
