This in from Suzanne and Alan, in their own words. Ed
With winds gusting up to 45 knots in Sydney Harbour day one of the final Act of the 2014 Extreme Sailing Series was lost, but an exhausting 10 races were sailed on day two with all the teams pulling out the stops that resulted in seven different race winners.
Oman’s The Wave, Muscat flew round the tight course and the team with Island sailor Leigh McMillan as skipper were slick in executing their manoeuvres. With two race wins and two second places, Leigh’s team were at the top of the rankings at the end of the day.
Leigh said after racing:
“It was a pretty feisty day to be honest – full on. There were big gusts and it was massively shifty so it was pretty hard to be consistent. We had to make quick decisions.”
With only two days left this season, Leigh’s attentions quickly shifted to the bigger prize:
“We know we have a lot to do and Morgan on Alinghi is not far behind on the leaderboard, but he had a better day than we had hoped today to be honest. We could have done with him being further back but we’ll keep working away at it tomorrow and give ourselves the best possible position we can.”
The double-defending champions on The Wave, Muscat had to win in Sydney and Alinghi has to be sixth or worse for British Olympian Leigh and his team to make it a hat trick of Series wins – a tough but not impossible ask.
Racing day two was an action-packed, full pressure day in Sydney Harbour with the match between Alinghi and The Wave, Muscat rife. Two race wins for the Swiss to the Omanis one, meant an advantage for Alinghi as they headed into the final day. Ben Ainslie on J.P.Morgan BAR had a good day ending in 4th position.
At the end of racing points were as follows:
1st Alinghi (SUI) Morgan Larson, Stuart Pollard, Pierre-Yves Jorand, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey 127 points.
2nd Realteam by Realstone (SUI) Jérôme Clerc, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Bruno Barbarin, Bryan Mettraux, Thierry Wasem 125 points.
3rd The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Ed Smyth, Nasser Al Mashari 120 points.
4th J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR) Ben Ainslie, Nick Hutton, Paul Campbell-James, Bleddyn Mon, Matt Cornwell 108 points.
Those seven points certainly meant a lot to Leigh’s team- the difference between that third series win and after all the battles through the year it was mission accomplished for Ernesto Bertarelli’s Swiss team Alinghi.
Morgan Larson and the team grabbed victory with both hands at Act 8 in Sydney, and with it the 2014 Extreme Sailing Series™ title.
Morgan Larson’s words say it all:
“We’ve had an amazing season with an amazing team. To win the season and the Act on the last day in the conditions we had here in Sydney, which is the best sailing venue in the world, is a special moment that’s going to take a long time to sink in.
“The level of confidence that we have on our boat just made me realise I can win anything with these guys. This is the best feeling I’ve had all year and probably in the whole of my sailing career, so I’m going to cherish it.”
With a few weeks rest for teams in the weeks ahead but the Extreme 40s Series will be back soon and ready for the 2015 Acts around the World.
Results in Sydney:
1 Alinghi 189.
2 The Wave Muscat 177
3 Realteam by Realstone 168
4 Oman Air 157
5 J.P.Morgan BAR 156
6 Red Bull Sailing Team 151
7 Sap Extreme Sailing Team 145
8 Gazprom Sailing Team 143
9 Groupama Sailing Team 124
10 GAC Pindar 90
Top 3 for the Series:
First-Alinghi 85, 2nd The Wave, Muscat 75, Realteam 61.
Image: © Lloyd Images
