This in from Suzanne and Alan Whitewood, who have been following Island sailor, Leigh McMillan, in the Extreme 40 Series. In their own words, Ed
China’s ex-Olympic sailing venue, Qingdao, welcomed the Extreme 40 sailing teams for Act 3 of the 2013 Series. At the start of the event it was announced that Land Rover, one time sponsors of Cowes Week, are to become event sponsors.
Morgan Larson had taken the tiller from regular helm Ernesto Bertarelli on Alinghi for this Act and after winning three of day one’s five races the fastest boat on the water (average speed of 8.03 knots) the Swiss team was on top of the leaderboard. Jerome Clerc and his crew on Realteam (Switzerland), who just three weeks ago in Singapore finished an impressive fourth place in what was only their second ever Extreme Sailing Series Act, won the final race of the day and secured second place overall.
Third position for Leigh
Island sailor, Leigh McMillan, and his crew on The Wave, Muscat took the third podium position, and the British Olympian, who won this Act in 2012, was looking to put his Series title defence back on track with a podium finish in Qingdao at the end of Act 3.
Day two and a packed, eight race day, at Act 3 of the Extreme Sailing Series in Qingdao, with all eight international Extreme 40s competing moving into stadium mode in the heart of Fushan Bay. There was a good battle going on between Alinghi and The Wave, Muscat. Both Swiss and Omani flagged teams hunted each other around the compact racecourse, which at times resulted in a few near misses and protest flags being used. Alinghi did well to defend their lead and cling onto a three-point advantage at the end of the day.
There was a certain amount of pressure on Leigh McMillan coming into this Act to perform after an out of character fifth place for his team at the previous Act in Singapore however Leigh had a reunion with his former Team GBR Olympic Tornado crew, Will Howden. These two last sailed together on these waters at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and this reunion seemed to give the team the golden touch sailing to three race wins and upgrading them to second place.
Leigh said at the end of day two,
“Today was good for us and a bit of a turnaround after the last event and yesterday, when we made a few mistakes. We have been working really hard in turning that around and made a lot of emphasis in making sure that we sail well together and we communicate well. That´s what we did today so this is the result of that hard work. The team is happy as we sailed really well and we are back to our usual groove and looking forward to the next few days.”
Coming into third place was GAC Pindar (New Zealand) with Realteam dropping to sixth position.
Thick fog
Skippers and crews woke up in a different city on Day 3, after a thick fog descended overnight masking the buildings around Fushan Bay. Everyone waited patiently on shore for the fog to clear and they thought it was all over for the day.
However at 1630 local time the fog finally abated, the roof tops re-emerged and four leaderboard changing races were sailed. Leigh McMillan won two of the four races to overhaul Alinghi’s 14 race reign at the top of the leaderboard and set his team The Wave, Muscat up with a 12 point advantage for the final day. Battle for the rest of the leaderboard was even more tense and after a testing light wind day, only 11 points separated positions three to eight.
The Wave, Muscat had strengthened their hand with each race with strategy sorted, executing the starts with precision as a clearly relieved Leigh explained:
“The strategy to start with was trying to be out of phase with the other boats, because with such a narrow course and lots of tacking there weren’t many opportunities for overtaking. If you are in phase with the other boats you just slow each other down, so we tried to avoid that as much as we could, and that seemed to work well for us.
“We are just happy to be racing well and actually working well as a team, and generally everyone sailing well on the boat, so that is the bonus.”
Where The Wave, Muscat triumphed Alinghi faltered with the biggest blow coming in the final race when a collision with their Swiss counterparts Realteam resulted not only in a penalty for helmsman Morgan Larson but damage to Alinghi’s port stern. Back on shore, the umpires reassessed and after concluding that Realteam could have avoided the collision Jerome Clerc was penalised with a starting penalty for day four and Alinghi had a night of repairs ahead.
Qingdao saved its best for last on the final day of Act 3 and the pressure was understandably on from the first start gun. Nine races came in thick and fast in the best conditions the fleet had sailed in all week and once again it demonstrated how this part of China became such a successful Olympic sailing venue. Heading into the final classic there was the usual Extreme Sailing Series style with a deciding double-points race. Battle for victory was well and truly on between Alinghi and The Wave, Muscat. Swiss team Alinghi used their experience to try and outwit Leigh McMillan’s team and although they won the final double pointer, it wasn’t enough to win the Act and an ecstatic, and somewhat relieved Leigh commented:
“It’s a massive relief! To actually get the better of Alinghi in the light winds was a big achievement for us. When it comes to the pure boat on boat battle, they (Alinghi) tend to get the better of us. It’s a tough battle, they are a very tough team to beat and tough competitors. The rest of the year is shaping up to be really exciting.”
Final points for Act 3
1st The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Musab Al Hadi, Will Howden 202 points.
2nd Alinghi (SUI) Morgan Larson, Stuart Pollard, Pierre Yves Jorand, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey 200 points.
3rd SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Kostner, Pete Cumming, Mikkel Røssberg, Nicolai Sehested 191 points.
Leigh therefore is in second place overall this year but is only one point behind rivals Alinghi.
Next Act: Istanbul, 20-23 June.
Image: © Lloyd Images/Oman Sail
