Thanks to Suzanne and Alan Whitewood for their latest news from the Extreme Racing Series. Ed
For day one of Act 7 of the Extreme Racing Series the forecast was for 14 to 17 knots but the French Riviera over delivered and the wind blew a steady 25 knots, with gusts of 30 knots throughout the day.
That combined with a strong tide and rolling waves meant lots of hull flying action as the 8 Extreme 40s skippers and crews battled the elements to keep their 40ft catamarans upright.
Strong winds postponed race
Shortly after the fleet left the dock, Race Director Phil Lawrence decided to postpone racing by one hour but the strong wind conditions showed no sign of abating, eventually resulting in the cancellation of the day’s racing.
This was only the second time in the six year history of the Extreme Sailing Series that there has been a race cancellation, the last being at Cowes in 2011.
Gusty conditions continued
Day two and once again in Nice there were gusty conditions which resulted in short courses and reaching starts which tested some of the world’s best sailors to their limits.
Current Series leader Islander Leigh McMillan and his team on The Wave, Muscat found themselves limping back to port after a collision with Alinghi and Red Bull Sailing Team on the start line of the final race of the day.
This crash, which could be heard by the gathering spectators on shore at the Promenade des Anglais, left Leigh’s team and the Austrians out of racing for the rest of the day and both teams had a long night of repairs ahead.
McMillan: “Damage to our boat is pretty severe”
McMillan explained at the time: “We didn’t have much room to manoeuvre on the start line so there were a lot of incident close calls. The last race was just getting too tight on the start line and there was a big incident, I couldn’t say at this stage who was at fault but I can say the damage to our boat is pretty severe. We are going to be up all night and probably still working on it in the morning. Hopefully we will be back on the water for the afternoon’s racing.”
For McMillan, whose team craned their Extreme 40 out of the water in the evening to make essential repairs, the damage could have made for serious consequences if they had not been able to be back on the water for the next day’s racing. His bid for the Series championship, with vital points up for grabs in this penultimate event of the year, would be jeopardised.
Groupe Edmond de Rothschild moved into top position
Stakes were high on the French Riviera for the remaining races of Act 7. Ever growing crowds on the Promenade des Anglais witnessed home team Groupe Edmond de Rothschild move into top position for this Act and Leigh McMillan and his team battling on to secure their position at the top of the overall Series leaderboard ahead of the final Act in Rio de Janeiro.
The French team Groupe Edmond de Rothschild ended the final day where they started it – at the top of the Act 7 leaderboard. It was a win for the French team on home soil. Pierre Pennec led his men to an impressive four race wins on the final day and with it secured third place on the overall Series leaderboard
Podium position in overall Series standing
For McMillan, the slight disappointment to finish second and not claim his fourth Act win was surpassed by the fact he has guaranteed his team a podium position in the overall Series standings.
The only question now is what position that will be. “We are a bit disappointed not to win. We did our best, second is still good, and the focus is always on winning the overall Series. It’s fantastic to be on the podium with one event to go and plenty of points up for grabs; it was pretty unexpected. We are very much focused on winning. That is our goal and has been all year – we’ve been pushing hard all year and that’s what we’re going to try to pull out of the bag. Hopefully we can go in and finish the job in Rio.”
Top three positions for Act 7: (28 races)
Position / Team / Points
1. Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Christophe André, Romain Petit, Romain Motteau 173 points
2. The Wave, Muscat (OMA), Leigh McMillan, Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Hannah Mills, Hashim Al Rashdi 161.3 points
3. Oman Air (OMA), Morgan Larson, Will Howden, Charlie Ogletree, Andy Maloney, Nasser Al Mashari 159 points.
Overall Series Positions
1. The Wave, Muscat 61.5 points
2. Oman Air 54 points
3. Groupe Edmond de Rothschild 51 points.
