Thanks to Suzanne and Alan Whitewood for news of Island sailor Leigh McMillan. In their own words. Ed
Island sailor Leigh McMillan has just completed the first round (Act 1) of the Extreme Sailing Series 2012 which has taken place in Oman.
It was Leigh McMillan and his crew on ‘The Wave, Muscat’ who scored first blood in the first race on day one. Conditions were not challenging with the breeze ranging from six-ten knots throughout the afternoon and it wasn’t long before Pennec’s team, ‘Groupe Edmond de Rothschild’, took control to win the next two races.
Man overboard
Race Four delivered the drama of the day when fifth crew member Max Bulger on board ‘Oman Air’ went over the side.
‘Team Trifork,’ a new team from Denmark was finally unveiled at the start of the competition as the 8th team in the starting blocks in Muscat, Oman. This team will be co-skippered by Jes Gram–Hansen on helm and Rasmus Kostner.
“Challenging for overall victory”
Before the first race Leigh McMillan, skipper, ‘The Wave, Muscat’ said, “I think we’re in pretty good shape and we’ve done some good training races but we haven’t raced in anger against any of these guys yet. We hope to get on the podium and start the season well. I think on paper ‘Groupe Edmond de Rothschild’ may be favourites but we hope that by the time we get to the end of the season we’ll be challenging for overall victory.”
American Morgan Larson, new skipper of ‘Oman Air’, had an incredible start to his Extreme Sailing Series career on the opening day which resulted in ‘Oman Air ‘sharing the top of the leaderboard after six races alongside pre-season favourites ‘Groupe Edmond de Rothschild’.
Day two
It was a game of cat and mouse on day two when Morgan Larson, continued his impressive form to keep the pressure fully on the all-French team ‘Groupe Edmond de Rothschild’. ‘Oman Air’ won the first race of day, the French team the next two, then another ‘Oman Air ‘victory.
These two teams traded places at the top of the leaderboard, throughout the day. Now only separated by one point it was not until the fifth race of the day by which time the breeze was starting to go light, that another team got a look in, Leigh McMillan and his team on ‘The Wave, Muscat’.
By the end of day two results were – First: ‘Groupe Edmond de Rothschild’ (FRA/ Pierre Pennec) 85 points. Second: ‘Oman Air’ (OMA/ Morgan Larson) 84 points. Third: ‘The Wave, Muscat’ (OMA /Leigh McMillan) 72 points.
Leigh McMillan said after maintaining his team’s third position on the leaderboard, “We managed to keep it quite clean. We only got one penalty today – we got too close to Red Bull and took a penalty but that’s what the racing was like today. We’re getting into a good place and we’re hoping to go out tomorrow and finish it off.”
Day three
On the final day there were massive Omani celebrations in Muscat as ‘Oman Air’ and ‘The Wave, Muscat’ score a one-two, squeezing out the French team of ‘Groupe Edmond de Rothschild’ who had finished every day but the last on top.
This saw Morgan Larson’s team on ‘Oman Air’ triumph in their debut. Four teams were in contention for the podium going into the final double-points race – the new Danish entry, ‘Team Trifork’, won that race, but ‘Oman Air’ did enough to secure victory after an intense battle with the favourites. Leigh McMillan’s team on ‘The Wave, Muscat ‘ who muscled into the two-way fight and raced brilliantly on the final day to finish second overall ahead of ‘Groupe Edmond de Rothschild’.
Final results
First: Oman Air (OMA) Morgan Larson / Will Howden / Charlie Ogletree, Nasser Al Mashari, Max Bulger 165 points.
Second: The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Hashim Al Rashdi, Rachel Williamson 159 points.
Third: Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA) Pierre Pennec / Jean-Christophe Mourniac / Herve Cunningham / Bernard Labro / Adeline Chatenet 155 points.
