| Luna Rossa wins action-packed
Act 2. |
| By Extreme Sailing
Series 2011 Media. |
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Photos by Lloyd Images,
edited By Peter Andrews. |
| April 17, 2011. |
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| The dramatic second Act of the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series at the Olympic sailing venue in Qingdao, that proved to be the perfect amphitheatre for the stadium format racing, has come to a close. Capsizes, collisions and after 29 races over five days, just five points separated the two former America’s Cup adversaries, Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand. The Italian team fought to the finish to claim the Double Star Cup in the very final double-points race! |
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Luna Rossa on the podium celebrating their victory at Act 2 in Qingdao,
during the Extreme Sailing Series 2011, Qingdao, China.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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| "We are really happy," said skipper Max Sirena. "It should be a long night for the Luna Rossa team tonight! It’s a great result for us as we are a new team, even if we have Paul and Alistair onboard who where part of the winning team last year. But Manuel and I are still learning. Compared to our result in Muscat, we really see the improvement here in Qingdao as our boat handling and the communication onboard is a lot better." |
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Luna Rossa crew onboard celebrating, during the Extreme Sailing Series
2011, Qingdao, China.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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The 44 sailors will leave Qingdao with some very vivid memories. The dramatic skyline of the city, the buildings fully lit up at night by neon lights; the hospitality and graciousness of their Qingdao hosts; the spectacular opening ceremony; and perhaps not surprisingly, the drama of day three.
A major collision, 4 capsizes and 1 broken mast was the tally after a day of strong gusty conditions, but the next day following a night of recovery saw all the boats and crew out racing again. |
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The 11 boat international fleet racing, during the Extreme Sailing Series
2011, Qingdao, China.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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The Qingdao public witnessed the 11-boat fleet in survival mode on Friday and tactical light-wind battles over the last two days. They also seen fleet racing inside and outside Fushan Bay, one on one match racing, and speed duels.
Qingdao known as the ‘City of Sailing’ hosted not only the Olympic sailing events in 2008 but was also a stopover point for the Volvo Ocean Race and the Clipper Race. However, the city’s residents had never witnessed the close and spectacular racing of the Extreme 40s and thousands turned up day after day. |
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Spectators line the shoreside to watch the racing in Qingdao, during the
Extreme Sailing Series 2011, Qingdao, China.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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"The last few days the weather has been difficult, but you know we have to be prepared for the difficult conditions," said Dean Barker,
skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand.
"Realistically five boats were still in a position to win the event this morning. We had a couple of shockers yesterday but all in all, it went pretty well so I’m very satisfied. The Almeria event was only October last year, so being on the podium here is a big improvement. But we still have a long way to go." |
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Dean Barker helming onboard Emirates Team New Zealand, during the Extreme
Sailing Series 2011, Qingdao, China.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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The all-French team on board Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, winners of Act 1, also sailed brilliantly today to clinch the final podium place in third.
Red Bull Extreme Sailing, one of the who capsized on Day 3, will be disappointed with their fourth-placed result here after such a strong start in the early stages of Act 2. Similarly disappointed were the Swiss team of Alinghi, who went into the final day challenging for the podium.
"We started the event well but it didn’t go really well today with a few mistakes on the start lines, tactical decisions, speed of the boat, everything was tough for us," said skipper Tanguy Cariou . "That’s a shame, we are really disappointed with the result, but we have to analyse and debrief to improve in Istanbul." |
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Groupe Edmond de Rothschild take 3rd in Qingdao, during the Extreme Sailing
Series 2011, Qingdao, China.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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Skippered by Argentinian Santi Lange in place of resident skipper Terry Hutchinson, Artemis Racing not surprisingly took a bit of time to find their form with little training time. But through the regatta, they evolved to become a reasonable contender around the halfway stage, to finish a respectable 6th place.
The Wave-Muscat and Oman Air who had a big collision early on Day 3 and then both capsized later, finished in 7th and 9th place respectively after rallying in the light airs of the last two days. |
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Fleet racing on the final day, during the Extreme Sailing Series 2011,
Qingdao, China.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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| "What a week it has been for us," said Oman Air skipper, Sidney Gavignet. "I think it’s the best day for Oman Air since the beginning of the season. Winning a race today and doing a few good starts was key for us," added Gavignet. "It’s good to believe in ourselves again, we were looking like stupid freaks two days ago and I think we look a bit more solid today." |
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Crowds of fans and media watch the final prize giving, during the Extreme
Sailing Series 2011, Qingdao, China.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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Roland Gaebler’s Team Extreme who look to sail with a local sailor at each venue, were really happy with their performance here, posting three race wins to finish in 8th place overall. Both Yan Zhi Zhang from Qingdao and William Wu from Shanghai got the opportunity to train and race with the team over the five days.
Rounding up the Act 2 leaderboard were the Italian team Niceforyou and Britain’s Team GAC Pindar who both displayed some winning moments here, but are still climbing the Extreme 40 multihull steep learning curve.
The 2011 Extreme Sailing Series now heads for Istanbul, Turkey, from the 25th to 29th May. There are two different winners so far; Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (Act 1 and holding on to the 2011 overall leaderboard) and now Luna Rossa. So will we see another team claim victory in Istanbul? The winning skipper of Act 2 can’t wait to find out.
"Now, we are really looking forward to Istanbul as I’m sure the competition will be really close again," concluded Max Sirena. |
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Groupe Edmond de Rothschild hold the overall lead for 2011, during the
Extreme Sailing Series 2011, Qingdao, China.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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Extreme Sailing Series Act 2 Qingdao
Overall standings after Day 5 (17.4.11)
Position / Team / Skipper & crew / Points
| 1st |
Luna Rossa (ITA), Max Sirena, Paul Campbell-James, Alister Richardson and Manuel Modena on 227 points. |
| 2nd |
Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Dean Barker, Glenn Ashby, Jeremy Lomas and Richard Meacham on 222 points. |
| 3rd |
Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec, Christophe Espagnon, Thierry Fouchier and Hervé Cunningham on 214 points. |
| 4th |
Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT), Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Will Howden and Craig Monk on 200 points. |
| 5th |
Alinghi (SUI), Tanguy Cariou, Yann Guichard, Nils Frei and Yves Detrey on 198 points. |
| 6th |
Artemis Racing (SWE), Santiago Lange, Rodney Ardern, Morgan Trubovich and Andy Fethers on 174 points. |
| 7th |
The Wave-Muscat (OMA), Torvar Mirsky, Kyle Langford, Nick Hutton and Khamis Al Anbouri on 150 points. |
| 8th |
Team Extreme (EUR), Roland Gaebler, Bruno Dubois, Sebbe Godefroid and William Wu on 141 points. |
| 9th |
Oman Air (OMA), Sidney Gavignet, Kinley Fowler, David Carr and Nasser Al Mashari on 137 points. |
| 10th |
Niceforyou (ITA), Alberto Barovier, Mark Bulkeley, Daniele de Luca and Simone de Mari on 122 points. |
| 11th |
Team GAC Pindar (GBR), Ian Williams, Brad Webb, Gilberto Nobili and Jono Macbeth on 64 points. |
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Fleet racing in Qingdao, during the Extreme Sailing Series 2011, Qingdao,
China.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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Extreme Sailing Series 2011 Overall Standings
| 1st |
Groupe Edmond de Rothschild with 20 points. |
| 2nd |
Luna Rossa with 18 points. |
| 3rd |
Emirates Team New Zealand with 18 points. |
| 4th |
Artemis Racing with 16 points. |
| 5th |
Red Bull Extreme Sailing with 15 points. |
| 6th |
Alinghi with 13 points. |
| 7th |
The Wave-Muscat with 10 points. |
| 8th |
Team Extreme with 7 points. |
| 9th |
Oman Air with 7 points. |
| 10th |
Niceforyou with 4 points. |
| 11th |
Team GAC Pindar with 2 points. |
A brand new edited video of the drama filled Day 3 including crew commentry is now up on the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/extremesailingseries. For more information: www.extremesailingseries.com. |
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| Outimage and the
Extreme Sailing Series™ © 2011 |
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