| The Wave-Muscat leads
Day 4 as sailing stars descend. |
| By Extreme Sailing
Series 2011 Media. |
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Photos by Lloyd Images,
edited By Peter Andrews. |
| August 9, 2011. |
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| After the drama and action-packed first four days in Cowes, the breezy conditions that cart-wheeled the Extreme 40 Aberdeen Asset Management yesterday had eased today at the halfway stage of the UK round of the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series. It was also a day that many well-known faces from the world of sailing and sport dropped by to either sail on board as a 5th guest crew or just simply enjoy the atmosphere. |
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Vincent Riou, winner of the 2004/05 Vendée Globe, takes the 5th
man spot onboard Groupe Edmond de Rothschild at the Extreme Sailing Series
2011, Cowes, United Kingdom.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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| Gavin Hastings, the best rugby player to come out of Scotland and Scottish professional female golfers Carly Booth and Mhairi McKay joined 2012 Vendée Globe yachtsman Mike Golding, as some of the guests to drop in for todays racing. Ken Read, helmsman on two of Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes America’s Cup campaigns and skipper of PUMA Ocean Racing during the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race was also there; as was Vincent Riou, winner of the 2004-05 Vendée Globe. Then there was the French yachtsman Jean Le Cam, round the world yachtswoman Samantha Davies and double Olympic Gold medalist Sarah Gosling. |
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Sarah Gosling, double Olympic Gold medalist onboard Team
Extreme at the
Extreme Sailing Series 2011, Cowes, United Kingdom.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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Before racing had started, Red Bull’s Quentin Delefortrie, impressed the crowds as he performed his wakeboarding skills off the back of the Red Bull Extreme Sailing’s Extreme 40.
The British Aberdeen Asset Management team headed up by Olympic 49er sailor John Pink, had done a great job overnight to get their Extreme 40 ‘race ready’ for today, which included replacing the 62ft rig with a spare mast. The more benign north-westerly conditions also allowed the full fleet; minus Artemis Racing who have been unable to repair their damage from their collision on Sunday; to race together on the stadium course set off Egypt Point and right along the shoreline in front of the crowd of Cowes spectators. |
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Quentin Delefortrie wakeboarding behind Red Bull Extreme
Sailing's Extreme
40 at the Extreme Sailing Series 2011, Cowes, United Kingdom.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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Racing started with a round of one-on-one speed duels, before the 11 teams lined up to race as one fleet for the first time since Day 1. It was a case of playing the shifts, finding the best patches of pressure out of the 6 to 8 knots of breeze, and keeping out of the adverse tide on the upwind legs, tacking as close into shore as they dared.
For Sidney Gavignet’s Oman Air, they dared too much and went aground in the final race, right in front of the Race Village. With nobody hurt, crewman David (Freddie) Carr had leapt off the boat into the water to manhandle the Extreme 40 off the beach, so they could resume racing. |
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David 'Freddie' Carr leaps in to the water to manhandle Oman
Air Extreme
40 off the beach at the Extreme Sailing Series 2011, Cowes, United Kingdom.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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After seven races today including five full-fleet races, it was The Wave-Muscat skippered by Leigh McMillan, who has taken over the lead at the top of the overall leaderboard from his friend and rival Paul Campbell-James at the helm of Luna Rossa.
"Today it opened up an opportunity to get some proper full fleet racing in with some light winds, so we really wanted to take full advantage of that and I think we did a pretty good job," said McMillan. "The tide was absolutely ripping and I think that caught a few people out in the beginning. It was so much more trickier conditions, more frustrating at times, but it was a good day for us." |
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The Wave-Muscat and Aberdeen
Asset Management racing in front of the Race
Village on Day 4 at the Extreme Sailing Series 2011, Cowes, United Kingdom.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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| McMillan who was born on the Isle of Wight had made the good use of his ‘home’ advantage. But for now he only has a very slim lead ahead Pennec’s French team on Groupe Edmond de Rothschild in second place and Max Sirena’s Luna Rossa following in third. |
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Fleet racing on Day 4 at Cowes during the Extreme Sailing Series 2011,
Cowes, United Kingdom.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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"We are still very much in the game," said Pennec. "We have fought hard over the last three days to add one or two points over the competition, and I think that’s going to be the case until the end."
The Swiss team of Alinghi headed up by Tanguy Cariou with two-times Series runner up Yann Guichard on the helm, had a stronger day, winning the final race. This has elevated them now to 4th overall, up two places in the standings from yesterday. |
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Luna Rossa and The Wave-Muscat in close combat metres from the shore at
the Extreme Sailing Series 2011, Cowes, United Kingdom.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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Britain’s Ian Williams on Team GAC Pindar will be annoyed to have dropped a place in the standings. After scoring a win in the second fleet race, the team could do no better than 8th in the remaining races.
Roman Hagara’s team on Red Bull Extreme Sailing are lying in 6th place on 86 points, only 3 points ahead of Oman Air who enjoyed a second race win of Act 5 in the penultimate race today. |
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Max Sirena's Luna Rossa racing on Day 3at the Extreme Sailing Series 2011,
Cowes, United Kingdom.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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Adam Beashel’s team on Emirates Team New Zealand is not having the regatta they would have hoped for so far. Snagging the top mark in the first fleet race of the day, relegated them to the back of the fleet by the time they freed the mark. The Kiwi’s best result of the day was a 5th place, leaving them in 9th overall and 8 points behind the Italian team on Niceforyou.
The two 49er teams from Malta and the UK provided some great racing over the last three days, showcasing why this Olympic class is so popular. And in other news, the Extreme Sailing Series today released an independent interim media evaluation report that indicates the 2011 global circuit is expected to achieve 2.4 times more media coverage than in 2010, at a projected value of €23m. |
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Emirates Team New Zealand racing on Day 3 at the Extreme Sailing Series
2011, Cowes, United Kingdom.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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Extreme Sailing Series Act 5 at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week
Current overall standings (provisional) after 23 races, Day 4
Position / Team / Skipper and crew / Points
| 1st |
The Wave-Muscat (OMA), Leigh McMillan, Kyle Langford, Nick Hutton and Khamis Al Anbouri on 118 points. |
| 2nd |
Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec, Christophe Espagnon, Thierry Fouchier and Hervé Cunningham on 114.4 points (after redress). |
| 3rd |
Luna Rossa (ITA), Max Sirena, Paul Campbell-James, Alister Richardson and Manuel Modena on 114 points. |
| 4th |
Alinghi (SUI), Tanguy Cariou, Yann Guichard, Nils Frei and Yves Detrey on 99 points. |
| 5th |
Team GAC Pindar (GBR), Ian Williams, Mischa Heemskerk, Andrew Walsh and Jono Macbeth on 89 points. |
| 6th |
Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT), Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Will Howden and Luke Cross on 86 points. |
| 7th |
Oman Air (OMA), Sidney Gavignet, Kinley Fowler, David Carr and Nasser Al Mashari on 83 points. |
| 8th |
Niceforyou (ITA), Alberto Barovier, Stefano Rizzi, Daniele de Luca and Simone de Mari on 66 points. |
| 9th |
Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Adam Beashel, Richard Meacham, Andrew McLean and Chris Ward on 58 points. |
| 10th |
Aberdeen Asset Management (GBR), John Pink, Rick Peacock, Greg Homann and John Gimson on 58 points. |
| 11th |
Team Extreme (EUR), Roland Gaebler, Nahid Gaebler, Benedikt Wenk and Dan Morris on 48 points. |
| 12th |
Artemis Racing (SWE), Santiago Lange, Andy Fethers, Michele Ivaldi and Phil Jameson on 21 points. |
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The Extreme 40 fleet racing close to the shore on Day 4 at the Extreme
Sailing Series 2011, Cowes, United Kingdom.
Photo © Lloyd Images.
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| For more information about the Extreme Series, go to the official website at: www.extremesailingseries.com. Video can also be found on the Extreme Sailing Series YouTube channel can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/extremesailingseries. |
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| Outimage and the
Extreme Sailing Series © 2011 |
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