(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) An Oman Sail team onboard the Oman Air Extreme Sailing catamaran won an exhibition race at one of Europe's largest regatta - the Barcolana 46 Regatta - held in Trieste Italy on Sunday.
As part of the team's preparations for the final Act of the Extreme Sailing Series (ESS) in Sydney Australia in December Oman Air was one of four Extreme 40s invited for four days of exhibition racing by the Barcolana 46 Regatta's organiser Societa Velica Di Barcola e Grignano.
The Oman Air crew was skippered by Robert Greenhalgh of the UK and comprised a mix of new and experienced sailors. The team included The Wave Muscat's Pete Greenhalgh and Nasser al Mashari as well as Ahmed al Balushi Khalfan al Adubi and Ali al Balushi who took part in the contest to gather valuable race experience.
In light wind conditions the four teams took part in ten races and Oman Air won all four races on the opening day and then clinched the inaugural Land Rover Cup on day two finishing just three points ahead of Red Bull Extreme Sailing which was skippered by double Olympic gold medallist Roman Hagara.
It was a convincing win in front of 300000 spectators who showed up along the sea front to watch the four-day event. "I had never been to Trieste before; it was an amazing experience' said Oman Air skipper Robert Greenhalgh. 'I had never seen so many spectators crowd the docks. With 1878 boats racing at the Barcolana 46 Regatta there was a fantastic atmosphere. We were very happy to take the win and we are now looking forward to the final ESS Act in Sydney.'
The concluding Act of the 2014 edition of the ESS will be held from December 11-14. The third Extreme 40 entry was the Land Rover Extreme Sailing Team skippered by Adam Piggott while Italian entry Fincantieri skippered by Lorenzo Bressani and featuring Olympic silver and bronze medallist Mitch Booth added local flavour to the proceedings.
Results:
1 Oman Air (30 pts) 2 Red Bull Extreme Sailing (27) 3 Land Rover Extreme Sailing Team (21) 4 Fincantieri (20).
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