(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Oman Air one of the two Oman Sail teams in the 2014 Extreme Sailing Series (ESS) has named Tom Slingsby Australian Olympic Laser gold medallist and member of Oracle Team USA as the team skipper for the final and eighth Act of the series in Sydney Australia from December 11-14.
The team which had a modest outing throughout the season this year and is placed overall eighth with 24 points among 11 teams has also hired America's Cup sailor Joe Newton of Australia and Omani Ali al Balushi for the final Act.
Swiss team Alinghi leads the overall standings with 65 going into the decider while Oman Sail's defending champion The Wave Muscat is close behind with 57 points. Emirates Team New Zealand is third (49).
Slingsby replaces Rob Greenhalgh the British sailor and former Extreme Sailing Series winner who is taking time out to race the VO65 Mapfre on the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi.
Balushi and Newton have replaced the Omani duo of Musab al Hadi and Hashim al Rashdi who are stepping off to concentrate on their 49er Olympic campaign. The duo's first challenge will be J24 Match racing event in Bahrain later this month.
With five Laser world championship titles to his name a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics and an America's Cup win – as strategist aboard Oracle Team USA in 2013 – Slingsby will bring a vast array of knowledge to the Oman Air team.
It will be Slingsby's debut on an Extreme 40 but the Aussie said 'I was happy to be invited to sail for Oman Air for the final event in Sydney. It's a great opportunity to sail catamarans in a high quality fleet and hopefully I can help move the team up the ladder.'
'Because of my other racing commitments however I'll only join the team for one practice session before the final Act but I have sailed with a few of the crew before so I'm hoping we can gel as a team fairly quickly' he added.
The Aussie skipper said 'I will do my best with the aim to strengthen the game plan for next season's series.'
Oman Air's best result this season has been a fourth place in the sixth Act in Istanbul in Turkey.
Besides Slingsby Newton and Balushi the crew comprises Aussie sailors - Kyle Langford and Ted Hackney.
Balushi is a member of the Oman Sail offshore squad and was one of the core crew members on the Oman Sail Tour de France a la Voile and EFG Sailing Arabia-The Tour squads.
Balushi said 'I am very excited at this opportunity to be sailing with such world-class sailors on Oman Air and learning from some of the best in our sport.'
Meanwhile Oman Sail also confirmed that there is a change in The Wave Muscat crew going into the final event of the season with previous teammate
Ed Smyth stepping back in to replace Kinley Fowler due to an injury.
Oman Sail teams for Sydney: Oman Air:
Tom Slingsby Joe Newton Kyle Langford Ted Hackney Ali al Balushi.
The Wave Muscat:
Leigh McMillan Pete Greenhalgh Nasser al Mashari Sarah Ayton Ed Smyth.<
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.