(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Oman Sail's Sultanate of Oman GC32 team maintained its position as overall leader of the 2015 Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour despite a last-minute change to the crew and gear failure on the boat which forced it out of the final race in the Cowes Cup in the UK.
The injury to skipper Leigh McMillan during Thursday's last race turned out to be more serious than it first thought and he was ruled out of the remaining races in Cowes with a broken hand.
Paul Campbell-James who skippered Oman Sail's The Wave Muscat to victory in the 2010 Extreme Sailing Series stepped in to replace McMillan as Sultanate of Oman helmsman and for the J P Morgan Round the Island Race on Friday.
Campbell-James has been training in the Solent on an AC45 as a member of Sir Ben Ainslie's America's Cup team.
The crew had an up and down day with a strong win in the second race and a further podium place in the mixed event. A broken pulley ruled the team out of the last race but it was happy to have secured second place overall runner up to Cowes Cup winner Armin Strom.
'It was a really fun day' said Campbell-James who was accompanied by regular crew members Pete Greenhalgh Nasser al Mashari Ed Smyth and Alister Richardson. 'This is the first time I am racing GC32s in a decent breeze and obviously the first time I am racing the boat with these guys. We got a penalty in the first race won the second and made a mistake in the third but we were always in there fighting and finished second. '
Sultanate of Oman's performances over the first two days safeguarded its position as 2015 Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour leader with a three-point lead over Armin Strom and according to trimmer Pete Greenhalgh the steady improvement was the most exciting aspect of its Cowes Cup participation.
Between them Oman Sail's professional Sultanate of Oman crew have dozens of Round the Island Races under their belt and for Omani Nasser al Mashari the 2015 edition will be his second having previously competed on an Extreme 40.
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