(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) After three days of intense racing in the 2015 Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour's Cowes Cup Oman Sail's GC32 crew on board Sultanate of Oman participated in the J P Morgan Round the Island Race - one of the world's largest yacht races - and claimed the GC32 class honours finishing overall second in a fleet of 1584 boats on Sunday.
Sultanate of Oman crossed the finish line to win the four-team GC32 class with just 56 seconds ahead of Alinghi with whom it jostled for the lead all the way round the course.
The victorious Sultanate of Oman crew members celebrate their win on Sunday
The crew consisted of Paul Campbell-James - one of the most experienced foiling experts in the UK who stepped in for injured skipper and Olympian champion Leigh McMillan - Nasser al Mashari Ed Smyth Alister Richardson and Pete Greenhalgh.
After breaking his hand at the GC32 Cowes Cup on Thursday McMillan passed the helming duties over to Campbell-James but it was McMillan's coaching tips that resonated as the boat was hurtling around the back of the Isle of Wight crashing off waves at 30 knots.
Campbell-James said 'Leigh spent some time with us on Friday and it made a big difference. We hoped we would win and it helped that we had time on the boat. The crew did really well - they are the best in the game are already leading the GC32 series.
'The back of the island was the most difficult I have ever seen it - we were nose-diving just to slow the boat down so that it didn't have to do cartwheels. It wasn't easy to sail in those conditions and it was physically exhausting.'
Campbell-James added 'It was extremely lively around the back end of the island - 16-18 knots and very rough. We were crashing off the foils leaping out of the water doing 25-30 knots and stopping down to 7-8 knots. These are the roughest conditions we have had on these boats and it was one of the roughest rides any of us have ever had. We are all a bit battered and bruised. There are not many people I would have gone around in those conditions with.'
Back in 2010 bowman Mashari came second in the Extreme 40 class but this time around he went one better. 'We were the third GC32 to go around the Needles but we fought hard used every little bit of pressure and every wave' the Omani sailor said. 'It was very choppy out there but from then on we had some great racing. I am very happy and extremely proud to have won our class at the Round the Island Race.'
Concise the MOD70 owned by Tony Lawson recorded a time of 3h30m24s to take the Freedom Challenge Bowl (line honours) with just six minutes separating the first and last GC32. French boat Team ENGIE posted a time of 3h53m47s in third and Team ARGO from the US timed 3h56m06s.
The next event of the 2015 Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour is in Kiel Germany from July 29-August 2.
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