(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Oman Sail's The Wave Muscat skipper Leigh McMillan who broke his hand three weeks ago while competing with Oman Sail's GC32 Sultanate of Oman in Cowes has made a rapid recovery and is set to make an early return in the Extreme Sailing Series Act Five in Hamburg Germany.
For the first time in its nine-year history the world's only annual global sailing grand-prix is set to race in Hamburg Germany from July 23-26.
His return will boost the team's chances of opening up the one-point gap between The Wave Muscat (37 points) and second-placed SAP Extreme Sailing Team.
'I have full range of movement in my hand and by the time racing starts in Hamburg it will be even stronger so I am very pleased to be able to resume racing' said McMillan.
'I have never been to Hamburg before so it is a big unknown. From what I can see the race course looks a lot like St Petersburg's – a river with quite a bit of tide and current. It will be challenging and interesting and new for everyone.
'Our focus will be on sizing up the race course as quickly as possible and finding out where there are gains to be made. The first team to do that will be the one that does best and our aim is to figure it out before anyone else.'
The Wave Muscat whose victory in Act Four in Cardiff UK in June was its second outright win of the series will start Act Five with their regular crew of Pete Greenhalgh Sarah Ayton Nasser al Mashari and Ed Smyth.
Meanwhile Oman Sail's other entry Oman Air hopes to improve upon its season with a good result in Hamburg.
Oman Air skipper Stevie Morrison said 'the challenge posed by the unfamiliar Hamburg waters represents an exciting opportunity to notch up some valuable points'.
Oman Air is currently placed fifth with 23 points among the eight teams. 'We are both frustrated and motivated by our results this year. We have shown flashes of good results but haven't managed to put them together for a whole event yet' he said. 'In the past two events the results didn't match up with our good performances so we are determined to do ourselves justice in Hamburg with some consistency.'
Morrison will once again be joined by fellow Olympians Ed Powys and Nic Asher alongside Ted Hackney and Omani bowman Ali al Balushi who is confident that Hamburg a compact and busy stadium race course on the River Elbe will be demanding but fun. 'I'm sure it will be different to anything that I've done before because the race is right in the city centre on the river' said Balushi.
'But it is good for us because in all the other venues the other teams have raced at before and we haven't. But this time it will be same for all the teams which could be good for us.'
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.