Extreme Sailing Series: Oman Air jumps to No 3

5/1/2016 12:35:13 PM

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily)

Oman Air bounced back from its opening day's disappointment to win two of the five races on the second day of Act 2 of the 2016 Extreme Sailing Series (ESS) in Qingdao China on Saturday.

The eight crews faced a light flaky breeze blowing through Fushan Bay that created a patchy race course and resulted in numerous lead changes over the five races with three different winners emerging.

Oman Air skippered by Morgan Larson managed to climb its way from No 7 overnight to third place overall on the leaderboard at the end of the day with 53 points. Alinghi which also had two race wins and Sail Portugal with three runner-up finishes were in joint lead after a total of six races with 61 points.

Larson was happy with the team's show saying 'It was not the day we set out for but we are still happy. It was very challenging sailing inside the marina a confined place in these conditions. We were up and down but all in all we were only two or three points from having the best day of any of the teams.

'We missed a few opportunities but everyone sailed well. The team did a superb job and worked well together and we were feeling really confident. We did not put forward our best day - there was some skill and some luck out there and we just have to capitalise a bit more tomorrow.'

Oman Air had won the first Act in Muscat and the crew comprises James Wierzbowski Pete Greenhalgh Nasser al Mashari and Ed Smyth. Omani bowman Mashari said 'We have sailed a lot on this race course with the Extreme 40s. It is normal for us to experience these difficulties because the wind is shifty. It's up and down and difficult for everyone.'

With two days of racing left there is still plenty of time for any one of the eight teams to stake a claim to a spot on the podium.

Standings [after day two; six races]: 1 Alinghi (61 pts) 2 Sail Portugal (61) 3 Oman Air (53) 4 Red Bull Sailing Team (51) 5 Land Rover BAR Academy (49) 6 Team Turx (48) 7 SAP Extreme Sailing Team (42) 8 One (38).

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