With six races staged this afternoon at the prestigious lifestyle development to the West of capital city Muscat, the attending VIPs and international media had all the action played out at their feet as they watched from the viewing platform, right above the racecourse.  The wind peaked at 12 knots today and yesterday's challenging reaching starts were replaced by six more traditional windward/leeward courses with plenty of action and place changes at the marks.

Double Olympic Gold Medalist Roman Hagara, skipper of Red Bull Extreme Sailing Team, was quietly pleased with his team's performance. "We had another good day today, Just the last race we messed up a little bit but that can happen when you have this many races.

"In the last race we came off the start on the wrong side and at the upwind mark we couldn't find a hole to pass so we were last already at the first mark and then it was really hard to catch up.

"Tomorrow we need to continue like the beginning of today and if that happens we are fine."

Overall event leaders Oman Sail Masirah posted another day of disappointing results, putting in jeopardy their clean-sweep of first positions from the three-event series. Helmsman Leigh McMillan was dejected as he came off the water, but determined to learn from the mistakes of the day.

"Yesterday we didn't get our heads around the reaching starts and in the lighter winds we were in the wrong mode on the start lines, we were trying to play too tactically. So last night, we had a good think about it and today we had a different course, a small beat, so the start again was very important and all bar one start we had exactly what we wanted, a really good start. But we had a penalty given to us by the jury because I didn't make the correct hand movements, despite letting the other boat have room, but I've never had to make the arm movements before and so it wasn't at the front of my mind. So that was pretty tough.

"And then after that we had another couple of situations when we didn't quite get through gaps and had to duck the starboard boat and it puts you up against it for the whole day and it becomes a downward spiral.

"We just need to learn from this. I don't think I have ever had a regatta when you haven't had a day, or a couple of days like that and it makes you stronger and makes you think about it overnight and you learn from it, what are the key things you could have done differently and then you come back and put them into practice the next day. If you don't do that, you'll never improve. You just have to look at the positives. It's a cliche, but it is true."

With Masirah at the top of the event leaderboard, four boats are fighting it out for the two remaining podium positions: The Wave, Muscat, China Team, BT and Red Bull Extreme Sailing.

Paul Campbell-James, Skipper of The Wave, Muscat started the day looking to reduce the gap between them and Red Bull Extreme Sailing and came out as top boat of the day. "We won the day today so we'repretty pleased. The Red Bull boys are sailing well, but we improved a lot today, we started well which was the aim for the day and we are still going forward and improving.

"It's tight behind the startline, but it's good, it's fun. The first couple of races we didn't actually do that well, and it was full-on at the windward mark. We had a fifth-man, or rather a fifth-lady who coaches children in Optimist dinghies and she said she sets her Optimist lines bigger than that!"

Every team in every race has a 'fifth-man' onboard, in the heat of the action, dedicated to a VIP guest or member of the media. Andreas Tzortzis, from international magazine, Red Bulletin, raced with double Olympic Gold Medalist Shirley Robertson onboard Rumbo Almeria. "That was absolutely fantastic. What you don't anticipate is how much movement and how agile you have to be and how it is anything but sitting on a sailboat and just cruising. There is constant movement, constant action, ropes going right and left all the time. You really have to be aware all the time. You are absolutely in the thick of it and that is an experience you don't normally have in sailboat racing unless you are racing yourself. As a spectator, or even as a journalist you don't nearly get so close so it gives you an understanding of the amount of pressure they are under and the pace at which they work and the fitness levels they need. It is absolutely astonishing.

"I've been sailing since I was a kid in San Francisco and this is absolutely completely different. Nothing could prepare me for this. I made sure that I didn't tell them I had sailed before because as far as this is concerned I am a beginner. It is a whole new level and a whole new level of competition as well. Awesome!"

This is only the second time that Extreme 40s have raced as a fleet in Omani waters, and the first time there has been a top international level event in the Sultanate. Khamis Al Anbouri, Bowman on The Wave, Muscat enthused about bringing the  international circuit here to Oman. "I'm happy, we did well today and it is really great. Sailing here in my home waters in front of the Omanis and showing them the best we have and we are a new team and we are doing really well, we have had a good day today.

"It is hard work and tiring, but when they said it was the last race, I had a big smile - I said, that's it, one more race and we are home and it is really good, but mentally it is exhausting."

The final challenger for a podium position is Australian Nick Moloney's BT who led the fleet in the first race, but made a mistake on their undertsanding of the course which saw them drop to third place in the race. "we are in a four way battle for the final two podium positions and at the moment we are fourth in that battle with Red Bull, The Wave, Muscat, China Team and us. We need to take on China Team and The Wave, Muscat tomorrow, to get onto that podium. My eyes are on taking China Team tomorrow, but it is such a different day ahead with the match racing, that we need to take each race as it comes and progress as far as we can throughout the day."


The third day of racing will see the Extreme 40 fleet challenged by head-to-head match racing, something rarely seen in multi-hull fleets.

Positions after Day 2 of the Extreme Sailing Series Asia: Muscat:

Red Bull Extreme Sailing: 47
The Wave, Muscat: 41
China Team: 36
BT: 34
Masirah: 31
Rumbo Almeria: 21