Oman Air switched on the turbojets in Istanbul to finish in fourth place, their best performance of the 2014 Extreme Sailing Series so far, while The Wave, Muscat edged closer to the top of the overall leaderboard after some searing final day action. The biggest breeze of the week was saved for last as gusts reached in excess of 25 knots pushing boats and crews to the limit and inevitably forcing errors and high risk tactics across the fleet.
This included the defending champions on The Wave, Muscat who won the first race of the day, then were over the line at the start of the second, putting rivals Emirates Team New Zealand back at the top of the leaderboard. All day the two teams swapped places at the top and going into the final double points race, Leigh McMillan and his crew were in pole position but were ultimately outplayed by the Kiwis and their biggest rival for the season title, Swiss team Alinghi, to have victory snatched from their clutches in what was the most thrilling and contentious racing of the series so far.
“The points were really close between us and New Zealand – they have been sailing really well all weekend – it was a great battle with them and it would have been nice to have been able to have a clean one on one with them in the last race,” said McMillan, racing with Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Kinley Fowler and Oman’s Nasser Al Mashari. “But Alinghi did not want us to win so made life difficult for us! It happens – coming second or first in this event makes no real difference in terms of the big picture. There are two events left in Nice and Sydney and we are now focussing on them.”
Nasser Al Mashari added: “Today we were at the top all the way to the double-points race. We were blocked in the very final moments, but at the end of the day, this is sport and everybody wants to win using different techniques”.
Their second place in Istanbul lifted The Wave, Muscat one point on the overall leaderboard to close the gap between them and leaders Alinghi to a single point going into the penultimate event of the season. Oman Air are now in 7th place having finished fourth, their best result in six Acts.
It had been tough, said skipper Rob Greenhalgh but Oman Air’s crew of Ted Hackney, Kyle Langford, Hashim Al Rashdi and Musab Al Hadi were getting better with every event.
“It’s been a tough event as per usual but we finished fourth which we are very happy with,” he said. “The crew have worked particularly hard and have done a really good job. We are improving and people are getting more refined with the details. Our expectations have increased and we all want to do better.
“Hopefully we can keep the momentum going and put in a good performance in Nice. It is close throughout the fleet and every place has to be fought for.”
After six events, with 182 races since January, The Wave, Muscat have earned 67 podium places with 28 wins while Oman Air have 9 wins and 38 podium places with around 60 races from the two events in Nice and Sydney remaining.
