Extreme 40's underway In Oman

[PD Staff]

19 February 2011
Artemis Racing Team Update
Extreme Sailing Series - Oman


Final stages of what has been a very solid prep for Act One of the Extreme Sailing Series 2011 here in Muscat, Oman.

We start the regatta tomorrow. The forecast is for a moderate sea-breeze. We expect to be sailing between 6 and 9 races!! Sunday and Monday are what is known as open-water racing. Most of us would call it sprint racing. The final three days are "stadium format" racing, where the racing is held right up by the shore and the course constructed more for the spectators' benefit than the sailors. We are not quite sure what to expect there. Anyway, the guys are up for anything and it is all about learning a new style of boat, as well as a different approach to sailboat racing. It's great for us to be here learning together and to have this opportunity.

Today the guys sailed in a 9-12kts Norwester with a lumpy seaway and sunny skies. All of the 11 boat fleet were out for some practice.



Artemis Racing (with Terry, Sean, Truby and Andy - as well as Nipper as the 5th man guest) started at the pin and led at the first mark of both of the races. In the first race, they rounded the leeward gate at the same time as Gitana, but Gitana and Red Bull (with Craig Monk) made gains and the guys placed a close third by the finish. In the second race, our guys again won the pin end of the start and led all the way around. We went back to the dock after that. There was one more race which was won by Emirates Team New Zealand.



The guys are all in good, healthy shape.

The venue is an interesting one. We are based out of a temporary building in the middle of a construction site that covers a few square miles. Heaps of investment and effort is being put into sailing here in Oman. It has been selected as a national sport for school kids and as a way to promote the country internationally.

We'll keep in touch.

Best from Oman.

Andrew Palfrey
Sailing Team Coach



20 February 2011
Artemis Racing Team Update
Extreme Sailing Series - Oman



Wow. Finally underway! As soon as we woke up, today had a different feeling to it. We have been training in the Extreme 40 for a few weeks now. But unlike most Classes, "training" in these boats is just doing a lot of races! Since arriving in Oman, I would say that we have probably competed in more than 60 practice races! All of them counting for exactly.....zero points!

But today was different. No matter how much we have raced against the same teams in the practice races, today all the races would actually count. With only four people on the crew, it is pretty easy to get a read on how the guys are feeling. And today before the first race we could all tell that we had a slightly elevated level of anxiety. Perfectly natural, but we had to make sure that we didn’t let it change the way we had been sailing. So we all agreed to try to keep it cool and treat it like any of the training days we had done up until now.

What we really needed was a good first race. And we got it! We had a great start, battled it out on the first leg, and rounded the first mark in the lead. From there we sailed pretty well and sailed across the finish line letting out a big breath. What a great way to start.




From there we had 5 more races and finished the day tied for first place with 3 other teams. So, it is very tight in this class!

We will all go to bed tonight happy that we have our first ever day of racing in the Extreme 40 under our belt, and tomorrow we will know that anyone can win out there....why not us?

Morgan Trubovich
Artemis Racing

All Phots ©ARTEMIS RACING/S van der Borch

[PD Staff]

Sunset and Vines Oman Preview.

[PD Staff]

Extreme Sailing Stadium Style

The first public day of ‘stadium’ racing saw the 11-boat Extreme 40 fleet racing bang up to the shore in front of the spectators and VIPs on day 3 of Act 1 at The Wave, Muscat. Terry Hutchinson and his crew on Artemis Racing had an exceptional day elevating them from fifth overall at the end of yesterday to second place overall today - they are now just three points adrift of the leaders Groupe Edmond de Rothschild: “We had a brilliant day on the water today, there were a lot of people on the shore line - close enough to hear them cheering on the finish line. I have never experienced something like that before. It was a first!” said Hutchinson back on shore. “The stadium racing format delivered everything it promised - short and intense races right in front of the spectators. When you have a good day you love it, when you have a bad day you hate it, and we absolutely loved it today!” Pierre Pennec and his all-French crew, after yesterday’s storming performance, had an average day but they have clung on to the top of the leaderboard after 17 races

Dean Barker’s Team New Zealand scored their first ever Extreme 40 race win today, although they still remain 7th place in the rankings: “It's nice to win one but we have to do it a few more times,” said Dean Barker. “We clearly feel the improvement but still need to do a lot better.” Germany’s Roland Gaebler scored his best regatta result so far with a third place putting some big smiles on the faces of the Team Extreme crew.

Whilst the racing played out within meters of the shore, the public Race Village came to life with the Beach Football League and the Red Bull Freestyle shows. And if the public couldn’t get to The Wave, Muscat to see the live action, then they could watch it on national TV as Oman TV broadcast live throughout the afternoon.

Today’s conditions were less challenging than on the previous two days with 7-9 knots of NNE breeze, but the 44 sailors had to contend with racing on shorter and tighter race courses within the confines of the ‘stadium’. Five fleet races were staged today, ending with a round of one-on-one match races, and today’s performance has seen a number of place changes on the overall rankings. The home team of The Wave, Muscat retain their 3rd place but took a while to find their form today, as did the Alinghi team – two 4th places being their best result today – dropping them two places 4th overall. Oman Air went into today’s racing in 6th place and Sidney Gavignet’s team will be disappointed to now be in 8th place. But they are only 1 point behind Dean Barker’s Team New Zealand, who in turn are only 1 point behind Luna Rossa who climbed 2 places on the leaderboard today after storming out of the starting blocks of the first race to secure their first race win.

Whilst the best sailors in the world did battle on the Extreme Sailing Series, the future of Omani sailing talent took to the water in Optimist dinghies – each Oppie represents one of the Extreme 40 teams - in the ‘Try Sailing’ sessions and were delighted to be presented to the public on the Extreme Sailing Series main stage at the end of the day.

Extreme Sailing Series, Act 1 at The Wave, Muscat
Day 3 Results after 17 races:

1st Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, 133 points
2nd Artemis Racing, 130 points
3rd The Wave, Muscat, 124 points
4th Alinghi, 121 points
5th Red Bull Extreme Sailing, 120 points
6th Luna Rossa, 103 points
7th Team New Zealand, 102 points
8th Oman Air, 101 points
9th Team Extreme, 59 points
10th Niceforyou, 37 points
11th Team GAC Pindar, 29 points

[PD Staff]

Oman's Over, Le French Win, Artemis 2nd

It was what has become a classic Extreme Sailing Series™ finish to Act 1 at The Wave, Muscat, Oman. The all-French team of Groupe Edmond de Rothschild clinched victory in the final double points race at the end of an astonishing 32 races over 5 days. It was what has become a classic Extreme Sailing Series™ finish to Act 1 at The Wave, Muscat, Oman.

The all-French team of Groupe Edmond de Rothschild clinched victory in the final double points race at the end of an astonishing 32 races over 5 days. “I didn't know what to expect in terms of emotion in the case of victory, I didn't have time to digest it as my crew threw me in the water,” said an emotional Pierre Pennec who was in tears at the finish. “I am very emotional as it's a lot of work, a lot of personal investment. It's a long time now that I wanted to drive an Extreme 40, and winning ahead of all these champions, it's amazing.” Pierre Pennec and his winning crew celebrating © Lloyd Images Two races from the end, and the entire top 7 boats could in theory still win the event! With 22 points available in the final seventh race of today, both Artemis Racing and Red Bull Extreme Sailing were able to take victory, but in the end Terry Hutchinson’s Artemis Racing finished in 4th place, one place ahead of Pennec’s men who had therefore done enough, Terry commented: “It's good to see that all our hard work since the end of 2010 has paid off but there is still much room for us to improve. We're having a little bit of a crew rotation for Act 2 in Qingdao, so there will be lots of work to do”.

Act 2 of the Extreme Sailing Series will be staged between the 15th to 17th April in Qingdao, China, preceded by two open-water racing days. Roman Hagara, skipper of Red Bull Extreme Sailing, leapt on to the prizegiving stage with his crew of Hans Peter Steinacher, Will Howden and Craig Monk, jubilant at having secured third place. For the Olympic duo of Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher, who competed together last year on the European tour, this is their best ever result: “We are very happy tonight, that is the result we were looking for,” said Steinacher. “The level is up again a lot this year and the all fleet is very tight together, it's really tough! But we are in fighting mode!” 1st Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, 2nd Artemis Racing, 3rd Red Bull Extreme Sailing © Lloyd Images A total of 32 races were held over the five days – 11 races out on the open water courses on the first two days, and the remaining 21 within the confines of the ‘stadium’ right in front of the public.
The second day delivered the most breeze – up to 21 knots – with the breeze softening to between 5-10 knots in the last two days. As Hutchinson observed: “It's interesting to see that in strong winds Alinghi and Groupe Edmond de Rothschild were doing very well, but since the wind is lighter some of the new teams are much stronger.” The final day of Act 1, one of the headline acts of the Muscat Festival, coincided with the last day the Festival. It was a fitting end to Oman’s annual cultural celebration and Act 1 of the 2011 circuit ended on a high as the party atmosphere kicked off at The Wave, Muscat. In front of the public and VIPs a traditional Muscat band entertained the crowds with upbeat, pulsing music before the official prizegiving began in the presence of His Excellency Al Sunaidi, Minister of Sports Affairs. After the trophies had been given out to the deserving 11 Extreme 40 teams, including the top three teams in the Beach Football League, the Red Bull show swung into action as nine time World Champion trial biking, Kenny Delay, performed an incredible stunt as he leapt from Extreme 40 container to container.

Thousands of public enjoyed the last day’s racing, cheering the Extreme 40 teams across every finish line. Local dancers celebrating with spectators and teams at the prize giving © Lloyd Images Dean Barker’s Emirates Team New Zealand had a big comeback in the second half of the Act to finish in 4th place overall, beating Italy’s Luna Rossa by 2 points. Max Sirena’s Luna Rossa team that includes Britain’s Paul Campbell-James, defending 2010 Extreme Sailing Series skipper, struggled with consistency but seven first places over the five days including a win in the double-points final race ensured they kept the chasing Alinghi team at bay.
For the home teams of The Wave, Muscat and Oman Air the script didn’t quite go to plan. The Wave, Muscat skipper Torvar Mirsky, new to the game and the youngest skipper on the tour, was impressive in the opening half of the Act – adapting well from one hull to two. But some pushy tactics had them in trouble with the umpires and they dropped from third place on day 3 to seventh place. Oman Air’s Sidney Gavignet, also new to his role as Extreme 40 skipper, reveled in the experience ably supported by his experienced crew and although 8th place may not be where he wished to finish, it was a good first competitive Extreme 40 learning experience. Roland Gaebler’s Team Extreme and the all-Italian team Niceforyou, alongside Britain’s Ian Williams on Team GAC Pindar were on the sharp end of the learning curve having arrived at Act 1 with limited training and boat preparation time.
But expect to see these top class sailors get into the groove as the season progresses. These sailors represent the hottest in the sport and as the Act 1 winning skipper put it: “They are improving fast and the competition will get even tighter soon.” Bring on Qingdao! The Wave, Muscat racing right in front of the crowds of spectators © Lloyd Images
Extreme Sailing Series, Act 1 at The Wave, Muscat Overall Results after 32 races:
Pstn / Team / Skipper/crew / points
1st Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec / Christophe Espagnon / Thierry Fouchier / Hervé Cunningham / 253 points
2nd Artemis Racing (SWE), Terry Hutchinson / Sean Clarkson / Morgan Trubovich / Andy Fethers / 243 points
3rd Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT), Roman Hagara / Hans Peter Steinacher / Will Howden / Craig Monk / 239 points
4th Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Dean Barker / Glenn Ashby / James Dagg / Richard Meacham / 236 points
5th Luna Rossa (ITA), Max Sirena / Paul Campbell-James / Alister Richardson / Manuel Modena / 234 points
6th Alinghi (SUI), Tanguy Carioiu / Yann Guichard / Nils Frei / Yves Detrey / 217 points 7th The Wave, Muscat (OMA), Torvar Mirsky / Kyle Langford / Nick Hutton / Khamis Al Anbouri / 208 points
8th Oman Air (OMA), Sidney Gavignet / Kinley Fowler / David Carr / Nasser Al Mashari / 188 points
9th Team Extreme (EUR), Roland Gaebler / Bruno Dubois / Sebbe Godefroid / Michael Walther / 143 points
10th Niceforyou (ITA), Alberto Barovier / Alberto Sonino / Daniele de Luca Simone de Mari / 95 points
11th Team GAC Pindar (GBR), Ian Williams / Brad Webb / Gilberto Nobili / Jono Macbeth / 62 points For