60 of the world’s most prestigious sailors took to Marina Bay today, racing under the blue skies of a sultry Singapore, for one final training session ahead of the 2014 Extreme Sailing Series™ curtain raiser, which kicks-off tomorrow (20 February). With teams both old and new, legends of the sailing world united in the heart of Singapore ahead of four days of intense competition - and the heat on the racecourse instantly ramped up!
Credit: JHowiePhotography.com
Within just ten minutes of training in the bay, a collision between Ben Ainslie’s J.P. Morgan BAR and Oman Air resulted in a blow to the Omani flagged boat – leaving a hole at the rear of their Extreme 40. Skipper Rob Greenhalgh explained, “We were unfortunately hit by another boat, which means we will have to have it craned out of the water and repaired over night.” Winner of the inaugural Extreme Sailing Series, Greenhalgh spoke of no malice between the two British skippers. “There’s no issues between us, accidents happen and I’m sure at some stage throughout the year the roles will be reversed. There will be crashes, and nothing with intent…well, hopefully!”
Collisions continued in the congested stadium as Groupama sailing team hit a solid mark on the racecourse, causing damage just under the waterline to one of their hulls. The team’s Mainsail trimmer, Tanguy Cariou spoke of their attempt to repair the boat. “We repaired the boat damage after morning racing, (the fleet raced in two sessions today) and continued to race in the afternoon but noticed a little impact and had to stop racing. We will have to crane the boat out of the water and the team will make repairs this evening.”
In the afternoon, 12 boats lined-up on the compact racecourse for phase two of training, in the stadium nestled within Singapore’s financial hub. Newcomer to the circuit, skipper Seve Jarvin of GAC Pindar was happy with his first day on the water, “It was good fun! It’s a pretty tricky place to sail, but it’s good for us - there’s a lot of mystery, and a lot of praying to the heavens, but it’s good for us!”
Wrapped in amongst the fleet are five top international female sailors bursting with high sailing calibre. One of them, J.P. Morgan BAR’s Pippa Wilson, is excited to compete for the first time ever in the 2014 Series. “It’s the first time for me out on the Extreme 40, so it’s a bit of a shock, but really good! Having a female on most of the boats is really great and hopefully a huge step forward. With the increase in catamaran sailing, it’s good to see the girls pushing just as hard as the boys. Girl power is alive and kicking!” J.P. Morgan BAR also announced today their fifth crew member competing in the circuit, experienced Extreme 40 sailor Nick Hutton who was apart of the 2010 winning team, The Wave, Muscat. Read the full article here.
Team Aberdeen Singapore, the local team to the Act supported by Local Event Main Partner Aberdeen Asset Management, entered the stadium today for the first time as a full crew line-up. Skipper Nick Moloney spoke of the added pressure to perform on the team’s home waters. “We just want to do a good job, and give the home crowd something to cheer about, so we feel a little bit of pressure from that perspective. We want to do the best we can, give the crowd something to cheer about, and hopefully we can do just that!”
With just 24 hours left on the EDOX countdown clock until the start of the first race of the season, Race Director Phil Lawrence gave us an insight into what the twelve teams are to expect over the next couple of days in Singapore. “It’s a very small and compact racecourse, so racing will be extremely close. Earlier in the afternoon the winds are very shifty from the thermal effects of the high temperature." He continued, “If it becomes very windy, as the boats go faster, the piece of water each boat requires gets bigger, and there will come to a point where the boats are going so fast, there isn’t enough room for all boats to race safely without the risk of damage or injury. What we will do then, is instead of racing a fleet of 12 we will race in a fleet of eight and rotate the boats through the fleet. So all the boats do the same number of races, based on the present forecast I’m going to try and run all the racing in a fleet of 12.“
The fleet will enter the Singapore stadium for competition tomorrow, in what is set to be an exciting first Act of the eight-stop global Stadium Racing tour. Sailing fans around the world can follow the LIVE coverage online from 21-23 February at 1600-1730 local time / 0800-0930 GMT at www.extremesailingseries.com.
From Extreme Sailing Series
