On a packed-eight race day at
Act 3 of the Extreme Sailing Series™ in Qingdao, the battle lines were drawn
between the 12 competing international Extreme 40 teams ahead of tomorrow’s
final showdown on the compact stadium racecourse, which at times resulted in a
few near misses, protest flags being pulled, a man overboard for SAP Extreme Sailing Team and a collision in the final race of
the day between GAC Pindar and Team Extreme Qingdao,
that will see the Aussie team with a night of repairs ahead. Alinghi – the team
who have led the Act since race one – managed to cling onto a 10-point
advantage at the close of play, but it was their fellow Swiss country men
Realteam who had their strategy sorted, strengthening their hand with each
race, including a win in the day’s opener, to head into tomorrow’s final
showdown in China’s Olympic Sailing City in second place, to the delight of
skipper Jérôme Clerc. “We
started in fourth place today and we are now second so we are very happy. It
shows that our strategy is working. We have stayed conservative all day and
didn’t take too many risks, but at the same time have had good starts and our
tactics were spot on. Tomorrow we will be happy if we manage to keep Alinghi
behind us.” The defending Series champions The Wave, Muscat are
just two points behind Realteam, and with up to 90 points for the taking
tomorrow, and huge gusts up to 28 knots set to return, the Land Rover Extreme
Sailing Series Act 3, Qingdao is set to go down to the wire.
The first four races were
played out in around eight knots of wind, and executing the starting procedure
well was crucial, with decisions made in the pre-start often dictating the
outcome of the race. On the short start line the fleet struggled to get away
cleanly, with the on-water referees dishing out starting penalties including
two general recalls, before the third attempt saw nine of the 12 boat fleet red
flagged. After five races, there was a change in tempo, and a building
southerly breeze outside the harbour brought with it big swell, that saw the
teams punching through the waves in 12 knots of breeze. One team to relish the
conditions was Emirates Team New Zealand, who finished the day strongly with
two back-to back-wins, leaving them trailing the defending Series champions by
just one point in fourth place. 22-year old Pete Burling, who has taken the
tiller from Dean Barker this week said: “We
started the day a little slow, but in the last three races of the day we really
got off the start-line well which is the first time all week we have really
managed to do that. I think the level is really high right now, we’re slowly
getting better each day, and we’re happy with the boat speed and hopefully
we’ll be able to give it a good crack tomorrow. Tomorrow we’ll need to do the
same as we did in those last races today – good starts off the line and
consistency.”
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