SAP Extreme Sailing Takes Early Lead

Madeira Islands, Portugal (June 29, 2017) – SAP Extreme Sailing Team took an early lead on the opening day of Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 3, as the international fleet of seven GC32s raced against the stunning backdrop of the Madeira Islands capital, Funchal, in front of a packed Race Village.

The day began with the official press conference, which saw a great turn out from both national and international media.

Following six races in shifty conditions, it was the Danish team that was able to narrowly secure the victory, but with NZ Extreme Sailing Team hot on its heels. The Kiwi syndicate had sat at the top of the leader board for most of the day, before being pipped to the post in the final race. SAP Extreme Sailing Team head into day two with a narrow one-point buffer.

“It felt like a really good day out on the water overall,” said SAP Extreme Sailing Team’s helm Adam Minoprio, whose team pulled off a convincing comeback after a painful mistake in race one. “The first race we messed up massively as we misheard the course on the radio, and thought that we had two laps, but there was only one. We gave away a win in that race and had to take fourth, which is really frustrating as it’s three points that could come back to hurt us on the last day.

“The rest of the day went really well for us. I’m really happy we were able to jump in, in those extremely tricky conditions, and be consistently at the top,” he added.

It was the Kiwi team’s consistency that secured its second-place finish, with co-skipper and helm Chris Steele steering his team to five podium finishes, including one bullet, out of six races.

“We’re pretty stoked with our first day. We had no real disasters, so we’re happy,” said Steele. “It was pretty hectic as the breeze was really up and down and pretty shifty. The starts were important and we had some good ones and some not so good ones, but there were plenty of passing lanes out there and the guys did a really good job of getting the boat round the track and picking the right sides of the course.”

Phil Robertson’s Oman Air finishes in third after a penalty in race three for Alinghi, who won the Act in the Portuguese venue last season, saw them drop off the podium into fourth.

“Today was not so good for us but we have three days to go and at times today we sailed really well,” said Arnaud Psarofaghis, co-skipper and helm of the Swiss team. “Everything is still on the table so we will see what happens tomorrow.”

Red Bull Sailing Team finish the day in fifth, 12 points off leader SAP Extreme Sailing Team.

Despite a strong start for Land Rover BAR Academy, which opened with a second and a third consecutively, the British squad was unable to maintain its form. It followed up with two fifths, a sixth and a seventh to finish in sixth overall.

The Brits finished ten points ahead of last-placed Team Extreme, the local wildcard entry. Despite the results, Portuguese skipper Mariana Lobato remains positive: “The team is pretty young and we are still trying to adapt to each other. I think we actually improved a lot today. It’s great to see how we can learn from each other”

The day also marked the start of the 2017 Flying Phantom Series. The 12-strong fleet of international crew took to the water ahead of the GC32 Stadium Racing to kick off the festival of foiling in Madeira.

Austrian-flagged Red Bull lead after seven races. French-flagged Cup Legend, who had previously won the warm-up event in La Baule, follow three points behind in second, with fellow French team, ZEPHIR by Idrewa, in third.

The action resumes tomorrow, with the Flying Phantom Series scheduled for a 10:00 UTC+1 start, followed by GC32 Stadium Racing from 14:00 – 17:00 UTC+1. Fans can follow the action online with racing streamed live. Details here.

Event details – Scoreboard – Facebook – YouTube

Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 3, Madeira Islands standings after day 1, 6 races (29.06.17)
Position / Team / Points
1st SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Rasmus Køstner, Adam Minoprio, Mads Emil Stephensen, Pierluigi de Felice, Nicolas Heintz 64 points.
2nd NZ Extreme Sailing Team (NZL) Chris Steele, Graeme Sutherland, Harry Hull, Sam Meech, Josh Salthouse 62 points.
3rd Oman Air (OMA) Phil Robertson, Pete Greenhalgh, James Wierzbowski, Ed Smyth, Nasser Al Mashari 57 points.
4th Alinghi (SUI) Arnaud Psarofaghis, Nicolas Charbonnier, Timothé Lapauw, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey 53 points.
5th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Stewart Dodson, Shane Diviney, Jason Saunders, Will Tiller 52 points.
6th Land Rover BAR Academy (GBR) Rob Bunce, Owen Bowerman, Will Alloway, Adam Kay, Oil Greber 50 points.
7th Team Extreme (POR) Mariana Lobato, Olivia MacKay, Owen Siese, Peter Dill, Micah Wilkinson, Francesca Clapcich 40 points.

Flying Phantom Series Madeira Islands standings after 3 races
Position/Team/Point
1st Red Bull 135
2nd Cup Legend 132
3rd ZEPHIR by Idrewa 118
4th Culture Foil 114
5th Solidaires en Peloton 109
6th UON 107
7th Oman Sail 98
8th Lupe Tortilla 95
9th EVO Visian ICL 87
10th Masterlan 83
11th Back to Basics 75
12th Red Bill II 64

Background: The Extreme Sailing Series is in its eleventh season, with this year’s eight event tour travelling through Asia, Europe, and Australia. The platform used is the one design foiling GC32 catamaran, with the format highlighting ‘stadium’ short-course racing in front of the public.

2017 Extreme Sailing Series™ calendar
March 8-11 – Muscat, Oman
April 28-May 1 – Qingdao, China
June 29-July 2 – Madeira Islands, Portugal
July 20-23 – Europe
August 10-13 – Hamburg, Germany
August 25-28 – Cardiff, UK
October 19-22 – San Diego, USA
Nov 30-Dec 3 – Los Cabos, Mexico

Source: ESS