New leader at Extreme Sailing Series Cabo

Los Cabos, Mexico (December 1, 2017) – A near faultless performance from Alinghi saw it move top of the Extreme Sailing Series™ Los Cabos leaderboard as the double-points season finale reached the halfway mark.

Meanwhile, SAP Extreme Sailing Team upheld its spot on the podium behind Oman Air and continued to defend its overall grip on the 2017 rankings.

Five wins from six races gave Alinghi a six-point overnight lead. Only Oman Air was capable of spoiling its whitewash in the final leg of the closing race.

“We were very fast on the racecourse and we had a little bit of luck with the wind shifts. We had some clear starts and everything came together,” said Arnaud Psarofaghis, co-skipper and helm of the Swiss entry.

“The team worked well on the water and we had a near-perfect day, just one second place in the last race, and it was great. We’ll have one or two beers this evening after a good day’s racing,” he added.

Despite Alinghi and Oman Air’s best efforts to stay ahead of the pack in Los Cabos, in order to topple SAP Extreme Sailing Team’s overall reign of glory they require the help of a third team to knock the Danes off the Act podium. Something that is proving difficult.

“We’re very happy today, things went better for us,” said Adam Minoprio, helm of SAP Extreme Sailing Team. “Oman Air had a very lucky day on the first day, smashed it, and got great results and then Alinghi again today.

“Over the last two days they have both been very deep in a lot of races and managed to come back to get first or second. We feel like we started well, sailed well and got to the first mark in good positions. We just need to iron out the little problems. We’ll have our day before the regatta is out and we’ll get the lead,” Minoprio added.

Although 14 points separate Red Bull Sailing Team from SAP Extreme Sailing Team in third, the Austrian squad managed three podium finishes and climbed from sixth to fourth. If Red Bull Sailing Team can continue this trend it could threaten the podium and the overall season result.

“Today was a bit mixed. It was better than yesterday but we’re still not on the top of our game. We can do better but it’s a very tricky venue. If you make one little mistake it’s hard to catch up again,” said skipper and double Olympic gold-medallist Roman Hagara.

Emirates Team New Zealand America’s Cup champion Josh Junior was able to keep NZ Extreme Sailing Team ahead of Land Rover BAR Academy, which is helmed by his British America’s Cup rival and Olympic gold-medallist Giles Scott.

“It would be very nice if we got a podium but I don’t think after today we’re quite there yet,” said Kiwi co-skipper Junior. “We’re fighting in amongst it, getting closer day by day, and maybe tomorrow we’ll work our way into it.

“We’re just trying to win races, we’re not too worried about the overall scoreboard,” he added. “This year has been a huge learning curve and I’m just enjoying it.”

NZ Extreme Sailing Team and Land Rover BAR Academy occupy fifth and sixth respectively.

Local wildcard Team Extreme México managed to retain a three-point buffer over US-flagged wildcard Lupe Tortilla Demetrio to finish seventh.

The fleet will race from 14:00 – 17:00 local time (UTC-7) on Thursday November 30 to Sunday December 3, with the racing broadcast on a live stream on on Saturday and Sunday. To watch live… click here.

Day Two Results

Overall Results – 2017 Extreme Sailing Series (after seven events)

Event details – Scoreboard – Live blog – Facebook – YouTube

Crew line-up for 2017 Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 8, Los Cabos, presented by SAP

Alinghi (SUI)
Co-skipper/helm: Arnaud Psarofaghis (SUI)
Tactician/mainsail trimmer: Nicolas Charbonnier (FRA)
Headsail trimmer: Nils Frei (SUI)
Bowman: Yves Detrey (SUI)
Floater/foil trimmer: Timothé Lapauw (FRA)

Land Rover BAR Academy (GBR)
Skipper/bowman: Rob Bunce (GBR)
Helm: Giles Scott (GBR)
Mainsail trimmer: Elliot Hanson (GBR)
Headsail trimmer: Oli Greber (GBR)/Sam Batten (GBR)
Floater: Adam Kay (GBR)/Matt Brushwood (GBR)

Lupe Tortilla Demetrio (USA) Wildcard
Skipper/helm: John Tomko (USA)
Crew: Matthew Whitehead (USA)
Crew: Tripp Burd (USA)
Crew: Trevor Burd (USA)
Bowman: Jonathan Atwood (USA)

NZ Extreme Sailing Team (NZL)
Co-skipper/helm: Josh Junior (NZL)
Co-skipper/mainsail trimmer: Graeme Sutherland (NZL)
Headsail trimmer: Harry Hull (NZL)
Foil trimmer: Josh Salthouse (NZL)
Bowman: Andy Maloney (NZL)
Reserve: Matt Connolly (NZL)

Oman Air (OMA)
Skipper/helm: Phil Robertson (NZL)
Mainsail trimmer: Pete Greenhalgh (GBR)
Headsail trimmer: Ed Smyth (NZL/AUS)
Bowman: James Wierzbowski (AUS)
Bowman: Nasser Al Mashari (OMA)

Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT)
Skipper/helm: Roman Hagara (AUT)
Tactician: Hans Peter Steinacher (AUT)
Mainsail trimmer: Stewart Dodson (NZL)
Headsail trimmer: Adam Piggott (GBR)
Bowman: Will Tiller (NZL)

SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN)
Co-skipper/tactician/mainsail trimmer: Rasmus Køstner (DEN)
Co-skipper/coach: Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN)
Helm: Adam Minoprio (NZL)
Headsail trimmer: Pierluigi de Felice (ITA)
Bowman: Richard Mason (GBR)
Trim assist/grinder: Mads Emil Stephensen (DEN)

Team Extreme México (MEX) Wildcard
Skipper/foil trimmer: Erik Brockmann (MEX)
Helm: Chris Taylor (GBR)
Mainsail trimmer: Alex Higby (GBR)
Headsail trimmer: Tom Buggy (GBR)
Floater: Danel Belausteguigoitia (MEX)
Floater: Armando Noriega Negrete (MEX)
Reserve: Martin Evans (GBR)

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 – Barcelona, Spain
August 10-13 – Hamburg, Germany
August 25-28 – Cardiff, UK
October 19-22 – San Diego, USA
Nov 30-Dec 3 – Los Cabos, Mexico

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

Source: ESS