Extreme Sailing Series returns to 2008 Olympic venue

The fleet of 12 Extreme 40s, including home nation entry ‘Team Extreme Qingdao’, will line up on one of the most notorious stadium racecourses on the global tour, at the Land Rover Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 3 Qingdao, for the ‘Double Star Mingren’ Cup, May 1-4.

China’s host city for the 2008 Olympic sailing regatta holds plenty of proud memories for the fleet, with Brits Paul Goodison, Pippa Wilson, Sarah Ayton and Ben Ainslie, and American Anna Tunnicliffe, all taking gold in their respective classes. For Ainslie, the most successful Olympic sailor of all time, the Act in Qingdao will be the first time he has raced on the Olympic waters since winning the Finn gold in 2008.

“We are all really looking forward to China,” said Ainslie. “For Paul, Pippa and I who spent a lot of time there before and during Beijing 2008 it’s a special place for us. But we know that it is another difficult venue and there’s a lot of tide there so that could be challenging and tough but we certainly want to work on our performance as a team.”

GAC Pindar, which is supported by the Australian Challenger of Record for the 35th America’s Cup, Team Australia, will make a significant crew change, as match racing specialist David Gilmour takes the reins from Seve Jarvin. The team will also welcome back 18-foot skiff champion Alexandra South.

“During the Extreme Sailing Series it’s likely everyone in GAC Pindar / Team Australia will be rotated,” explained Iain Murray, CEO of Team Australia. “This certainly won’t be the last change during the Series, as we want to expose the crew to different combinations, team cultures and structure. Australia is fortunate enough to have a lot of talented young sailors and we want to give them an opportunity to sail during this regatta. Alex South is also returning for Act 4 and Seve Jarvin will be back to sail in Acts to follow.”

Emirates Team New Zealand will also have a new face at the helm, as Peter Burling, former skipper of Team Korea, takes the tiller from Dean Barker. Burling and his London 2012 Olympic silver medal 49er winning crew Blair Tuke, who recently took 49er gold at ISAF Sailing World Cup events in Spain and France, explained how the duo are balancing their 49er Olympic campaign alongside Emirates Team New Zealand commitments, and elaborated on the crew changes onboard the Kiwi Extreme 40.

“The team (ETNZ) has a lot of great sailors and there are only four of those on the Extreme 40 so we need to swap it through the year to give everyone some time to up their skills,” said Burling. “For me, it has been a really great that the team has been able to split the events so we can all do a lot of different types of sailing this year. I am really looking forward to doing my bit to try and get the team up the rankings.”

Another duo that will arrive in Qingdao fresh from competing in ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères is Groupama sailing team’s Franck Cammas and Sophie de Turckheim. The French team is currently in fifth place on the overall Series leaderboard, tied on points with Red Bull Sailing Team and Gazprom Team Russia, and two Acts in, skipper Cammas feels the team is on the right track. “We still need to improve a few elements on the boat handling but we are progressing in the right direction. We are competing in the Extreme Sailing Series to race at the highest level and we are not disappointed.”

One team that is sure to have fire in their bellies after so narrowly missing out on the podium in Muscat in the final race is SAP Extreme Sailing Team. Co-skipper and match racing expert Ramus Kostner commented: “The regatta in Oman was great for our team. We worked our way back in the game with a solid performance throughout the week and in the deciding race it was down to small details. We are on the right track and that is a great motivation going into Act 3 in China. It is a close as we expected it to be with so many good teams on the Series.”

The home nation entry ‘Team Extreme Qingdao’ will include home-grown Chinese sailors, Liu Xue and Zhang Yiran, who both raced with China Team in Qingdao in 2013. Liu Xue also raced with China Team at the America’s Cup World Series in 2013. Five-time Olympian and Extreme 40 veteran Mitch Booth will share skippers duties with Zhang Yiran, leading the home team into the stadium in front of the local crowds, alongside Nick Moloney and British multihull dinghy sailor Freddie White.

The two Acts raced so far this year have produced two different winners, with the Swiss Alinghi sailing to a resounding victory in Singapore, before defending champions The Wave, Muscat clinched victory on their home waters in Muscat, Oman after a four-way shoot out in the final race, taking the overall Series lead with it. The Swiss are just a point adrift (18 points), with Emirates Team New Zealand in third (16 points), and Realteam in fourth, (13 points).

Thousands are expected to watch the Extreme 40s in action from the free public Race Village in Fushan Bay over the three days of public Stadium Racing, while the nation’s top media including CCTV 5, Titan Sports Weekly, Outdoor Gears, China Yachting, Xinhua and Sohu.com are already registered to join the fleet on the official media day, hosted by local partners, Qingdao Organising Association.

International fans will be able to watch the Stadium Racing action on the official event website, www.extremesailingseries.com.

Land Rover Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 3 Qingdao for the ‘Double Star Mingren’ Cup crew lists:

Alinghi (SUI):
Skipper/Helm: Morgan Larson (USA)
Tactician: Anna Tunnicliffe (USA)
Mainsail Trim: Pierre-Yves Jorand (SUI)
Headsail Trim: Nils Frei (SUI)
Bowman: Yves Detrey (SUI)

Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL)
Skipper/Helm: Peter Burling (NZL)
Floater: Edwin Delaat (NZL)
Mainsail Trim: Glenn Ashby (AUS)
Headsail Trim: Blair Tuke (NZL)
Bowman: Jeremy Lomas (NZL)

GAC Pindar (AUS)
Skipper/Helm: David Gilmour (AUS)
Mainsail Trim: Sam Newton (AUS)
Headsail Trim: Troy Tindill (AUS)
Bow: Ed Smyth (AUS)/Alexandra South (AUS)

Gazprom Team Russia (RUS)
Skipper/Tactician: Igor Lisovenko (RUS)
Helm: Paul Campbell-James (GBR)
Mainsail Trim: Alister Richardson (GBR)
Headsail Trim: Pete Cumming (GBR)
Bowman: Aleksey Kulakov (RUS)

Groupama sailing team (FRA)
Skipper/Helm: Franck Cammas (FRA)
Tactician: Sophie de Turckheim (FRA)
Mainsail Trim: Tanguy Cariou (FRA)
Headsail Trim: Thierry Fouchier (FRA)
Bowman: Devan Le Bihan (FRA)

J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR)
Skipper/Helm: Ben Ainslie (GBR)
Tactician: Nick Hutton (GBR)
Mainsail Trim: Paul Goodison (GBR)
Headsail Trim: Pippa Wilson (GBR)
Bowman: Matt Cornwell (GBR)

Oman Air (OMA)
Skipper/Helm: Rob Greenhalgh (GBR)
Mainsail Trim: Kyle Langford (AUS)
Headsail Trim: Tom Johnson (AUS)
Bowmen: Hashim Al Rashdi (OMA)/Musab Al Hadi (OMA)

Realteam (SUI)
Skipper/Mainsail Trim: Jérôme Clerc (SUI)
Helm: Arnaud Psarofaghis (SUI)
Tactician: Denis Girardet (SUI)
Headsail Trim: Bryan Mettraux (SUI)
Bowman: Thierry Wasem (SUI)

Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT)
Skipper/Helm: Roman Hagara (AUT)
Tactician: Hans-Peter Steinacher (AUT)
Floater: Stewart Dodson (NZL)
Headsail Trim: Mark Bulkeley (GBR)
Bowman: Nick Blackman (NZL)

SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN)
Co-Skipper/Helm: Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN)
Co-Skipper/Tactician: Rasmus Køstner (DEN)
Mainsail Trim: Thierry Douillard (FRA)
Headsail Trim: Peter Wibroe (DEN)
Bowman: Nicolai Sehested (DEN)

Team Extreme Qingdao (CHN)
Skipper/Helm: Mitch Booth (AUS)
Co-skipper/tactician: Zhang Yiran (CHN)
Mainsail Trimmer: Liu Xue (CHN)
Headsail Trimmer: Nick Moloney (AUS)
Bowman: Freddie White (GBR)

The Wave, Muscat (OMA)
Skipper/Helm: Leigh McMillan (GBR)
Tactician: Sarah Ayton (GBR)
Mainsail Trim: Pete Greenhalgh (GBR)
Headsail Trim: Kinley Fowler (NZL)
Bowman: Nasser Al Mashari (OMA)