Beach day at Extreme Sailing San Diego

San Diego, CA (October 20, 2018) – Balmy weather onshore but light winds on San Diego Bay made for a challenging third day for the seven teams at the Extreme Sailing Series.

After postponing to wait for sufficient winds, the fleet dashed off the start line at full pelt, keen to make the most of the building breeze. Taking the top spot on race 14, it looked like SAP Extreme Sailing Team were back in the game, following a string of inconsistent results over the previous two days.

“The breeze was doing some big rotations but we picked our course well,” explained helm, Adam Minoprio. “It was fun, we had a laugh, and the crowds were great. We’re hoping for more wind tomorrow.”

Despite a third place finish in the first race of the day, coming in behind the Danes and Oman Air, the Swiss weren’t ready to give up the ghost. Fighting back, they took the win in race 15, maintaining their five-point lead over the Omani-flagged boat from the previous day.

“The two races today were pretty good for us,” said a pleased Arnaud Psarofaghis, the team’s co-skipper and helm. “We perform well in light conditions so we have an advantage. We’re definitely looking forward to tomorrow.”

After a promising start to the day’s racing, the wind began to die a death, dropping rapidly as the afternoon progressed. After a series of exhibition races were provided for the fans, Race Management returned the fleet to the dock, ready to rest up for the final day of competition tomorrow.

“Today was not the day we were looking for,” said Extreme Sailing Series Race Director, John Craig. “The wind ended up too light at only 6 knots, but I’m pleased we got some great exhibition races in for the crowds. The scoring races we ran didn’t really affect the scores, so it’s tight. Tomorrow should be interesting.”

Lagging behind since day one in San Diego, British-flagged INEOS Rebels were disappointed not to have the chance to climb the ranks in today’s races. Struggling for speed throughout the US Act, the Brits head into the final day in San Diego ranked fifth.

“It’s really not going well for us,” admitted the team’s disheartened skipper, Will Alloway. “We need to find out what we’re doing wrong; it’s a shame not to have had more of a chance today. We’d like to see some big improvements tomorrow.”

Extreme Sailing Series San Diego, presented by SAP, culminates in a finale on Harbor Island tomorrow. A busy free-entry Race Village offers food, drink and plenty of entertainment for the public, including the Element Sports Kiteboarding Invitational and O’pen BICS youth sailing.

GC32 racing is due to begin at 14:00 PT (UTC-7), and will be streamed live online. The final race of the event will be worth double points – with only a handful of points separating the top three competitors, no one is safe.

Racing is planned for October 18-21.

Racing will be streamed live online… click here.

Additional information about the San Diego event… click here.

Standings after Day 3, 15 races
1st, Alinghi (SUI) Arnaud Psarofaghis, Nicolas Charbonnier, Timothé Lapauw, Bryan Mettraux, Yves Detrey: 162 points

2nd, Oman Air (OMA) Phil Robertson, Pete Greenhalgh, James Wierzbowski, Stewart Dodson, Nasser Al Mashari: 157 pts

3rd, SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Rasmus Køstner, Adam Minoprio, Julius Hallström, Pierluigi de Felice, Richard Mason: 154 pts

4th, Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Dan Morris, Rhys Mara, Micah Wilkinson: 136 pts

5th, INEOS Rebels UK (GBR) Will Alloway, Leigh McMillan, Oli Greber, Adam Kay, Mark Spearman: 128 pts

6th, Element Spark Compass (USA) Taylor Canfield, Sam Hallowell, John Wallace, Matt Noble, Mateo Vargas: 110 pts

7th, Team México (MEX) Erik Brockmann, Tom Buggy, Alex Higby, Tom Phipps, Danel Belausteguigoitia Fierro: 98 pts

Series details – Event information – Scoreboard – Facebook

2018 Extreme Sailing Series™ calendar
March 14-17 – Act 1 – Muscat, Oman
May 24-27 – GC32 World Championship, Lake Garda, Italy
June 14-17 – Act 3 – Barcelona, Spain
July 5-8 – Act 4 – Cascais, Portugal
August 24-27 – Act 5 – Cardiff, UK
October 18-21 – Act 6 – San Diego, USA
November 29-December 2 – Act 7, Los Cabos, Mexico

Background: The Extreme Sailing Series is in its twelfth season, with this year’s eight event tour travelling through Middle East, 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: Extreme Sailing Series