Formula for success: Qingdao

With conditions on the water able to change in an instant, it is one of the toughest Acts in the Series to win. We delve into the statistics with the legendary Peter Lester, to discover the key to success in Qingdao.

Tuesday 19th May 2015

One of the most notorious racetracks in Extreme Sailing Series™ history, Qingdao has seen its fair share of thrills and spills over the last five years. With conditions on the water able to change in an instant, it is one of the toughest Acts in the Series to win. Over four days from the 30 April - 3 May, nine elite Extreme 40 teams took on dense fog, poor visibility and an unpredictable racetrack at the Land Rover Extreme Sailing Series Act 3, Qingdao, but only one team dominated.

Using SAP Sailing Analytics at each Act, the teams get the chance to replay the action, study their starts and see the cold hard facts on how they performed. We caught up with the voice of New Zealand yacht racing, the legendary Peter Lester, to delve into the statistics and discover the key to success in Qingdao.

“The statistics for Qingdao are really interesting, unlike any other Act we’ve seen so far this year,” explains Lester. “The stand out team were undoubtedly SAP Extreme Sailing Team, who dominated the first two days of racing, (the opening day was lost due to fog), but when you look at the stats it is hard to see where the winning team got their advantage - a reflection on the difficult to read racetrack.”

Topping the leaderboard after three days of racing, SAP Extreme Sailing Team took their maiden Act win, closely followed by Extreme 40 veterans The Wave, Muscat and Gazprom Team Russia, but it wasn’t a clean cut lead for the three front runners.

“Looking into the starts, SAP Extreme Sailing Team do feature as one of the top boats, but they’re not the best and what really stands out in the analytics is that their speed off the line doesn’t reflect their top mark result.” On average the Danish team were nearly one knot slower off the line than the majority of the fleet – and with starts so important in the Extreme Sailing Series, this is surprising. With a slow acceleration of the line you would expect to see SAP Extreme Sailing Team hitting the first mark mid fleet and jostling for position, but this wasn’t the case.

Time and time again, co-skippers Kostner and Gram Hansen led the fleet around the first mark holding an impressive average rank of 1.56 after eight races in the first day. “What we can take from the 3D race replay is SAP Extreme Sailing Team had a starting plan,” explains Lester. “Each reaching start, they were on the bottom third of the line, pin end, giving away a little bit of speed for position on the line. Setting themselves up for the first mark rounding.”

The highest scoring team, SAP Extreme Sailing Team took an outstanding 13 podium finishes out of a possible 17 over the first two days racing, going into the final with a comfortable 23 point lead over the chasing pack Gazprom Team Russia and The Wave, Muscat. However for the last day Qingdao threw in a curve ball that would see the dominant Danish team on the back foot.

“When you look at the third day’s analytics you can see there has been a significant change,” indicates Lester. The main tools used by SAP Sailing Analytics are GPS modules, installed on each of the nine Extreme 40s and sensors installed on the buoys conveying live wind information. SAP Analytics are able to submit real time information on a boat’s position, boat speed, headings, distance sailed, manoeuvres and mark roundings.

“Team Turx powerd by Kaya Ropes, SAP Extreme Sailing Team and Gazprom Team Russia all had a spectacular first couple of days, but the stats show us that when the conditions on the water changed they struggled, and The Wave Muscat were dominant.” Scoring 49 points in five races, comeback kings The Wave Muscat, boosted themselves in the final races to take second overall. “The manoeuvres stats are interesting when we look at The Wave, Muscat, the team did less gybes than everyone else and on this course it’s significant; less manoeuvres, sailing more effectively and the end result is less distance sailed around the track, showing they are still the benchmark team to beat.”

Only three Acts into the eight Act Extreme Sailing Series global tour, Lester makes his predictions for the rest of the 2015 Series.

“Gazprom Team Russia really stood out to me in Qingdao, consistent throughout the week but suffered a costly penalty on the final day. There is no reason why Gazprom shouldn’t be knocking on the door for another podium finish at the next Act and if Team Turx can get THE consistency going they are capable of hitting the podium.”

The Series will now go on to Cardiff Bay from the 18-21 June, for the highly anticipated UK stop.