Stage set in Muscat for epic Extreme Sailing Series™ opener
The 2017 Extreme Sailing Series™ will begin in style tomorrow as nine international crews face off on the waters of Muscat, Oman, in the opening battle of the season.
Tuesday 7th March 2017
The 2017 Extreme Sailing Series™ will begin in style tomorrow as nine international crews face off on the waters of Muscat, Oman, in the opening battle of the season.
A spectacular start to Act 1 is anticipated as the teams go head to head in a mix of classic Stadium Racing close to the shore and longer coastal racing along Muscat’s stunning shoreline.
The four-day regatta will see the resumption of old rivalries among the six crews returning to the action this season as well as new battles as three more teams enter the fray.
Among the favourites for the Act 1 podium will be reigning Extreme Sailing Series champions Alinghi, who snatched overall victory from rival crew Oman Air in the 2016 season finale in Sydney.
However home team Oman Air will begin Act 1 buoyed by their recent victory in the GC32 Championship and by their new-look crew, which features match racing world champion Phil Robertson at the helm.
Austrian-flagged Red Bull Sailing Team will also be one to watch as they launch their campaign for Extreme Sailing Series glory in their seventh edition of the global Stadium Racing tour.
Skipper Roman Hagara has bolstered his team this season with the addition of New Zealander Will Tiller, who won the 2016 World Match Racing Tour alongside Oman Air’s Robertson.
The team got their 2017 off to a good start with fourth place behind Oman Air, Alinghi and SAP Extreme Sailing Team in the GC32 Championship, held last week in Muscat.
“We had some good results last week at the GC32 Championship but we still have lots to improve,” Hagara said. “We have a brand new crewmember in Will so we need to get him up to speed but it looks promising. We had a hard start to the week but by the end we were getting better and better. It’s all positive, and now we can’t wait to get the Extreme Sailing Series started.”
Wildcard crew Team ENGIE will be looking to tame their super-fast foiling GC32 catamaran around the Extreme Sailing Series’ trademark short courses, a marked change from the longer courses they’re used to on the GC32 Racing Tour.
“The team is very happy to be here at the first Act of the Extreme Sailing Series,” skipper Sébastien Rogues said. “It’s a new event to us, the racing is tighter than we’re used to, and it will be a big challenge for us but a very good experience. We are really excited to get going now.”
Among those looking to make an impression on the more seasoned teams is New Zealander Chris Steele, who returns to the Act 1 action after competing with a wildcard crew in the 2016 season showdown.
His Tawera Racing finished eighth from 11 teams in the GC32 Championship, a result he aims to improve on as Act 1 of the Extreme Sailing Series gets underway.
“We learned a lot last week which was very helpful to us as a new team,” Steele said. “Things started to come good towards the end of last week and hopefully we can take that progress into the Extreme Sailing Series. We’ve proved that we can podium in individual races so the emphasis will be on trying to improve that consistency. We think we know how to do that, it’s just a matter of putting it together.”
Racing will kick off tomorrow at 13:00 local time (GMT+4) with live race updates on the Extreme Sailing Series social media channels.
The action from the final two days of the event will be streamed live on the Extreme Sailing Series Facebook and YouTube channels from 14:00 to 17:30 local time (UTC+4) on Friday 10 March and from 13:30 to 17:00 on Saturday 11 March.
