Date - 6/2/2010
Description - What an amazing turnaround. After tremendous struggle on the first three days, Oman Sail’s Masirah battled back, showing their fighting qualities and overcoming the odds and adversary, to win the final races of the Muscat-leg of the Extreme Sailing Series Asia yesterday. The final flourish off Al Hail Beach not only helped Masirah, the current European Extreme Sailing Series champions, to clinch the overall honours of Muscat-leg but also the top place in the Asia series. There was double delight for the local organisers as The Wave, Muscat won the second place both in yesterday’s race as well as Muscat leg of the Asia series.
The China Team completed the podium finishing third. Oman Sail’s boats Masirah and The Wave, Muscat and debutantes China Team were in control from the beginning of yesterday’s race. There was excitement till the end as The Wave, Muscat and China Team kept battling with Masirah. However, Masirah’s crew stayed cool and won both the Muscat event and the Extreme Sailing Series Asia. The Wave, Muscat had to settle for second in both. The three boats also finished the Muscat event in the same order. Pete Cumming, the skipper of Masirah, was delighted to win the Asia series especially after rallying from behind.
‘‘After winning the European leg it’s a pretty nice feeling to be crowned the winners of Asia too,’’ he said. ‘‘We have worked hard towards this event since long and it is obviously a very special day for us. The first three days were quite tough as we struggled a lot. But we were quite optimistic about the final outcome and knew that we will make it when it matters. In the end it did work out for us and I’m very pleased with the performance of my crew members as they put in all the hard work, thus we have such wonderful results,’’ added Cumming. Masirah’s bowman Nasser Salem al Mashari was over the moon. Obviously it was a big moment for the local Omani sailor, who made his country proud with his brilliant work.
‘‘I’m feeling very happy that I kept my country’s flag flying on the top,’’ said Nasser. ‘‘I have participated in Hong Kong and Singapore but sailing here in Muscat was an absolutely different feeling,’’ said the 27-year-old from Sidab. Equally delighted was tactician Mark Bulkeley. ‘‘I’m very happy with the result. Clean sweeping the championship after being declared the European champs a few months back is a great feeling. Today since the wind was much lighter, especially after witnessing very windy conditions on the first day, we changed our tactics and concentrated more on having good starts which did the trick for us.”
“We were very consistent in our performance. It was obviously a much better display after the initial three days as we were struggling to have a firm grip on the entire tournament. Today we were also fortunate to practise a lot since it was great weather and lovely temperature,’’ said the 30-year-old from Southampton. Leigh McMillan called it a special day altogether. ‘‘It was a very special day for every crew member on board Masirah. After struggling at the fifth position on the first three days, the last couple of days has been very good for us. It was a great comeback.” “It was a different experience after sailing in the Extreme Sailing Series Europe.
The weather conditions and the sea were at their best. I believe it’s an ideal condition for this kind of a competition. After not having good starts earlier, we analysed the whole situation especially the starting line and ironed out our weaknesses. Thus we grew in confidence and knew that it was very much possible to win this leg of the race,’’ said McMillan. Roman Hagara, the skipper of the Red Bull team looked a bit disappointed after their boat capsized on Thursday after being on the top for the first few days. ‘‘It has been very disappointing that after leading the competition for the first four days we finished fifth overall. Anyway we enjoyed sailing for the entire five days and hope to do better in the competitions to come later.’’
All said and done it was a perfect climax to the inaugural Extreme Sailing Series Asia. The show will go on as the Extreme Sailing Series European circuit will start in May. Extreme Sailing Series Asia, Muscat: 1 Masirah 103 pts, 2 The Wave, Muscat 101 pts, 3 China Team 91 pts, 4 BT 84 pts, 5 Red Bull Extreme Sailing 71 pts, 6 Rumbo Almeria 70 pts. Extreme Sailing Series Overall: 1 Masirah 18 pts, 2 The Wave, Muscat 11 pts, 3 China Team 11 pts, 4 BT 10 pts, 5 Red Bull Extreme Sailing 8 pts, 6 Rumbo Almeria 5 pts.
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