Extreme Sailing Series Madeira

Madeira is a new venue for the Extreme Sailing Series this year.


The series saw a contest forming as the GC32 fleet saw Oman Air taking up two title positions in four races. They have definitely placed their claim for the honors. The day when Red Bull and Alinghi sailing teams tied for the first place as joint leaders the Omani boat came in for the third position. This day of races was calm and sunny as it dawned at Marina Funchal. It is located south of the island where the wind strength varied from three to seven knots. As a result, it led to the race program being curtailed again.

By the fourth race the wind had faded and Oman Air rose to take third place along with the SAP Extreme Sailing team, gaining about 48 points. Larson stated that the conditions of sailing were tricky as there was a strong current hat nearly pushed them over early for the starting line. That was not what they wanted as it would have gotten all other boats behind them.

The Oman Air skipper feels confident that they will be able to sail well in the subsequent days as they were able to handle the mental challenges that came their way. He feels that they were able to handle their boat as well as communications were strong. The team looks forward to performing well in the coming days as the forecast promises more wind coming up.  The crew members are new to sailing at Madeira but are happy with the experience they have had so far. The warm and sunny weather makes them confident and they are hopeful that they will be able to get their GC32 ships flying soon with high winds. Here the races include stadium racing and open water racing as well.