Team Oman Air takes second place at Extreme Sailing Series event

BARCELONA: Following the setback on the third of four days of racing, the Oman Air crew were fully focused on getting back into contention at the Spanish venue.

The team of Phil Robertson, Pete Greenhalgh, James Wierzbowski, Stewart Dodson and Nasser al Mashari returned to the action on the final day and reeled off a string of strong performances — including a race win — to pull themselves up to second.

“It has been a massive effort by everyone,” said Oman Air’s veteran mainsail trimmer Pete Greenhalgh. “We were leading the event at the halfway point but then had a couple of disappointing races. Once we were back out on the water the plan was to get into a strong place and get the best out of everyone and we did exactly that.”

The impressive overall performance was sealed with a second-place finish in the double-points scoring final race, which saw Oman Air go clear of Red Bull Sailing Team and leapfrog ahead of rivals SAP Extreme Sailing Team, the 2017 Extreme champions.

The Barcelona Act was won by the consistent Swiss team Alinghi, a result that takes them to the top of the 2018 Extreme Sailing Series season leaderboard after three events. They Sailing Season have 33 points, as do second place SAP, with Oman Air poised right behind in third place with 32 points.

“We really pulled together as a team in Barcelona and were able to earn a good result,” said Oman Air’s bowman Al Mashari.

“We are now very close to the leading boats in the season overall, so our focus is on getting ready for the next event in a few weeks and getting another good result to help us climb further up the leaderboard.”

The Extreme Sailing Series season continues at pace with the next highintensity regatta in Cascais, Portugal, in early July, and then in Cardiff, UK, in August. The season concludes in San Diego, California and Los Cabos, Mexico, in October and November.