iShares Cup Action (Photo by Lloyd Images)
The sun was shining, the wind was blowing and the crowds were cheering as both Oman Sail teams took control of the six races sailed on Monday. Masirah started the day with a dominating win over the fleet in the first race of the day but Renaissance was never far behind. After four races Masirah had done enough for the day as they could not be toppled from the top of the leader board, a position they had held since the first race of the first day. Renaissance had their work cut out for them as they were carrying a couple of poor results which their eleven top three places over the three days couldn’t balance out. Although they were never out of second or third place on the leader board, they had stiff competition from the team s below, out of which any of five of them could have leap-frogged them onto the podium.
The last race of the day counts for double points and it is this one that has, in past events in France and Italy, made all the difference to the final scores. Masirah played a safe game and took the boat home safely but it was Renaissance who was fighting for the difference between the second and third step on the podium with Gitana. Team Gitana and Renaissance were not only fighting for second and third for the Cowes iShares Cup, but also for second and third on the overall podium positions at the half way point of the iShares Cup circuit. Thus it was a nail biting finale for these two teams and the pressure was on as all the teams lined up for the start, only metres away from the thousands of spectators watching the action from the shore. In the end Gitana took first place and Renaissance could only manage a fourth, behind Masirah and Ecover. This sealed the podium places as Git ana took second and Renaissance took an admirable third.
Special guests on Masirah for the day’s racing were members of Formula One’s Brawn GP team. Each boat has a fifth man spot that gives an invited guest the chance to experience sailing at the extreme and get into the thick of it. Brawn GP CEO, Nick Fry, was on board for many of the races, ‘I believe that sport is a wonderful catalyst for pulling people together. To support sport at the highest level will encourage younger people and inspire them to be the best and I am sure that over time, more people from Oman, both men and women, will want to be part of this successful team. I applaud those in Oman that took this initiative which I am sure will bring major benefits over the coming years.’
Now that Cowes is over and the celebrations for both teams are finished, the Oman Sail team packs up both boats into their containers. Then both containers are loaded up and transported to the North German City of Kiel where the fourth leg of the iShares Cup takes place and Masirah will be hoping to maintain their dominance and Renaissance will be looking to knock them off the top spot and take some of the glory for themselves. The sponsors of Renaissance (Renaissance Services, Suhail Bahwan Group and The Wave) will continue their support of the team until the end of the iShares Cup circuit.
Oman Sail's Masirah (Photo by Lloyd Images./ Oman Sail)
The Oman Sail program is paying off dividends as Pete Cumming and crew of Oman Sail Masirah take first place on Day 1 of the iShares Cup in Cowes today – winning 5 out of the 6 races held today. Olympic Double Gold Medalist Shirley Robertson and her crew on Team iShares excelled at their ‘home’ event, benefiting from their local knowledge scoring their best result to date in the iShares Cup 2009 series and go into the second day of competition in second place on the leaderboard. French team Gitana Extreme – Groupe LCF Rothschild rallied in the second half to put them third overall just ahead of Loick Peyron on Oman Sail’s Renaissance. Throughout the racing there was plenty of action – the 40-ft catamarans regularly flying a hull thanks to the sometimes gusty conditions, the crews screaming for water, daring to come as close to the shore as possible without hitting the rocks – all keeping the spectators enthralled at the iShares Cup Race Village which is currently proving to be the most popular place in Cowes.
Six races were held in total on day 1 of the iShares Cup at Cowes Week– the UK round marking the halfway point of the six-stage European circuit. The first two races were straightforward reaching upwind and downwind legs but as the wind veered west, the game changed dramatically.
The first race went to Oman Sail Masirah – Pete Cumming and Chris Draper throwing the gauntlet down to the other teams. With the absence of BMW ORACLE Racing, Oman Sail Masirah go into this 3rd round of the iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series as favourites and the team wasted no time in stepping up to the mark with another emphatic win in race 2. Oman Sail stable-mate Renaissance driven by Loick Peyron finished 2nd and both BT and Team iShares were starting to put in some strong performances – 3rd and 4th place in the second race.
Regular Groupama 40 skipper Franck Cammas is currently hurtling across the Atlantic at high-speed trying to break the record but his Extreme 40 team here helmed by Gildas Philippe got a great start to race 3 and kept their cool to score their first win at the UK round. As the wind veered the nine-boat Extreme 40 fleet were suddenly in a different game – tacking upwind and gybing downwind adding an element of both opportunity and excitement as the breeze strengthened. But the Oman Sail team continued to pile on the pressure – Peyron took Renaissance across the line in 2nd and Masirah in 3rd, finishing half a boat length ahead of Nick Moloney on BT.
A penalty for Gitana Extreme skipper Yann Guichard didn’t stop his determination to get back in to race 4, pulling out all the stops to cross the line in 2nd behind Oman Sail’s Masirah who had clearly taken control of the day’s racing. Carolijn Brouwer driving Holmatro had a great first half to the race but lost out in the closing stages… In the final gybe to the line she must have thought 3rd place was hers until Cowes girl Shirley Robertson stormed past to claim the final spot on the race 4 podium – that result moved Team iShares up into 2nd place on the iShares Cup Cowes leaderboard
Ecover Extreme 40 At Practice for Cowes iShares ( Photo Courtesy of iShares Cup)
The UK round of the 2009 iShares Cup circuit kicks off tomorrow, with Day 1 of the iShares Cup at Cowes Week. Today’s practice races saw three different victors over 3 races with Jean-Christophe Mourniac (LUNA), Yann Guichard (Gitana Extreme – Groupe LCF Rothschild) and Nick Moloney (BT) winning the final practice race today. Tricky conditions in the light and shifty breeze, and some over-zealous starts, has not provided a clear form guide but a good shakedown for the Extreme 40 crews ahead of the serious business that starts tomorrow at 2.00pm.
After two rounds on the six-stage European circuit the iShares Cup leaderboard is still wide open, especially now current overall leaders BMW ORACLE Racing have been forced to miss the Cowes event due to commitments testing their new America’s Cup boat in San Diego, USA. Of the nine racing teams, this puts Oman Sail’s Masirah in pole position after their win at the second round in Hyères, France last month. However, Masirah are on equal points with Gitana Extreme-Groupe LCF Rothschild, winners of the season opener in Venice.
Pete Cumming, skipper of Masirah: “We’re in an ideal position, and obviously after Hyères we’re going into this event pretty confident but at every event different teams come back stronger and stronger so you’d be a fool to count anyone else out of the game. The only time we ever really look at the results is going into the final double points race because you can’t do anything about everyone else, so we’ll just keep our heads down and try and sail clean and not pick up any stupid penalties – which I think will be pretty tricky here!”
BMW ORACLE Racing are planning to rejoin the iShares Cup circuit at the next venue in Kiel, Germany, later this month – with up to 24 races at each venue, James Spithill and crew can still be in contention for the title at the halfway stage of the series.
Just behind Gitana Extreme, Oman Sail’s stable mate Renaissance, skippered by Loick Peyron, is one point behind in fourth overall, whilst the French multihull squad on Groupama 40 are just four points further adrift in fifth. Groupama 40 has a new skipper for the iShares Cup at Cowes Week, as Franck Cammas this week set off on a transatlantic record attempt on the giant multihull Groupama 3. He will be replaced by Olympic catamaran sailor and former 470 class world champion Gildas Philippe. Meanwhile, on Team iShares crew Winston McFarlane steps in for fellow Kiwi Jonathan Macbeth. McFarlane has sailed with Team New Zealand in several America’s Cups. Extreme 40 class creator Mitch Booth is, once again, the helmsman for BT standing in for an injured Darren Bundock.
The iShares Cup racing will take place on a short shore-side course set just off Egypt Point, on Cowes Espalanade. The third venue will bring new challenges to the crews, including the Solent’s strong tides and rocky coastline to avoid, and some strong breezes. Tim Hancock, Race Director, confirmed: “Tomorrow the forecast wind is going to be southerly, about 12-15 knots. Saturday’s current forecast is south-westerly 10-12, Sunday it’s going lighter but the wind will swing around to the north-west, and Monday will be the windiest day, on a north-westerly currently forecast around 16 knots, although there’ll be gusts of more than that I’m sure.”
The iShares Cup sailors will be joined by some celebrity sportsmen and women… On Monday Arctic adventurer Ben Fogle will be sailing with fellow Champagne G.H.Mumm Cordon Rouge Club member Mike Golding on Ecover; record-breaking offshore sailor Dee Caffari will join Shirley Robertson on Team iShares on Sunday; while Iwan Thomas, Olympic and Commonwealth 400m medallist, will be sailing on Ecover on Friday.
Racing kicks off on Saturday, 1st August at 2pm, with a full afternoon of up to eight short, sharp races planned. The iShares Cup racing continues on Sunday, 2nd and Monday, 3rd August .
Renaissance In Hyeres, France (Photo by Lloyd Images)
The tension on the water today in Hyeres could be felt all the way over in Muscat, several thousand miles away! Oman Sail had a team in each of the top two places but they had a chasing pack that read like a who’s who of professional sailing.
After a few hours in the protest room at the end of the second day, it was decided that Oman Sail’s Renaissance, skippered by Loick Peyron, should be awarded average points for the races they sailed before being fouled. This meant that they retained the second position overall that they went into the day with. Although an amicable agreement, it meant that Renaissance were under pressure to prove their worth! The day started very poorly for both Oman Sail teams with Masirah scoring their worst result with an eighth and Renaissance only carding a fifth. iShares, BMW and Gitana came out of the blocks strongly and took the first three places respectively. Things got slightly better for the two Oman Sail teams, but second half finishes in two races each put them on the backfoot as the fleet went into the all important last race which gave double points and left any of the top five boats in a position to take first place.
By the start of the last race the wind had started picking up and gusts of up to 20 knots were seen across the water. This is the upper limit of the Extreme 40 racing catamarans and it is the point when they start to offer edge of the seat racing for all the spectators. BMW Oracle pinned Renaissance down at the start and took them out to the far side of the course in an attempt to push them down the leaderboard and make BMW Oracle’s position stronger. BMW Oracle still managed to get to the top mark in second place and had successfully pushed Renaissance down to fifth as well as rattled the crew’s nerves. At the bottom mark Renaissance botched their kite drop and were left hobbled as several boats went past them. They recovered well and got to the top mark with two boats behind them and managed to hold that position to the finish line that was enough to beat Gitana Extreme overall by 3 points and the late charging Groupama by 4 points. BMW Oracle sailed a textbook race to take the finish gun by a strong margin over Groupama but it wasn’t enough to beat Masirah who took third place on the water but first overall with a safety margin of 10 points.
The top 5 places were separated by 30 points but third, fourth and fifth places had only 4 places between them. This means that it is all change at the top of the leaderboard as they pack up and head for Cowes on the first of August. BMW Oracle have taken the first place on the podium with 18 points from two legs after a second in Venice and second in Hyeres. Masirah and Gitana Extreme share second place tied on 17 points and Renaissance hold on to third (or fourth, depending how you look at it) with 16 points. Needless to say all the teams will be looking
Extreme 40's Race In iShares Cup In Hyeres, France (Photo by Lloyd Images / Oman Sail)
After a 6th position at the inaugural event of the iShares Cup in Venice, Nick Moloney and his team matched that again at the iShares Cup Hyères-TPM with another sixth place. This also leaves BT in 6th overall in the iShares Cup 2009 circuit going into Round 3 that takes place in the UK over 1st-3rd August at the start of Cowes Week.
BT had a strong first day, winning the final race: “It was awesome but also quite tricky at times. It was very aggressive out on the racecourse. We just tried to be consistent scoring thirds and fourths, then a win in the final race was good enough to put us second on the leaderboard at the end of the day. Our training session in Hyères a couple of weeks ago has really paid off – losing Darren was tough as you lose 25% of your consistency but Mitch has been the ideal replacement.”
Mitch Booth took over the helm of BT as Darren Bundock, regular driver of the BT Extreme 40, was forced to step down due to injury: “I have not sailed an Extreme 40 for three years,” explained Mitch who then summed up day two in succinct terms: “We did good on the first day before having a shocker yesterday! We had too many bad positionings, got locked out of the starts twice, and in that class once you’re out, you’re out! And every mistake is paid for in full.”
The racing for the 10 top international Extreme 40 teams was intense and aggressive. The conditions were near ideal with a similar weather pattern over the three days starting in light conditions before building during the afternoon – the bigger breeze piling on the pressure for the teams. In these conditions, the iShares Cup Race Committee staged 19 races in total, within view of hundreds of spectators – the finish line itself was set almost within touching distance of the crowds. The BT crew were ‘pumped up’ for the final day and quickly put two bad results behind them to get back in the game with a second place in race 17 and a fourth place in the final double points race.
Nick was pragmatic about BT’s result and not overly disappointed: “You have to remember here that we are racing against some of the top sailors in the world, so getting a 1st or a 2nd in a race is huge.”
iShares Cup In Hyeres (Photo by Lloyd Images / Oman Sail)
It was an interesting day for all the teams on the water today in the shifting condition in Hyeres, and no more so than for the two Oman Sail teams. Overnight leaders Masirah started their day by recording their worst result of the series thus far but Renaissance, in contrast, scored their best. The sixth place for Masirah and second for Renaissance put them both at the top of the leader board but it was to be the last race of the day for Loick Peyron and his team as Mike Golding on Ecover put paid to his day. Golding misjudged a port – starboard crossing and took one of Renaissance’s rudders out of action; it took some skillful boat handling by Peyron to record the second place that they did.
It was an interesting day for all the teams on the water today in the shifting condition in Hyeres, and no more so than for the two Oman Sail teams. Overnight leaders Masirah started their day by recording their worst result of the series thus far but Renaissance, in contrast, scored their best. The sixth place for Masirah and second for Renaissance put them both at the top of the leader board but it was to be the last race of the day for Loick Peyron and his team as Mike Golding on Ecover put paid to his day. Golding misjudged a port – starboard crossing and took one of Renaissance’s rudders out of action; it took some skillful boat handling by Peyron to record the second place that they did.
It was bitterly disappointing for him and his crew to see all their hard work lost due to no fault of their own. Omani fifth man for the day Mubarak Al Battashi explained, ‘We knew that Ecover was going to hit us and all we could do was watch- everything happens so quickly on these boats. Loick did an amazing job of getting us to the finish line in second place. It is unfortunate that our day will be settled by a sailing jury in a room and not by us on the water. We look forward to tomorrow!’
Masirah didn’t have to win the penultimate race to take th em through to the next day as leaders but they gave the watching crowds a great show as they powered down with third placed Holmatro only to lose by 10 feet from them on the line. With 12 knots of breeze blowing, the Extreme 40′s had hulls flying which only made the battle for second place between BMW Oracle and Gitana Extreme-Groupe LCF Rothschild all the more exciting. BMW Oracle managed to take a well-needed first place but Gitana held on and took second place. Holmatro showed great form in the last few races and will see them go into Sunday’s final races as potential podium placers. Renaissance spent some time in the protest room but as it was an obvious error on the part of Ecover, they were awarded average points based on their results the day before. Fortunately they didn’t have a result worse than fifth throughout the day which gave them a well needed boost going into the last day..
"Renaissance" skippered by Loick Peyron(FRA) in action during day 1 of the Extreme 40 iShares Cup. Hyeres. France (Photo by Lloyd Images / Oman Sail)
Final positions for the day have Masirah in the lead with 110 points, Renaissance in second with 100 points and BMW Oracle take the final podium place of the day with 97 points.
The chasing pack are:
4. Gitana Extreme-Groupe LCF Rothschild,
5. Groupama – 85 points, 6. BT – 77 points
7. Holmatro – 63 points,
8. iShares – 62 points,
9. Luna – 39 points
10. Ecover – 33 points
By the start of the last race the wind had started picking up and gusts of up to 20 knots were seen across the water. This is the upper limit of the Extreme 40 racing catamarans and it is the point when they start to offer edge of the seat racing for all the spectators. BMW Oracle pinned Renaissance down at the start and took them out to the far side of the course in an attempt to push them down the leaderboard and make BMW Oracle’s position stronger. BMW Oracle still managed to get to the top mark in second place and had successfully pushed Renaissance down to fifth as well as rattled the crew’s nerves. At the bottom mark Renaissance botched their kite drop and were left hobbled as several boats went past them. They recovered well and got to the top mark with two boats behind them and managed to hold that position to the finish line that was enough to beat Gitana Extreme overall by 3 points and the late charging Groupama by 4 points. BMW Oracle sailed a textbook race to take the finish gun by a strong margin over Groupama but it wasn’t enough to beat Masirah who took third place on the water but first overall with a safety margin of 10 points.
The top 5 places were separated by 30 points but third, fourth and fifth places had only 4 places between them. This means that it is all change at the top of the leaderboard as they pack up and head for Cowes on the first of August. BMW Oracle have taken the first place on the podium with 18 points from two legs after a second in Venice and second in Hyeres. Masirah and Gitana Extreme share second place tied on 17 points and Renaissance hold on to third (or fourth, depending how you look at it) with 16 points. Needless to say all the teams will be looking forward to facing off with each other in Cowes in the south of England in three weeks time and you can guarantee that BMW Oracle won’t want to make it three bridesmaids in a row!
"Masirah" skippered by Pete Cummings (GBR) with Chris Draper (GBR) Helm, David Carr (GBR) Bow, Mark Bulkeley (GBR) Mainsheet and Khamis al Anbouri, shown here in action on day two of the racing. Hyeres.France (Photo By Lloyd Images / Oman Sail)
Fresh from their victory over a quadruple Olympic medalist and an America’s Cup challenger, Oman Sail’s Masirah Extreme 40 is on the top step of the podium after the first day of the iShares Cup. The conditions off the coast of the South of France matched the conditions off Muscat in which Masirah trained in and gave them four first places out of six races and a worst result of a fourth in the first race.
The team on Masirah was the same as that which won the Round the Island Race in the UK two weeks ago when they beat British Olympic sensation Ben Ainslie and America’s Cup mastermind Russell Coutts. Once again Khamis Al Anbouri was crewing on Masiarh and playing a full time role in the tactical roles and even had a few words to say on the podium, ‘There was a lot of teamwork involved on the boat today and we put together a lot of the things we have done in training. As one of the five people who worked hard to get the boat to the top step of the podium I am very proud. We still have a lot of work to do tomorrow and Sunday though!’ The helmsman of Oman Sail’s Masirah is Chris Draper, an Olympic medalist, who went on to say that ‘Khamis is our lucky charm’.
Saturday will see up to ten races sailed on the water right in front of the breakwater of Hyeres, in the province of Toulon. Last year was the first time Hyeres featured on the iShares Cup circuit and saw some of the most exciting sailing ever seen on Extreme 40′s. This year the weather forecast is slightly tamer and there is less chance of seeing the thrills, spills and capsizes of last year.
