The final day of racing in Singapore started with a light two knot wind and the six teams tactically fighting their way around the racecourse, searching for the best possible winds. The skippers and crews were tested by the Race Committee as they began two races with the more challenging downwind starts as the wind picked up to a more consistent 10 knots. But just before the start of the fifth and final race of the day, there was plenty of drama as a thunderstorm struck the reservoir soaking the sailors and the VIP guests onboard to the skin.

The heavy downpour was relentless, forcing the Race Committee to abandon the race and the day’s sailing for safety reasons as lightening powered down over Marina Reservoir. With the abandonment called, the calculators were out as the valuable last race double points were added to the previous race, but Masirah remained firm at the top of the leaderboard, continuing their domination of the Extreme 40 fleet. This win capitalises on their European crown in November and their win two weeks ago in the first leg of this Asian circuit in Hong Kong at the end of November.

Pete Cumming, skipper of Masirah, commented, “It’s been a really good week for the team and we are thrilled with the win. We would like to thank the Singapore Authorities for giving us the opportunity to sail here and to everyone who helped to make this event possible.”

Masirah was presented with a Merlion statue and orchids by Singapore Olympic swimmer and Nominated Member of Parliament Joscelin Yeo, who was the Guest-of-Honour for the day. Said Joscelin, who had earlier experienced sailing on the Extreme 40s, “I didn’t know what to expect as extreme sailing is not a common sport here in Singapore. It was very exciting and the adrenaline rush I felt was amazing. People are probably surprised that we can do something like this in Singapore and it shows that we as a country are open and exposed to new sporting events and ideas. It is definitely something I would like to experience again!”

With racing every afternoon, the past five days have been busy for the international fleet of Extreme 40 sailors. Every morning they have taken VIP and media guests out sailing on the reservoir, to experience first hand what it is like to race onboard an Extreme 40. Guests have included government officials, TV crews, journalists, key opinion formers from the business and sailing worlds here in Singapore, as well as youth sailors in the Singapore Olympic sailing squad.

Masirah’s win brings their score in the overall Extreme Sailing Series Asia scoreboard to a perfect 12, but the real battle is for second place with four teams in contention. BT and China Team and tied in second place with 7 points apiece and Red Bull Extreme Sailing Team and The Wave, Muscat just behind with 6.

“The response in Singapore has been phenomenal. The facilities here at Marina Bay are world class and I think it is tailormade for an event like the Extreme Sailing Series. I think we have really helped people understand what we are trying to do with the staging of this event and we hope to come back next year with a full-scale event,” concluded John McKenna, Commercial Director of OC Events.

Sailor Quotes:

Paul Campbell-James, The Wave, Muscat:
“This is the first time we have ever done downwind starts and we struggled to get a grip of them. We are learning, the main reason why we are here. We were unlucky not to get third in Hong Kong, to get third here is an improvement and hopefully we’ll win in Oman.

“Third is a good result overall because in the whole series there is us, BT, Red Bull and China Team all vying hard. So a great incentive going into Oman.”

Hugh Styles, Helm, China Team:
“It’s been a rollercoaster here, pouring rain and lightening to soaring heat, no wind to lots of wind. There are one incident when we nearly capsized because there was so much breeze.

“Six boats means that it is really intense on the racecourse, lots of entertaining guests who step on with wide eyes, but leave with enormous smiles on their faces.

“For us with our racing we have had probably more race wins than we have ever had as a team, so really exciting for us and we’ve sailed consistently. A few bits of bad luck, but we are a new team and building ourselves into a better unit, so really exciting. We have come fourth overall, so really looking forward to the next one, looking to step it up and always get in the top two, fighting for the lead and looking forward to the next opportunity.”

Thierry Barot, Skipper, China Team:
“Today, was not a perfect day. It was a little bit difficult for us. Problem for the right positioning and a real gamble with the wind which was turning everywhere, but it is part of the sport!

“We’ve had big improvements since Hong Kong, missing some luck today, but looking forward to Oman.

“Singapore was fantastic, the scenery was quite amazing with buildings all around with the amazing architecture so close to us. The chance to have the public around us next time will be great, a 360 degree amphitheatre; a fantastic venue. I really hope that we will be back next year.”

Pete Cumming, Skipper, Masirah:
“A really special event for us. Our latest recruit Nasser, who has been with us for eight months in the Oman Sail Team, so for him to be up against the best sailors in the World and do the business here in Singapore, he is a real credit for our team and the standard of sailors that are being produced in Oman Sail.



Nasser Salim Almasari, Bowman, Oman Sail Masirah:
“Today was the last day here in Singapore and we are extremely happy. It is important to raise our flag to the top of the sky! We are looking forward to sail in Oman and Insha’allah we will win there too.”

Roman Hagara, Skipper, Red Bull Extreme Sailing Team:

“Two regattas down, one to go and probably the most exciting one for the team as we are going to sail in our home waters in Muscat. We are really looking forward to the final event in Oman. A chance to sail in our home waters, it is going to be great to sail in front of our home crowds, we are hoping a lot of peole to come down and support us and the Omn Sail project and a chance for the team to see where they can get with their sailing. We are trying to inspire the young Omanis and for them to see these great boats come back to Muscat will be great.”

“The weather fits our style, we are light winds specialists and we had some good starts. It was a good day for us. It has been really nice here, with a great backdrop with the big wheel and close to the F1 racetrack. It is really, really outstanding and I hope we come back here next year.

Tan Wearn Haw, Trimmer, China Team:
“This sailing in Singapore is very convenient. I don’t have to fly half way round the World so I can just roll out of bed each morning! Most of the sailing is normally off the East coast or on the open sea so it is amazing that we managed to race right in the middle of the city, something so different!”

The Extreme Sailing Series Asia now moves on to Muscat, Oman, for the third and final leg from 1st-5th February 2010.

Final Leaderboard for Round 2 at Singapore:
1. Oman Sail’s Masirah 121 points
2. Red Bull Extreme Sailing Team 111
3. The Wave, Muscat 100
4. China Team 92
5. BT 87
6. Rumbo Almeira 77

Overall Leaderboard after Round 1 & 2:
1. Oman Sail’s Masirah 12 points
2. BT 7
2. China Team 7
4. The Wave, Muscat 6
4. Red Bull Extreme Sailing Team 6
6. Rumbo Almeira 4

Consistency paid off today for event leaders Masirah as they extended their lead at the top of the board by 10 points over second place Red Bull Extreme Sailing Team. But hot on their heels is China Team, with local Singaporean sailor Tan Wearn Haw onboard, trailing by just 1 point.

Nick Moloney, Skipper of BT commented, “Crazy conditions today, wind all over the place, big squall through the course half way through the first race, massive shift in wind direction a couple of times, I lost my hat – everything!”

The testing conditions challenged the race committee as the wind swung wildly across the race course, but five races were completed with fifth man VIP guests racing in the heart of the action onboard the 40 foot catamarans.

Callum Laing, Chairman of the Sawadee.com Regatta Samui raced onboard Rumbo Almeria. “It is absolutely fantastic, brilliant. I think it puts a lot of other hospitality experiences to shame because you are so in the middle of what is happening, it is hard to imagine any other sport being able to offer that sort of experience, it was incredible.”

Racing onboard Red Bull Extreme Sailing Team as the fifth man guest was Hafiz Koh, 22 years old, the youngest driver for the Singapore A1GP team. “That was totally amazing. I’m going to change from motorsports to sailing!” he laughed.

Koh (pictured below) was racing alongside David Vera, racing in his first ever multihull event. “It is the first time I’ve sailed these boats and it was funny, very funny. Each day I enjoy it more because I’m learning more each day. I’ve never raced a catamaran before, I’m used to just sailing big boats, I’ve only experienced them when I’ve chartered them as a tourist, these ones are very, very nice.

“This sailing is so different from the normal type of sailing I do around the world, it’s totally different. It’s like doing a marathon and then doing the 100 metres; it goes so quickly and very fast and a totally different concept of sailing. I’m enjoying it a lot.”

Pete Cumming and his team onboard Masirah finished top of the leaderboard after day 3: “Another really solid day, really different conditions. Full monsoon downpour so the clouds pulling the wind all over the palce. We went out knowing we had to be consistent. Five races and all top threes, but we are being pushed a lot harder, these guys are chipping away at us….”

The penultimate day of racing commences tomorrow, Monday 14 December from 2pm.

Provisional results after 3 days of Racing:

1. Oman Sail Masirah: 70
2. Red Bull Extreme Sailing Team: 60
3. China Team: 59
4. BT: 57
5. The Wave, Muscat: 53
6. Rumbo Almeria: 38

For Rumbo Almeria it was a busy day – this morning they had taken former record holder and Olympic 4x100m Gold medallist Asafa Powell sailing onboard their Extreme 40 and then this afternoon were clinging on to the trampoline as they desperately strived to keep their boat from capsizing.

Bowman Steve Mitchell picks up the story, “We were on the second reach of a triangle course, it was a pretty tight leg we had a big puff and the boat was tipping up, tipping up…..

“I had gone to leeward, we had furled the spinnaker and I was pulling it down and the only thing I could see was a construction site coming at me really pretty quickly! I had my ankles in the water, the bow was fully under and I could hear Nick [Hutton] shouting, ‘We’re going down, we’re going down’. So I just turned, left the spinnaker and ran to the high side. I am pretty glad I had studs in the bottom of my shoes to get to get up the trampoline to join everyone hanging on to the top corner! And she finally popped out and came back down again and off we went again. We weren’t expecting that here! It mixes it up and keeps us on our toes for sure!”

CLICK HERE to watch Rumbo Almeria’s near capsize, talked through by bowman Steve Mitchell.
CLICK HERE to download.

The Wave, Muscat, Red Bull Extreme Sailing Team and CHINA TEAM were all sailing on the edge of their comfort zones as they each battled to keep their Extreme 40 the right way up as the wind channelled between the buildings in gusts of up to 16 knots.

Local sailor, Tan Wearn Haw, from Singapore onboard CHINA TEAM was buzzing as he stepped onto the dock. “So we have seen how wrong things can go in a moment, we almost flipped the boat today!” he grinned. “It was in the third race, it was interesting we were just on the edge, everything could have gone pear-shaped we were like “WOAH!”. We had Adam jumping on the dagger-board, so it was good that he ate lots of supper last night to give him an extra kilo weight!

“We had two shots of gusts that just hit us over the breakwater and we couldn’t quite respond to it so ah well, a lot learnt today! It was so quiet onboard as we all wondered if we were going to go over and then suddenly we were all shouting! We told the fifth man we don’t do this every day – Hugh [Styles - helm] said he’s sailed these boats for three years and it is the closest he has ever come to capsizing.”

There were five races today exploring every inch of the Marina Reservoir race area with the teams being challenged by the unpredictable winds as it channelled between the buildings.

Hans-Peter Steinacher, tactician onboard Red Bull Extreme Sailing Team was pleased with this second day of racing, “What a perfect day – we are really enjoying sailing in Singapore. Good wind conditions and even these short races are quite funny and it is very physical, it is unbelievalbe, we are nearly on the limit. It was good today that we only had five races because otherwise the two guys at the front of the boat are exhausted, the crashes start coming and just wouldn’t be able to cope. Even the speed races are fun. It’s great here!”

Provisional standings at the end of the second day saw the fleet which was tied yesterday with four boats at the top of the leaderboard, start to spread out with the European Champions and winners of the first round in Hong Kong, Oman Sail’s Masirah lead Red Bull Extreme Sailing Team by two points, ahead of BT by another two points. CHINA TEAM sits in fourth place, just one point ahead of The Wave, Muscat with Rumbo Almeria in sixth.

More high-octane action continues tomorrow, Sunday 13th December from 2pm.

Standing after Day 2:

1. Oman Sail Masirah: 45
2. Red Bull Extreme Sailing Team: 43
3. BT: 41
4. CHINA TEAM: 39
5. The Wave, Muscat: 38
6. Rumbo Almeria: 26