Coming to terms with the light and fluky breeze

October 2 2014

It was very light and very tricky for the first day of the seventh round of Extreme Sailing Series at Nice.

With Peter Burling back on the helm for the first time since June, Emirates Team New Zealand started slowly as Burling and Olympian team mate Blair Tuke settled in.

By race three they were looking more comfortable and started to get the consistency required to do well.

Burling said: “It could have been better – it could have been much worse. The breeze peaked at about five knots and was very shifty. It took a couple of races to settle down and we were sailing much better towards the end of the day.”

Eight races were sailed. For some teams the day was a shakeup rather than a shakedown. Series leaders Alinghi and The Wave, Muscat found themselves equal seventh on the leader board.

However the points spread is not great, with only seven points separating the top six boats.

With three days still to race and very light conditions forecast, the fleet will be looking to seize the opportunities presented by the fluky conditions and limit the number of bad results.

Extreme Sailing Series Nice standings after Day 1, 8 races (2.10.14)
1st Realteam by Realstone (SUI) 51 points.
2nd Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) 48 points.
3rd Groupama sailing team (FRA) 48 points.
4th GAC Pindar (AUS) 45 points.
5th = Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) and J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR) 44 points.
7th = Alinghi (SUI) and The Wave, Muscat (OMA) 39 points.
9th Oman Air (OMA) 33 points.
10th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) 30 points.
11th SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) 26 points.

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