| The Wave, Muscat triumph |
PORTO (Portugal) Captain Leigh McMillan and The Wave, Muscat, overcame a tough time during the final day’s stadium racing in Porto on Sunday to clinch Act 4 of the Extreme Sailing Series with a race to spare. Meanwhile Morgan Larson steered Oman Air to third overall, making it a double podium celebration for Omani fans.
McMillan was looking to consolidate lead in the series by staying out of trouble. But no matter how careful you plan to be, there are seven other Extreme 40s also on a very confined race course, a press release said on Monday.
French boat Groupe Edmond de Rothschild found itself in a situation where there was no escape rather than crashing into the side of The Wave, Muscat. With severe bow damage and a broken nose for one of the crew, the French boat was out of racing for the rest of the regatta. The Wave, Muscat suffered a hole in her side, and McMillan injured his thumb with blood all over the back of the boat, but finished the race.
With McMillan’s thumb bandaged up between races, the injured skipper pressed on with the remaining races. “I was pretty shaken up,” he said, just before he went to hospital on Sunday evening for further treatment of his damaged thumb.
“The collision took a little of the fun out of the day, but it’s still nice to win. We were aware of the dangers today. The most important thing was not to get in a crash, to stay out of trouble. We were on starboard, in the right, but we got T-boned. Fortunately we didn’t hit anyone else and finished off the job,” McMillan said.
Hashim Al Rashdi, the Omani bowman, said: “We had an average day today, but before the last race we had 25 points on Red Bull. It was enough. The team has worked really hard from the first day to the last day. The best day was when we won six races. It is a great result for the whole team. We’re representing Oman, two boats in first and third - really good for us and for Oman.”
With Groupe Edmond de Rothschild out of action, Oman Air seized their opportunity to move into a podium place.
Morgan Larson explained: “Fortunately for us the French team had a mishap, which helped us. But then Alinghi started having some great races which pushed us at the end.”
With the wind gusting over 20 nautical and the boats sailing with one reef in their mainsails, the emphasis was on keeping it safe and staying out trouble.
“We wanted to race hard and keep it one piece, not park it up on the shore and try to keep it going all the way to the end,” said Larson. “It’s good for the team to know we can beat anyone out there, although The Wave is a step ahead right now. We’ve just got to keep pushing hard as we head for the next regatta in the series.”
Oman Air bowman Nasser Al Mashari was delighted to have joined The Wave, Muscat on the podium.
With Act 4 in Porto complete, the Extreme Sailing Series moves on to Cardiff, Wales, for Act 5 to be contested at the end of August.
Oman Tribune
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