Image copyright Mark Lloyd/Lloyd Images/ECOVER Sailing Team.
by Lucy Harwood
The penultimate day of the Extreme Sailing Series in Almeria has seen the top three boats for the overall series title pulling away from the rest of the fleet, they are caught in their own battle for both the event and overall title as they head into the final day of competition. Tomorrow's result will decide the event and the overall title, conditions are expected to increase again tomorrow and just as the fleet witnessed in 2009 it could go down to the wire with the title decided on the final races of the whole series.
Conditions did a 180 in Almeria today, as blue skies, sunshine and a very light southerly five knot breeze filled the race course, the fleet were once again found themselves drifting around the race course for the start of the day. Three races were completed inside the harbour, Ecover had a great first race leading from the line and taking their first bullet of the day. Their second race saw a tricky start as they found themselves closed out on the line and forced to duck behind the fleet losing time and speed, they managed to recover two places over the three lap race to finish in sixth. A third on the third race completed racing in the bay and the fleet headed back into the harbour for the remainder of the afternoon.
Ecover continued to sail consistently posting another third on race four, which put Ecover, Groupe Edmond de Rothschild and The Wave in first place all tied on 76 points. A second bullet by the British team in race five saw Ecover take control, as they lead from the start, cruising over the line for a crucial victory which saw them move up to first position on the event leaderboard. The Wave, Muscat moved to second just a point behind, and Groupe Edmond de Rothschild were pushed back into third. But as the breeze died, Ecover struggled to stay on form and posted two mid fleet positions which resulted in them moving back into third as they headed into the final match racing section of the day.
Ecover helm Leigh McMillan commented after racing, "It was light and tricky again today, but I think overall we managed to get a good handle on it. We had an awesome first three quarters of the day and just the last few races seem to get away from us. It was so touch and go that we found ourselves in the position where we were close to getting round the windward mark in first, and then one duck resulted in seven ducks and we found ourselves in last. We still recovered and overtook boats again but from what was going to be an awesome day where we took the lead at one point the middle of the day we've ended up back down in third again which is a little disappointing. We are still holding third here and third in the overall series which is the most important thing to us. The focus tomorrow will be making sure we complete the series and get on the podium for the overall series".
Ecover lined up against Oman Sail Masirah for thier match race pairing. Skipper Loick Peyron worked the pre start to force Ecover back and take the lead as the boats crossed the start line. Ecover played catch up, but with the wind dying they struggled to make any progress and could not close the gap in time to win the race. Masirah took the winning point increasing thier score to 78, but the gap to Ecover in third remains at comfortable 12 points. The Wave, Muscat won an important race against Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, which puts them joint first on 97 points as they head into the final day. Whoever wins tomorrow, takes the series.
For Ecover, tomorrow will be about consistency and a clean, error free day on the water. After completing 122 races, a potential eight races lay between the British team and a place on the podium for the overall series.
"I think we would still like to move forward in the individual event, but realistically we've just got to sail the way we normally do. We can't afford to make any radical changes, there is a slight danger I suspect that one or two boats could come hunting for us. But we will just have to deal with that if and when it happens. Otherwise our game plan just has to be to continue what we have been doing. Its been an amazing series for us, we've sailed consistently and have progressed a huge amount since our first event in Sete. I'm really pleased for the team and I know we have the potential to secure the podium finish overall tomorrow," Ecover skipper Mike Golding.
Results after 19 races – Monday 11th October
1 Groupe Edmond De Rothschild – 97 points
2 The Wave Muscat - 96 points
3 Ecover Sailing Team – 91 points
4 Oman Sail Masirah – 78 points
5 Groupama 40 - 75 points
6 Rumbo Almeria - 54 points
7 Red Bull Extreme Sailing - 49 points
8 Emirates Team New Zealand – 47 points
ECOVER Sailing Team
Extreme Sailing Series Europe
