Image copyright Mark Lloyd/Lloyd Images/ECOVER Sailing Team.
by Lucy Harwood
Today was a complete contrast to day one in Almeria, the front that had be brewing arrived in force overnight and the teams woke up to a strong south westerly breeze. Conditions continued to build as the morning went on and by early afternoon the race committee were recording 18 – 20 knots plus on the race course. At the skippers briefing it was agreed that all boats would be reefed, no gennakers would be used and that no fifth men would be permitted onboard for racing. Compared to yesterday the days racing was effectively short and sharp, the pace had increased with races being completed in under 10 minutes. The fast and furious nature of the racing meant there were some close calls and a few heart stopping moments as the boats bows repeatedly dug into the water and the crews battled to bring the boats under control.
Due to the confined area of the port and the extreme conditions, the race committee also made a significant change to racing. For the first time this season the fleet was broken down into groups and sailed with no more than four boats (two groups) on the course at any one time. The groups were determined by the standings after the first seven races in Almeria yesterday. The groupings for day two were as follows;
Group A
1st – Groupe Edmond de Rothschild
8th – ETNZ
Group B
2nd – Ecover
7th – Red Bull
Group C
3rd – The Wave
6th – Rumbo Almeria
Group D
4th – Oman Masirah
5th – Groupama
Video of ECOVER sailing team in Almeria, on Day 2:
Ecover pushed hard across their four races of the day, they sailed consistently to get two seconds, a third and a bullet to tally up 12 points on the scoreboard out of a potential 16. This result has kept them in second place, and most importantly five points ahead Oman Sail Masirah who are their biggest threat in terms of preventing an overall podium finish in the series. Conditions continued to increase as the day went on, with some big gusts and some heavy bear aways as the boats rounded the marks in quick succession.
Ecover’s third race saw The Wave struggle to keep control of the boat in a big bear away off the line after the umpires called an OCS. Red Bull who were leading the into lap two, hooked onto the top mark dragging it along the race course. Ecover capitalised to pulled in front and take the lead to stormed over the line in front of the large crowd that had now gathered on the shoreline.
A quick change of course after the first three races had been completed, gave the fleet a chance to stretch their legs with a long reaching course inside the harbour. The original pairing of Group A and Group B lined up against each other, for what was to be their final race of the day. The conditions had built to over 25 knots for the final race. The boats were fully powered up, bows digging into the water at every mark and hulls flying along as the sound of the groans and creeks from onboard could be heard onshore.
Image copyright Mark Lloyd/Lloyd Images/ECOVER Sailing Team.
Groupe Edmond de Rothschild had a perfect start, Ecover pushed hard with Red Bull, they held second after the first lap but a close call with Emirates Team New Zealand on the bottom mark of the second lap saw the British team lose speed, and they were forced to play catch up behind Red Bull for the rest of the race. "The last race was a little bit random," commented skipper Mike Golding. "It was a death reach out and a death reach back which isn’t ideal as after the start it turns into a bit of a drag race, which in turn limits your tactical options for overtaking, the error we made meant our worst result of the day, but it was still third and a valuable two points on the race course".
“It was very difficult today, conditions were very puffy, although we kept control throughout there was definitely the potential for either a nasty crash or worst still a capsize. We’re very pleased with our performance, we’ve had a consistent day, even when we didn’t make a perfect start we still managed to get back into a good position, so we have to be pretty pleased with that. It was very different as we haven’t been doing the normal fleet racing, we’ve been sailing in groups of two, but because we finished a whole sequence of paired races we have actually achieved the same effect. I don’t think its most extreme conditions we’ve experienced this year. I think we had similar if not more in Trapani, and to some extent Cowes was potentially more challenging. It is nice flat water here which helps to keep the boats on their feet, but I think what is extreme here is the space, or lack of space. You make a mistake you’re going into a concrete wall so its good to be back on the dock all in one piece, no damage to the boat and a good day’s racing on the water,” Ecover skipper Mike Golding
Results after 11 races – Sunday 10th October
1 Groupe Edmond De Rothschild – 59 points
2 Ecover Sailing Team – 53 points
3 Oman Sail Masirah – 48 points
4 The Wave Muscat - 48 points
5 Groupama – 39 points
6 Rumbo Almeria - 33 points
7 Red Bull Extreme Sailing - 28 points
8 Emirates Team New Zealand – 24 points
ECOVER Sailing Team
Extreme Sailing Series Europe
