Alinghi action in Oman. Image copyright Carlo Borlenghi/www.carloborlenghi.com
by Paco Latorre
Today saw yet another challenging day of “stadium” racing for all competitors, resulting in Alinghi slipping down the leaderboard ahead of tomorrow's final day in the opening Act of the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series in Oman.
The Swiss team goes into the final day in seventh position, 33 points behind the current leading team. After a fiercely competitive day that consisted of eight fleet races, all of which taking place in close proximity to the shore under the “stadium” format, Alinghi scored a victory in Race 21, but faced hostile challenges in the typically competitive style and conceded three penalties.
“It's been a difficult day for Alinghi,” admitted Tanguy Cariou. “We could never get a fast start and consequently we have found ourselves in tricky and complicated situations. During the first days of competition we managed to find a way to recover throughout the races but today we sailed badly and were punished for our errors. It's now up to us to learn from the lessons of today and bounce back tomorrow for the last day of racing.”
Standings:
1.Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, 194 points
2.Artemis, 187 points
3.Red Bull, 183 points
4. Team New Zealand, 176 points
5.The Wave, 165 points
6.Luna Rossa, 163 points
7. Alinghi, 161 points
8.Oman Air, 143 points
9.Team Extreme, 96 points
10. Niceforyou, 75 points
11.Team GAC Pindar, 44 points
Alinghi
Extreme Sailing Series
