Thursday 24 February 2011

Extreme 40: Day 3 in Muscat for Emirates Team New Zealand


Emirates Team New Zealand in the lead in the Extreme 40s in Oman. Image copyright Mark Lloyd/Lloyd Images/OCThirdPole.

by Dean Barker

Today was the first day of Stadium Racing which is where the organisers pull the course into confined spaces and run very short tight races with a total duration of no more than 10-15 minutes. As you can imagine there is a huge emphasis on starts and boat positioning and as one of the other team members called it, "this is the start of the crash and burn racing".

We had a pretty good day with the highlight being winning our first race of the series and also our first race in an Extreme 40. We also won our match race at the end of the day and currently sit 7th 1 point behind 6th place. I still have a lot of work to do with starts and maneouvres but it is starting to feel a lot more comfortable.

Sitting here after the racing glued to CNN I am still stunned with the devastation that has occured in Christchurch. I cannot beleive what has taken place in the Garden City. All our thoughts are with the people and families of Christchurch.

Kiwi Yachting Consultants
Extreme Sailing Series