News

Waiting for the wind...

27 August, 2017

While waiting for the wind, we can: Go over the last few days and look at our performance Continue to prepare and improve the fine tuning the boat Hope for the wind to build up Respond to journalists' questions Take a nap - sorry, refocus by closing our eyes Continue to hope that the wind will build up Run exhibition races to entertain thousands of spectators on Cardiff Bay Turn to liquid in a neoprene suit Hand over the tiller to the 6th man (the guest aboard the boat during a race) And welcome, which comes as something of a blessing, the race committee's permission to return to dock because of the lack of wind in which there is simply no possibility of racing. And so, finally and in conclusion, teams actually do almost as much on a day like today as they would do on a day full of races, excepting, of course, the fact that the scoreboard does not vary by one iota at the end of the day! So now we cross our fingers, hoping to be able to return to racing tomorrow at 2pm (local time) for the final day of this Act 6, which you can also follow live (live video and 3D graphics) by clicking here. Click here for the unchanged overall standings after 8 races.   To find out more www.extremesailingseries.com Hashtags for the event #GoAlinghiGo // #Extremesailing If you want to know more about how to follow the racing, about Alinghi's team, or just about this regatta in general, you will find all that you need by following this link. Photos credit ©Lloyd Images

At the right tempo

26 August, 2017

Six races were run today in Cardiff Bay, with a tricky wind in both strength and direction, but one that made it possible to get up to nice speed and finally, get up on to the foils. What about the ranking? Alinghi won two races, SAP Extreme Sailing Team the same. Alinghi recorded a third place, two fourth places, but then so did SAP! As it stands yet, SAP lies just four small points ahead at the half-way stage in Wales. The difference between the two? Knots in the gennaker sheet around the winch which caused trouble for the Swiss during a tack on race 5, causing them to finish in the last position. At this level, every detail counts. However, two days remain to build upon a good start and close a small points gap. Nicolas Charbonnier, tactician: "We had some really good races, we had some others when we struggled a little bit more, but we are still in the game and I feel like we are sailing well, the team is working well together, we are happy to sail together in Cardiff so it's a good day. Regarding the big lead in the two races won today, he said: "We had a really good start with a good strategy and then when you are sailing ahead of the other guys, it makes a lot of things easier, but we will have to do even better to come back in the next races." Click here to watch the interview with Nicolas in its entirety.   See you tomorrow from 3pm (local time) for the continuation of this competition, which you can also follow live (video & 3D graphics) by clicking here. Click here for overall standings after 8 races.   To find out more www.extremesailingseries.com Hashtags for the event #GoAlinghiGo // #Extremesailing If you want to know more about how to follow the racing, about Alinghi's team, or just about this regatta in general, you will find all that you need by following this link. Photos credit ©Lloyd Images

Below par in Hamburg

13 August, 2017

It is in the spirit of a team that, this evening, Alinghi reports this disappointing result. Click here to watch in their entirety the interviews following the end of racing. Tim Lapauw, foil regulator and trimmer: "Complicated, is one way of saying it. We finished sixth out of seven. It was by far our worst day on the Extreme Sailing Series for two years. " Yves Detrey, bowman: "We thought we had seen the worst of this event yesterday and thought that we’d get back on track, but today we could not find the solution. However, we also feel there’s nothing going our way. That said, we must have done something wrong – we thought we’d found it, we didn’t, but we will correct it in Cardiff!” Nicolas Charbonnier, tactician: "We are very disappointed tonight, it will be difficult to digest this week, but we will try to understand what happened and we will come back stronger." Nils Frei, headsail trimmer: "It's easy to be a team when you win, it's harder to be one when you lose. But we all know each other well, it is not a defeat like today that will destabilise us, so we remain confident for the future. " Pierre-Yves Jorand, Team manager: "We talked about the performance of the team, but we must also talk about how the opponents in general have improved. The past years we were up against two-to-three high-performance teams, whereas today we have six very strong teams to compete against. That means each place is hard fought, every single point must be battled for.   Alinghi now sits third in the overall ESS standings, four points behind leaders Oman Air and SAP Extreme Sailing Team, who are tied with 54 points. With three Acts still left to run, with the final counting for double, as Yves says so well: "It's never over until it's over."  #GoAlinghiGo !!! We will be meeting in Cardiff from Friday 25th to Monday 28th of August for Act 6 of the Extreme Sailing Series. Click here for the overall standings from Act 5 To find out more www.extremesailingseries.com Hashtags for the event #GoAlinghiGo // #Extremesailing If you want to know more about how to follow the racing, about Alinghi's team, or just about this regatta in general, you will find all that you need by following this link. Photos credit ©Lloyd Images

A cautious start, but a positive end to the day

12 August, 2017

Having temporarily occupied the second-to-last place in the general classification in the middle of the day, Alinghi found the resources and solutions to win the day's last two races.   Heading into the final day, Oman Air remains at the top of the fleet, eight points ahead of Red Bull Sailing Team and SAP Extreme Sailing Team who are tied with 84 points. There follows Alinghi and NZ Extreme Sailing Team with 82 points.   Nils Frei, headsail trimmer said:   "We did not start the day well, but we finished with two wins in a row. Sure, we have a few points to catch up, but fortunately we are still in the game. When you see that five boats are separated by just four points, everything suggests that it will come down to the last race, which counts for double, as so often is he case in the  Extreme Sailing Series. We take confidence in how we finished today so we will start again tomorrow!" Arnaud Psarofaghis, co-skipper and helm:   "These two victories are a great way to finish a day that had not begun very well, with bad starts and some errors on the course. The racing venue is very tough with a small arena, unsteady wind and strong current. We will analyze today's good and bad things and then apply the lessons to attack tomorrow."   Click here to watch Nils’ interview in its entirety (in German & French).     See you tomorrow from 2pm (local time) for the end of this competition, which you can also follow live (video & 3D graphics) by clicking here. At this same link, you can watch until Sunday morning the replay of the racing from today.    Click here for overall standings of Act 5. To find out more www.extremesailingseries.com Hashtags for the event #GoAlinghiGo // #Extremesailing If you want to know more about how to follow the racing, about Alinghi's team, or just about this regatta in general, you will find all that you need by following this link. Photos credit ©Lloyd Images

A mixed day

11 August, 2017

The weak Hamburg wind and the Elbe current only allowed two races to be run among the seven international teams competing for the 5th stage of the 2017 Extreme Sailing Series. For three hours of the afternoon, the 35 sailors, their technical crews and the race management were subjected to the vagaries of the local, rainy and suddenly feisty weather.   Apart from Oman Air, which won both legs run, all of the other teams suffered poor results, demonstrating the random character of the day's sailing conditions. The Land Rover BAR Academy team is currently in 2nd place despite only recording finishes of 3rd and 5th... However, everything remains in play if the wind consents to blow a little more during the next two days of competition. Pierre-Yves Jorand, Team leader, said: "We ended up in second position in the first race of the day, then the race committee tried to start a couple of more races; they were all abandoned because the wind just died and the boats couldn’t really fight against the current. "At around 4 o’clock, the RC started the final race of the day. We had a tough start and we ended up in last position, so not a great day for us here in Hamburg. "But the team will recover, we are going to talk about this tomorrow morning during the debrief and hopefully get a lot of races run tomorrow and Sunday." Nils Frei, headsail trimmer, focuses on the second race: "For the start, we wanted to be supported by the current by luffing to have more pressure. So we wanted to get the pin end of the starting line. A boat slipped in and we did not properly defend our position. Afterwards, all the windward boats "walked on us" and sent us bad air. It took us some time to restart with this very light wind. We are obviously disappointed with this round but we take them one after the other and there are still two days left. " Click here to watch Pierre-Yves’ interview in its entirety. See you tomorrow from 1:30pm (local time) for the continuation of this competition, which you can also follow live (video & 3D graphics) by clicking here. Click here for overall standings after 2 races. To find out more www.extremesailingseries.com Hashtags for the event #GoAlinghiGo // #Extremesailing If you want to know more about how to follow the racing, about Alinghi's team, or just about this regatta in general, you will find all that you need by following this link. Photos credit ©Lloyd Images

A disappointing 4th place

23 July, 2017

After 22 races in three days, Alinghi leaves Barcelona with a 4th place finish, now sharing the top of the Championship standings with SAP Extreme Sailing Team, (who finished third in this Act), with both teams on 43 points. After their victory today, Oman Air is back in contention, lying in the ambush position just one point behind the leaders. Red Bull Sailing Team, 2nd in this event, is in 4th overall with 37 points. Pierre-Yves Jorand, Team leader, said: "The guys sailed well. We were able to execute what we had talked about following yesterday's performance, namely to sail our way, in clear air, even if we are not on the "right" side of the course. It worked for us apart from the last race of the day where the wind shifted by a good 30 degrees to the left – we were then on the right-side of the course. In such a situation, good speed and good manoeuvres can't be enough to make-up the loss we experienced from the way the wind shifted." Tim Lapauw, trimmer: "We had a better day than yesterday, that's what counts. Before the last race, which is a double-pointer, we had some really nice starts, beautiful manoeuvres and had great speed. Before that last race we were back on the podium." Yves Detrey, bowman: "We're a little disappointed with this regatta. We probably made mistakes. But we also have the impression that nothing was happening for us. We tried to correct our starts, but when it's not going for you, it's not. We hope we've had our fair share of this kind of luck for the season and that things will be better for the next regatta in Hamburg. Whatever the case, things will be played out over the course of the remaining Acts and we must not take it for granted that anything is written in the stars. It is up to us to take control." Click here to watch the interviews after racing finished in their entirety. We will be meeting in Hamburg from Thursday 10th to Sunday 13th of August for Act 5 of the Extreme Sailing Series. Click here for the overall standings from Act 4. Click here for the overall standings of the Championship: To find out more www.extremesailingseries.com Hashtags for the event #GoAlinghiGo  //  #Extremesailing If you want to know more about how to follow the racing, about Alinghi’s team, or just about this regatta in general, you will find all that you need by following this link. Photos credit © Lloyd Images

A hard day on the water, but confidence remains

22 July, 2017

There are days when it’s with you, days when it’s not. Yesterday, Alinghi’s performance was almost perfectly choreographed; today, it was much more complicated. The team won one race, but in general things did not go to plan throughout the day. However, the team remained positive – “it happens, it’s sport…” The shame for the team was that such a day of misfortune came when a full ten races were run, meaning that they now train Oman Air, who have built a good gap at the top of the standings tonight. Red Bull and SAP Extreme, however, remain within the team’s reach. All the more so given that favourable weather is expected tomorrow, which should allow up to six or seven races, with 70-80 points therefore up for grabs. With that in mind, the team remains, as ever, confident and pulling together. Yves Detrey, Bowman: "It was a difficult day for us, even terrible in places. Nothing seemed to go our way, but really we have nobody to blame but ourselves. Our starts weren’t great and everything seemed to go wrong after that. “For now, we need some rest because today was certainly challenging physically with ten races in 12 knots of wind and sometimes sailing upwind with the gennaker. We will have a good debrief in the morning and come back stronger for the racing in the afternoon.” Click here to view Yves’ interview in its entirety. See you tomorrow at 2pm (local time) for the last day of this Act 4, which you can also follow live (video & 3D graphics) by clicking here. At this same link, valid until Sunday morning, you can watch the replay of the racing from today. Click here for the overall standings after 16 races To find out more www.extremesailingseries.com Hashtags for the event #GoAlinghiGo  //  #Extremesailing If you want to know more about how to follow the racing, about Alinghi’s team, or just about this regatta in general, you will find all that you need by following this link. Photos credit © Lloyd Images