The Extreme Sailing Series gave French spectators a chance to see its brand of Stadium Sailing over the last five days, and the fans who turned out to watch in Nice were rewarded with victory for a ‘local’ team. The all-French team of Groupe Edmond de Rothschild celebrated victory in Act 7 of the Extreme Sailing Series.
The series reports thousands of spectators lining the famous Promenade des Anglais, to watch the finish of the event which came down to the final race.
Going into a final double points race, Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, skippered by Pierre Pennec, was in a dangerous position with the Swedish team of Artemis Racing trailing the French team by just three points. It meant that if Artemis Racing finished ahead of Pennec’s team, they could not afford to finish less than one place behind to guarantee victory.
Terry Hutchinson’s team on board Artemis Racing, jumped the gun at the start, and had to re-start, as Groupe Edmond de Rothschild sailed away. Hutchinson’s crew made up swift ground and, unbelievably, got ahead of Pennec. The French team was clinging on, one place behind, only to incur a gybe penalty. Pennec’s team came out of the penalty but was it too late for them to get back in contention?
From the shore it certainly looked to be the case but the French crowd kept on cheering to encourage the team to keep going.
In the end, it was Britain’s Ben Ainslie who drove Oman Air across the finish line first to claim the final race win, but Groupe Edmond de Rothschild held their nerve and crossed the line just a few seconds and, importantly, just one place behind Artemis Racing. They had done it! Their second victory of the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series, after their win in the inaugural act in Muscat, Oman, that also takes them into the overall lead in the 2011 series standings.
Pierre Pennec said:
“I feel really happy especially about what we have achieved after the Cowes regatta. We have improved on onboard communication and how we work as a team. This is crucial moving into the end of the season because to win out of luck is good, but to win feeling that the level of our team has gone up a notch is even better. I don’t feel the pressure of being at the top of the leaderboard in the overall championship. I stopped giving myself a hard time after the events in Boston and Cowes. I think that the crew manages to reach a high level especially in the crucial races. I try to sail as best as I can in each Act and not to make mistakes and above all to think about each race, and not the overall result. I never said to myself that we were going to win here in Nice.”
With seven of the nine-event world tour now completed, the skippers contending for the 2011 overall title will only have that on their minds at the penultimate event in Almería, Spain (12-16 October) and the final in Singapore (7-11 December) as Max Sirena, skipper of Luna Rossa, confirmed:
“We are still in the game being second for the 2011 championship but we don’t feel very happy about our performance here in Nice. We need to do better in Almería to have a chance to win in Singapore.”
Extreme Sailing Series Act 7, Nice, France Final Result
- 1st Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec / Christophe Espagnon / Thierry Fouchier / Hervé Cunningham 229 points
- 2nd Artemis Racing (SWE), Terry Hutchinson / Sean Clarkson / Morgan Trubovich / Julien Cressant, 228 points
- 3rd Alinghi (SUI), Tanguy Cariou / Yann Guichard / Nils Frei / Yves Detrey 215.5 points
- 4th Luna Rossa (ITA), Max Sirena / Paul Campbell-James / Alister Richardson / Manuel Modena 209 points
- 5th Oman Air (OMA), Ben Ainslie / Kinley Fowler / David Carr / Nasser Al Mashari 185 points
- 6th Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT), Roman Hagara / Hans Peter Steinacher / Will Howden / Craig Monk 179.5 points
- 7th Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Dean Barker / Adam Beashel / Jeremy Lomas / Chris McAsey 163 points
- 8th Team GAC Pindar (GBR), Ian Williams / Mischa Heemrskerk / Andrew Walsh / Brian MacInnes 160 points
- 9th The Wave, Muscat (OMA), Leigh McMillan / Kyle Langford / Nick Hutton / Khamis Al Anbouri 156 points
- 10th Team Extreme Nice Côte d’Azur (FRA), Jean-Pierre Dick / Jérémie Beyou / Billy Besson / Arnaud Jarlegant 119 points
- 11th Niceforyou (ITA), Alberto Barovier / Stefano Rizzi / Daniele De Luca / Simone de Mari 118 points
Extreme Sailing Series 2011 Overall standings after 7 Acts
- 1st Groupe Edmond de Rothschild 61 points
- 2nd Luna Rossa 59 points
- 3rd Emirates Team New Zealand 54 points
- 4th The Wave, Muscat 52 points
- 5th Red Bull Extreme Sailing 49 points
- 6th Artemis Racing 48 points
- 7th Alinghi 48 points
- 8th Oman Air 38 points
- 9th Team GAC Pindar 21 points
- 10th Niceforyou 16 points
- 11th Team Extreme 15 points
