Things didn’t go quite according to plan for Alinghi in the final day of racing in Act 2 of the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series in Qingdao.
The Swiss team had to settle for fifth position, putting them sixth in the overall championship standings. Luna Rossa took the victory in the Chinese olympic venue, with Groupe Edmond de Rothschild now topping the overall series leaderboard.
Despite entering the final day of “stadium” racing with everything to play for, after four days and 22 regattas of consistent performances, Alinghi seemed to have run out of luck and never seemed to be fully in contention on the tricky waters of the Fushan Bay. Winning one of the seven races that took place as part of the programme today was not enough to give the result the team was aiming for.
This was the sixth race win for Alinghi in the event, out of the total 29 that took place over a challenging five days in China. Today’s weather conditions featured a cold day, but nothing comparable to the dramatic third day when the strong, gusty conditions resulted in the fleet suffering a major collision, four capsizes and a broken mast in.
The win in race 2 today was the only high point of a day filled with setbacks for Alinghi, including a couple of damaging penalties. Particularly disappointing were the final three rounds when the final standings were decided.
“We started the event well but it didn’t go really well today with a few mistakes on the start lines, tactical decisions, speed of the boat, everything was tough for us,” said skipper Tanguy Cariou. “That’s a shame, we are really disappointed with the result but we have to analyse and debrief to improve in Istanbul.”
The next round of the Extreme Sailing Series will see the eleven teams travel to Istanbul on 27-29 May.
Results
Race 23: 1st Artemis, 8th Alinghi
Race 24: 1st Alinghi
Race 25: 1st Emirates Team New Zealand 5th Alinghi
Race 26: 1st Emirates Team New Zealand, 8th Alinghi
Race 27: 1st Oman Air, 10th Alinghi
Race 28: 1st Luna Rossa, 10th Alinghi
Race 29: 1st Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, 9th Alinghi
Final Classification
1. Luna Rossa, 227 points
2. Emirates Team New Zealand, 222 points
3. Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, 214 points
4. Red Bull, 200 points
5. Alinghi, 198 points
6. Artemis, 174 points
7. The Wave, 150 points
8. Team Extreme, 141 points
8. Oman Air, 137 points
10. Niceforyou, 122 points
11.Team GAC Pindar, 64 points
Championship Standings
1. Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, 20 points
2. Luna Rossa, 18 points
3. Emirates Team New Zealand, 18 points
4. Red Bull, 17 points
5. Artemis, 16 points
6. Alinghi, 13 points
7. The Wave, 10 points
8. Team Extreme, 7 points
9. Oman Air, 7 points
10. Niceforyou, 4 points
11.Team GAC Pindar, 2 points