Act 6 of the Extreme Sailing Series (11-14 September) in Istanbul was tough for the Realteam crew led by Jerome Clerc; the Swiss boat finished ninth overall after four days of intense racing in big breeze which puts them in fourth place on the provisional season championship leaderboard going into the penultimate Act of the 2014 series.
Conditions were superb on the Marmara Sea for the 12-boat Extreme Sailing fleet and the race committee maximised on the steady 15-18 knot winds to run 31 races over the four-day event. The Swiss team, Realteam by Realstone, struggled to get into the swing of the racing despite the excellent conditions: “We had a lot of crew changes for this event and it took a bit of time for everyone to settle in,” explained their coach Etienne David. “We sailed below our targets and not as well as we usually do in terms of boat handling and speed.”
As the regatta progressed, so did the crew, posting two wins by the end of the event, but it wasn’t enough to impact the overall season championship points on the leaderboard. “The points go quickly,” said Etienne. “We needed to take a maximum of risks to gain on our closest competitors, but sadly it didn’t go our way this time!”
Consistency has been the Realteam modus operandi since the start of the season and has earned them a fourth place overall after six Acts. Act 7 brings them closer to Swiss borders, to Nice in France, where the fleet meets again from the 2-5 October.
To watch the highlights of Act 6 in Istanbul, please click here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvMQm7JSc7U&feature=youtu.be
Realteam by Realstone crew – Istanbul
Jerome Clerc
Arnaud Psarofaghis
Bruno Barbarin
Cedric Schmidt
Thierry Wassem
Etienne David – coach
Jeff Kerleguer and Sebastien Stephant – shore crew
Results – Act 6 of the Extreme Sailing Series
1 Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) 210 points
2 The Wave, Muscat (OMA) 204 points
3 Alinghi (SUI) 188 points
4 Oman Air (OMA) 169 points
5 SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) 154 points
6 Groupama sailing team (FRA) 148 points
7 J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR) 143 points
8 Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) 142 points
9 Realteam by Realstone (SUI) 135 points
10 GAC Pindar (AUS) 130 points
11 Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) 126 points
12 TeamTurx (TUR) 85 points
Provisional results – Extreme Sailing Series, season championship
1 Alinghi (SUI) 55 points
2 The Wave, Muscat (OMA) 54 points
3 Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) 43 points
4 Realteam by Realstone (SUI) 36 points
5 J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR) 29 points
6 SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) 24 points
7 Oman Air (OMA) 23 points
8 Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) 23 points
9 Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) 23 points
10 Groupama sailing team (FRA) 20 points
11 GAC Pindar (AUS) 6 points
© Lloyd Images / Extreme Sailing Series
