Still light and still climbing at Nice

Day 3 at the Extreme Sailing Series regatta at Nice. Another day of light winds. Another difficult day on the water for the fleet.

The day started better for the Emirates Team New Zealand crew, scoring a second and two thirds, good enough to lift them two places on the overall points table after 18 races.

On points, the team is exactly in the middle of the fleet – 34 points adrift of the lead and 33 ahead of the last placed boat. And with two days of close inshore racing to go, plenty of points are still at stake.

Dean Barker said: “We have made a few changes to the boat set-up that seem to improve performance and we’re more competitive than we were on the first couple of days. We’re still not the fastest boat in the fleet, but we’re not the slowest either.

“The breeze was very light again. We were starting in 2-3 knots and it never got over 3-5 knots which brought a huge element of luck into the mix.”

He said, “We will keep plugging away.  Competing in the Extreme Sailing Series is beneficial for crew development as we re-invent ourselves as a multihull sailing team. At the end of this regatta another crew combination will have gained some very valuable experience and Chris McAsey will have completed his first multihull regatta.”

Extreme Sailing Series Act 7, Nice, France standings after 18 races (30.9.11)
1st Artemis Racing (SWE), 134 points
2nd Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA),  130 points
3rd Alinghi (SUI),  124.5 points
4th Luna Rossa (ITA), 122 points
5th Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT), 115.5 points
6th Team GAC Pindar (GBR), 113 points
7th Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), 100 points
8th Oman Air (OMA), 97 points
9th Niceforyou (ITA),  84 points
10th The Wave, Muscat (OMA),  80 points
11th Team Extreme Nice Côte d’Azur (FRA),  77 points