The tension on the water today in Hyeres could be felt all the way over in Muscat, several thousand miles away! Oman Sail had a team in each of the top two places but they had a chasing pack that read like a who’s who of professional sailing.
After a few hours in the protest room at the end of the second day, it was decided that Oman Sail’s Renaissance, skippered by Loick Peyron, should be awarded average points for the races they sailed before being fouled. This meant that they retained the second position overall that they went into the day with. Although an amicable agreement, it meant that Renaissance were under pressure to prove their worth! The day started very poorly for both Oman Sail teams with Masirah scoring their worst result with an eighth and Renaissance only carding a fifth. iShares, BMW and Gitana came out of the blocks strongly and took the first three places respectively. Things got slightly better for the two Oman Sail teams, but second half finishes in two races each put them on the backfoot as the fleet went into the all important last race which gave double points and left any of the top five boats in a position to take first place.
By the start of the last race the wind had started picking up and gusts of up to 20 knots were seen across the water. This is the upper limit of the Extreme 40 racing catamarans and it is the point when they start to offer edge of the seat racing for all the spectators. BMW Oracle pinned Renaissance down at the start and took them out to the far side of the course in an attempt to push them down the leaderboard and make BMW Oracle’s position stronger. BMW Oracle still managed to get to the top mark in second place and had successfully pushed Renaissance down to fifth as well as rattled the crew’s nerves. At the bottom mark Renaissance botched their kite drop and were left hobbled as several boats went past them. They recovered well and got to the top mark with two boats behind them and managed to hold that position to the finish line that was enough to beat Gitana Extreme overall by 3 points and the late charging Groupama by 4 points. BMW Oracle sailed a textbook race to take the finish gun by a strong margin over Groupama but it wasn’t enough to beat Masirah who took third place on the water but first overall with a safety margin of 10 points.
The top 5 places were separated by 30 points but third, fourth and fifth places had only 4 places between them. This means that it is all change at the top of the leaderboard as they pack up and head for Cowes on the first of August. BMW Oracle have taken the first place on the podium with 18 points from two legs after a second in Venice and second in Hyeres. Masirah and Gitana Extreme share second place tied on 17 points and Renaissance hold on to third (or fourth, depending how you look at it) with 16 points. Needless to say all the teams will be looking