GC32s Cleared for 2017 Take Off
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| GC32 in full action start of the 2017 Season at Oman |
GC 32 Teams warmed up into the year with a fast windy start at Muscat. As expected the “Cream Rose to the Top”. Favorite teams took their expected positions sailing hard and sailing fast.
By March 5 it had all ended. The GC32s Combined Fleet took off foiling. A World Tour through the regions awaits for the rest of the year.
International Sailing press reported from Muscat -Oman on the victory of home team Oman Air.
“Oman Air scored a convincing win at the GC32 Championship, held out of Al Mouj on the outskirts of Muscat today. The Omani team led the GC32 Championship from the outset on day one, but it was only today that they managed to shake off those chasing them,” press reported.
Five days of intense racing went by fast. Oman Air ranked 1st overall, followed by Alinghi, thrid SAP Extreme Sailing Team -giving hell of race time, fourth taken by Red Bull sailing Team, fith Team Tilt making a name for itself, followed by Team Engie 6th and Land Rover Bar in 7th.
Oman Air has one of the most experienced multihull crews, including old hands from the Extreme Sailing Series such as Peter Greenhalgh and Oman’s Nasser Al Mashari. In foiling GC32s, they won the GC32 Racing Tour with Sultanate of Oman in 2015 and finished close second to winner Alinghi on the 2016 Extreme Sailing Series. But the GC32 Championship was their first regatta with reigning Match Racing World Champion, Kiwi Phil Robertson helming.
Robertson was delighted by their performance. “We’ve punched way harder than all of our expectations. It’s gone really well.”
On March 1 International Sailing News reported that despite a drop in winds on day two the intensity escalated.
First day of racing and the kickstart of the GC32 2017 Year brought speed winds of nine knots which dropped to five knots on day 2. Five knots on normal sailing boats are not adrenaline type of winds but when sailing a foiling GC32 Catamaran five knots are enough to breach water surface.
The Muscat Championship was a special event for GC32s. Despite being around since 2012 GC32s Teams had nevered combined the Fleets of GC32s of the GC32 Racing Tour and Extreme Sailing Series.
More boats in the water -some which have had never crossed swords beore went neck to neck at Oman Sail´s home ground.
In the final day of sailing Team Alinghi took an ascent having transformed into ‘Extreme Sailing Series’ configuration with Arnaud Psarofaghis moving on to the helm and with French 470 ace Nicolas Charbonnier coming on board to call tactics. In both races today they attempted port tack starts and this worked especially well in the first. In the second Psarofaghis admitted they had misjudged the layline into the finish when the right hand wind shift had come through.
Youth Teams were the revelation...
“All of the teams have improved this week and even the two tailenders: SVB Team Germany and Youth Vikings Denmark, both youth teams, each put in a fifth place finish today. “We’ve learned a lot -the young guys hopefully more than I did and that’s the name of the game,” said Youth Vikings Denmark skipper and coach Michael Hestbæk, who admitted they have been struggling to find straight line speed this week,” the official GC32 press release read. Not bad for Youth Teams competing against ocean legends on dangerous speed boats.
Just how dangerous and fast are GC32s? On Day Three of competition Teams had to undergo and official-training-day. Officially Teams are obligated to take Air-Tank-Scuba-Diving Safety Training in inside pools. Security rules of the GC32 class oblige Teams to carry Air Tanks aboard the fast and dangerous Catamarans. This is but one of the official security training which teams have to undergo.
At Oman, the fleet saw tricky starts during Day 2 which settled rankings. General recalls and “black flags” became norms.
“This forced Principle Race Officer John Craig to start races under a ‘black flag’, disqualifying premature starters. However this is indicative of the high level of competition in this GC32 inaugural championship, being run by the GC32 International Class Association in association with OC Sport,” press reported.
Teams Tilt and favorite SAP Extreme Sailing Team both carried Black Flags and were penalized with maximum points. But the Black Flag was not enough to slow down SAP. The crew recovered to take the win of both races Race 3 and Race 4 of Day.
Oman Air took the win of the second race and continues -as expected to lead the rank of the Fleet. Alinghi pushed on forward making their top way into the top leaders.
Adam Minoprio of SAP Extreme Sailing explained how competitive a starting gun is at Muscat when GC32s are packed and loaded to go. ….
“We had a good half an hour to think about it and be angry with ourselves, but what’s done is done: You just have to get out there and do the best you can, otherwise you won’t catch up with the leaders,” Minoprio Crew of Naruto told the media.
“If you are on the line at the start gun, then you are generally top three at the reaching mark and it is usually plain sailing from there. If you are individual recalled, you will be last at the reaching mark. If you get rolled by the guy above you, you will be last at the reaching mark. So you have to make sure you are on the money at the start,” SAP kicked it.
Fortunately SAP Extreme Sailing Team was on the money at the start of the final two races and with neither side of the course being advantaged, managed to hang on, undoing the leaderboard damage they had done in race two.
“We could foil comfortably downwind, whereas others getting a bit of gas from other boats took their time to get on the foils. The rich get richer when you get clear air,” Minoprio kicked it.
The Rank by Day 2 ended with Oman Air on top with 27, followed by Alinghi with 34 and SAP in their with 35. Tilt ran 4th, Red Bull 5th, Engie 6th and Land Rover BAR came in 7th in a fleet of 11 hot GC32s.
Land Rover Team -heading for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup showed its potential, posting a third in race two and a second in the final race of Day 2.
“In a big fleet like this, if you can get a good start and get to the first mark in a good position, then that often becomes a chain reaction for the whole race. We have been working on our starting, so we are happy to get those two results. In the last race, we were as close as you could have been without being over -it is pretty high tariff, but if you are a couple of seconds late, everyone will pass you, so you have to take the risk,” Skipper Rob Bunce word it out.
The GC32s fleet will continue to sail it out hard throughout 2017. Their fixed Calendar includes -among other dates and locations, Italy in May, Spain and the King's Cup in August and Marseille France in October.
2017 will be the fifth year of the GC32 Racing Tour and its fourth since the GC32 was transformed into a foiler over the winter of 2013-14. Teams will continued to tune their GCs. Known for pushing innovations in sailing a good long hot year is expected.
