Winners of two Grand Prix (Oman and Nice) and unquestionably major players on the circuit with five podium places out of the nine this year, the men of Gitana Team were outpaced by Max Sirena’s Italian crew but finished ahead of the New Zealanders skippered by Dean Barker, one of the current reference teams in the sailing world.
History has repeated itself and just like in 2009 and 2010, the catamaran fitted out by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild has ranked second in the Extreme Sailing Series. Having come to Singapore to try to glean this trophy, Pierre Pennec and his three crew, Christophe Espagnon, Thierry Fouchier and Hervé Cunningham, competitors through and through, naturally found it somewhat difficult to appreciate the true value of the silver medal that they’ve just given Edmond de Rothschild Group.
Though ultimate victory has escaped them, the crew of Edmond de Rothschild can be satisfied with a very fine result in all the nine legs contested between the Omani sultanate and southern Asia: “Aside from this latest Grand Prix and with reference to the season as a whole, I’m satisfied with this second place. Our adversaries were really formidable and we managed to achieve some great things together and leave them in our wake several times over the course of the season.
During the nine events we’ve competed in 300 races. The Extreme Sailing Series is a very specific circuit with short courses set up on some rather atypical race zones at the heart of the cities: I think the word which best encapsulates it is Intense! For me, this intensity is on a par with the final race day in the Olympic Games, but here you get the same sensation everyday and the Grand Prix amount to five days of races…” recalled the skipper of Gitana Extreme. [...]
After an intense, action-packed season, the Gitana Team will announce the crew’s 2012 race programme over the coming weeks.
Standing for the Extreme Sailing Series 2011 after nine events
1. Luna Rossa (ITA) – 80 points
2. Edmond de Rothschild Group (FRA) – 73 points
3. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZ) – 69 points
4. The Wave, Muscat (OMA) – 67 points
5. Alinghi (SUI) – 66 points
6. Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT) – 61 points
7. Oman Air (OMA) – 53 points
8. Artemis Racing (SWE) – 48 points
9. Team GAC Pindar (GBR) – 33 points
10. Team Extreme (EUR) – 21 points
11. Niceforyou (ITA) – 18 points