Although the day was blessed with glorious sunshine, much to the delight of the thousands of spectators lining Cardiff Bay, unfortunately there was no wind to go with it. The scoreboard remains unchanged after the penultimate day of Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 6, Cardiff, as no scoring racing is completed.
For leader SAP Extreme Sailing Team, it means it maintains its four-point lead going into the final day, while the rest of the international fleet has everything riding on tomorrow to close the gap.
Oman Air skipper Phil Robertson remains unfazed: "On a racecourse like this, nine points isn't much of a lead. I think SAP Extreme Sailing Team has more to lose than to gain out there tomorrow. We are where we are so there's not much we can do about it for now, we just have one day to make it happen."
Race Director John Craig explained the conditions faced by the fleet: "Today we were waiting for the sea breeze to come in and it looked like it would. We ended up with about five knots at one point but it wasn't stable enough to race, and then it just disappeared.
"We're hoping that tomorrow we will get seven to eight knots of more stable breeze and that we'll get some more racing in. Unfortunately, today we just got skunked," added Craig.
The Flying Phantoms had slightly more luck, getting in three races before the wind completely dropped, to the fortune of Red Bull Sailing Team. The Austrian-flagged team of Thomas Zajac and Will Ryan seized the opportunity to further its attack on ZEPHYR by Idreva, who led into the day. The Olympic duo took two race wins to the French team's one, meaning they finish ahead by one point. Culture Foil remains third. See the full results on the official website.
"We got three race wins yesterday and two today and now we're on top so we're happy with that. It's great that the sun is out but it's a shame that there's no wind," said helm Zajac, who won bronze in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The fleet will try again tomorrow for the final day of the Act, which includes the final double-points scoring race. The Flying Phantoms will race from 10:00 – 14:00 UTC+1, with the GC32s scheduled to start at 14:00 UTC+1.
Fans can watch the live stream of the racing on the official Facebook and YouTube pages from 14:00 – 17:00 UTC+1. Fans can also watch live on TV across the globe, including on BT Sport 1 for British fans, from 15:30 – 17:00 UTC+1.
The free-to-enter Fan Zone will be open to public from 11:00 UTC+1, with plenty of on shore entertainment for the whole family. Get more information on the official event page.
Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 6, Cardiff, standings after Day 3, 8 races (27.08.17)
Position / Team / Points
1st SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Rasmus Køstner, Adam Minoprio, Mads Emil Stephensen, Pierluigi de Felice, Richard Mason 84 points.
2nd Alinghi (SUI) Arnaud Psarofaghis, Nicolas Charbonnier, Timothé Lapauw, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey 80 points.
3rd Oman Air (OMA) Phil Robertson, Pete Greenhalgh, James Wierzbowski, Ed Smyth, Nasser Al Mashari 75 points.
4th NZ Extreme Sailing Team (NZL) Graeme Sutherland, Josh Junior, Harry Hull, Shane Diviney, Josh Salthouse 73 points.
5th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Stewart Dodson, Adam Piggott, Will Tiller 68 points.
6th Land Rover BAR Academy (GBR) Rob Bunce, Owen Bowerman, Oli Greber, Adam Kay, Mark Spearman 66 points.
7th Team Extreme Wales (GBR) Stevie Morrison, Alain Sign, Martin Evans, Michael Beckett, James French 58 points.
Flying Phantom Series Cardiff standings after Day 3, 13 races (27.08.17)
Position / Team / Points
1st Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT): Thomas Zajac (AUT)/Will Ryan (AUS) 233 points.
2nd ZEPHYR by Idreva (FRA): Charles Hainneville (FRA)/Antoine Rucard (FRA) 232 points.
3rd Culture Foil (FRA): Eric Peron (FRA)/Théo Constance (FRA) 223 points.
4th Solidaires en Peloton (FRA): Thibaut Vauchel-Camus (FRA)/David Fanouillere (FRA) 215 points.
5th UON (POR): Helder Basilio (POR)/João Sousa (POR) 202 points.
6th Flying Frogs (FRA): Pierre Le Clainche (FRA)/Arnaud Vasseur (FRA) 188 points.
7th Team Razzle Dazzle (SUI): Florian Trüb (SUI)/Ian Andrewes (USA/NZL) 183 points.
8th Oman Sail (OMA): Thomas Normand (FRA)/Antoine Joubert (FRA)/Ahmed Al Hasani (OMA) 182 points.
9th Masterlan (CZE): David Krizek (CZE)/Milan Harmacek (CZE) 170 points.
10th Lupe Tortilla (USA): John Tomko (USA)/Jonathan Atwood (USA) 167 points.
11th Back to Basics (FRA): Bruno Marais (FRA)/Eric Le Bouedec (FRA) 125 points.
12th Red Bill II (FRA): Dominique Pichon (FRA)/David Mirabel (FRA) 122 points.
13th EVO Visian ICL (GER): Raphael Neuhann (GER)/Elias Neuhann (GER) 104 points.
