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Edmond de Rothschild Group, 2nd
in the Extreme Sailing Series 2011
This
year ultimate victory just slipped from the grasp of the crew of Edmond de
Rothschild Group. However, Pierre Pennec and his three crew certainly don’t
have anything to be ashamed about in their very fine second place given the
fantastic line-up that made up the fleet for this year’s Extreme Sailing
Series and the intensity of this 2011 season.
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) – 33points
10. Team Extreme (EUR) – 21
points
11. Niceforyou (ITA) – 18
points
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