Alinghi 2014 Extreme Sailing Series Champion

The final act of the Extreme Sailing Series took place in Sydney on Sunday and Ernesto Bertarelli's Swiss team won the 8th and final act. It is only logical that Alinghi was crowned champion of the Extreme Sailing Series, after 231 races this year.

Chloé Torterat Published on December 16, 2014

The final act of the Extreme Sailing Series took place in ideal conditions â?" 15 knots of wind and Australian sunshine â?" fully satisfying the thousands of visitors who came to watch the show. Despite the capsizing of the local team GAC Pindar in the 6th race, the team was able to get the best out of the race ^ème (rudder damage), this race will remain one of the most beautiful of the season.

The Swiss team is the favorite in Sydney

Alinghi's crew of Morgan Larson, Stuart Pollard, Pierre-Yves Jorand, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey and Anna Tunnicliffe were announced as the favorites for the 2014 edition due to their incredible success during the season. Finishing all the acts on the podium and taking 4 wins, they only needed a sixth place in Sydney to get the award but they went for the final win!

"We had an incredible season with an incredible team, admits helmsman Morgan Larson. " To win the last Act and the championship on the last day and in the conditions we had in Sydney is amazing for us and it's going to take us some time to get used to it. It really is the most beautiful water in the world! When I think about the level of confidence we have in our boat, I realize that I could win anything with these guys. This is the best moment of the year for me, and probably the best moment of my entire career, so I'm going to savor this."

In the final, The Wave team, Muscat fought until the end but it was not enough to win against the Swiss. Leigh McMillan, two-time winner of the Series will settle for a 2 ^ème place. Realteam, for its 2 ^ème year on the circuit has proven that she is a winner as she finishes on the 3rd place ^ème step of the podium.

The French in a bad position

For the French team, led by Franck Cammas, it was a cold shower as they finished 9th ^ème in the general ranking and 10 ^ème (out of 11) in Sydney. Disappointed Franck Cammas expressed himself "It was a pretty intense year for us, not necessarily well prepared. We are a little frustrated with the result but it was very important for us to be on this circuit. We were able to rotate teams, sail together and create a team spirit while sailing with the best competitors around us and that was the goal. The goal was also to do better but the difficulty and intensity of the races are high and we didn't necessarily find the formula to be regular every day. It's by dint of sailing that we manage to have a good vision of the spaces and that we manage to anticipate the maneuvers."

Sydney, a new city in the competition

For this year 2014, Sydney was making its debut in the world's most beautiful bodies of water, which make up the Extreme Sailing Series. On the program of the edition, the fleet went to Singapore, Oman, China, Russia, UK, Turkey and France. 11 international teams were gathered for this season and 5 managed to get a victory and a podium finish. This 8 ^ème the Extreme Sailing Series season has ended with 231 races and the crews have only 7 weeks to prepare for the 2015 season which starts in Singapore in February.