Wednesday 30 / October / 2024
Muscat: Team Oman Air are confident they can surge back into contention after the first day at the GC32 Riva Cup event on Lake Garda saw them sitting in an untypical fourth place.
The seasoned crew had arrived at the Italian venue top of the 2019 GC32 Racing Tour leaderboard thanks to victories at two of the season’s three earlier events, including the most recent in the Majorcan capital Palma.
In the varied conditions with an unstable breeze on the mountain lake, the Oman Air crew found timing their manoeuvres challenging in the competitive fleet of high-speed foiling GC32 catamarans.
Skipper Adam Minoprio said: “It was typical Garda and quite tricky – if you went too early or too late you face problems and we struggled to really get our timing quite right and it was a struggle to get a good result. The wind was not as stable as it can be but we made it trickier than it needed to be, that’s for sure.”
But despite the disappointment Minoprio said he and the Oman Air team of Pete Greenhalgh, Nasser Al Mashari, Stewart Dodson and Adam Piggott were confident they would climb the leaderboard.
“We’ve just got to go back out there over the next three days and get our mojo back and just get going the right way at the right time, and we will be able to pull it back,” he said, also welcoming the forecast of stronger winds across Lake Garda.
“After not getting such a great result on the first day a bit of a change would shake things up and get us back to the right side of the fleet,” he added.
The opening day of the Riva Cup saw five races and four different winners, with the French team aboard Zoulou, the US crew racing Argo and Austria’s Red Bull Racing Team joining two-time victor Alinghi in the winner’s circle.
Team Oman Air – which is also supported by EFG Private Bank Monaco and managed by Oman Sail– narrowly trail third placed Zoulou by only two points, with Red Bull and Alinghi also within reach at the top of the table.
Long-standing team member Al Mashari said: “We know from the way we sailed in Palma and earlier in the season in Sardinia that we can win races and win regattas, so we believe we can turn things around.”
“We have three more days to catch and overhaul the other teams, particularly Alinghi, and that is what we will be aiming to do.”
GC32 Racing Tour winning title looks likely to be contested between Oman Air and Alinghi during the 2019 finale in Muscat this November, with Team Oman Air currently leading the tour.
Racing for the GC32 Riva Cup continues on Lake Garda until Sunday, September 15th.
