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Monday, 18 November 2013

Extreme Sailing Series, Leigh McMillan and The Wave-Muscat team take out the 2013 series

From the following article on the Extreme Sailing Series website:

http://www.extremesailingseries.com/news/view/alinghi-win-in-brazil-the-wave-muscat-clinch-2013-extreme-sailing-series-cr#.Uone_ch9J8Q

- It doesn’t get closer than this! The Wave, Muscat win the Series in the final race with just four points making the difference after 190 races this year as McMillan becomes first skipper to win the Series twice.
- Morgan Larson snatches Act victory from McMillan’s grasp making Alinghi the only team to have finished on the podium at every Act in 2013.
- Red Bull Sailing Team take third in Brazil and in the Series.
- Replay today’s final Act and Series deciding races here.
- Series organisers OC Sport confirm an eight Act, four continent tour of the globe in 2014 including and a full starting grid of top international teams.

Thousands of onlookers were on tender hooks as The Wave, Muscat clinched victory in the 2013 Extreme Sailing Series™ in Florianopolis presented by Land Rover, in one of the closest ever-final races in the seven-year history of the Series.  Under a brilliant Brazilian sunshine with a perfect 10 knots of breeze, Leigh McMillan, Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Hashim Al Rashidi and Musab Al Hadi were leading the fleet as they went into the final all important double points race, but out to upset the order were the Swiss America’s Cup winners on Alinghi – and they almost managed it! A second in the final race was enough for Morgan Larson and the team to snatch the Act victory from McMillan’s grasp, and the Swiss came tantalizingly close to adding the Series to their winning haul – within four points in fact in the final race – but McMillan’s men proved unstoppable. It is a fitting finish for the long term Series rivals who wrap up an incredible 2013 Series tied on points – the first time in the history of the elite level Stadium Racing series that two teams have been tied at the end of the year - with The Wave, Muscat coming out on top after Act win countback.“This is exactly how I thought the end result would go! We haven't been able to shake Alinghi all year, they haven't really put a foot wrong!” said McMillan. “We knew they were going to do everything possible, the last few days they've been absolutely hammering us around the racecourse. They did an exceptional job in that last race getting in front and we were just lucky we just got the right corner of the course and the shift was big enough that we were able to keep in the game! It's a massive relief for what has been a couple of emotional days!”

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