Extreme Sailing Series, Morgan Larson the laid back champion

From the following press release on the Extreme Sailing Series website:

http://www.extremesailingseries.com/news/view/morgan-larson-the-chilled-out-champion#.VLDdZ68cR8Q

The defending Extreme Sailing Series™ champion Morgan Larson tells Ed Gorman why winning the Series in 2014 is the biggest success of his career.You are rarely going to find a more chilled out, self-effacing success story in the cut and thrust world of professional sport than the new Extreme Sailing Series championship-winning skipper Morgan Larson.

The laid-back Californian and his crew on Ernesto Bertarelli’s Alinghi dominated the 2014 Series with consistently good boat speed and cool tactics and eventually confirmed a convincing overall win at the final Act in Sydney in December after 11 months of globetrotting.

Larson, aged 43, has sailed in some big fleets and prestigious events in his long and successful career, not least in two America’s Cup teams, but he was happy to admit that wining the Extreme Sailing Series in his third season is his biggest success. But there is no bragging from Larson about that. In fact he delivers that assessment more as a compliment to his rivals in the Series than as a statement about his own ability.

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A video of the final day of the 2014 series won by Morgan Larson and the Alinghi team:

Extreme Sailing Series, Alinghi team victorious in Nice

From the following press release on Extreme Sailing Series website:

http://www.extremesailingseries.com/news/view/morgan-larson-has-one-hand-on-the-2014-series-trophy-after-alinghi-snatch-v#.VDHxEq8cTrd

- Realteam narrowly denied their first Act win, after an edge of the seat final race shoot out.
- J.P. Morgan BAR take their second podium position of the year finishing third – the Brits are getting stronger and stronger.
- Only four days of racing left in 2014 with mathematically five teams – Alinghi, The Wave, Muscat, Emirates Team New Zealand, Realteam and J.P. Morgan BAR - capable of a podium position as the fleet head Down Under to Sydney, Australia, for the final Act of the year.
- Land Rover ‘Above & Beyond Award’ goes to Oman Sail boat builder Suleiman Al Manji who received the ultimate sporting call-up when he swapped his Omani kit for the Emirates Team New Zealand shirt to become an integral part of the pro race team on day two.
Morgan Larson and the Swiss team Alinghi snatched victory from the hands of their fellow countrymen Realteam in the final race at the Extreme Sailing Series™ in Nice, to take victory on French waters in front of thousands of spectators – and with that they now have one hand firmly placed on the 2014 Series trophy. With only one Act to go this year, Alinghi have extended their lead at the top of the Series leaderboard to eight points over The Wave, Muscat, but with 20 points up for the taking in Sydney, and five teams capable of a podium position, it’s not over until it’s over, and as Larson commented, it is just getting harder and harder to win races. “We were confident at the start of the year that we had a little bit of an edge, but now the rest of the field are showing some real force. I think now you are seeing the future. More than half the fleet have the ability to win an event, and that’s exactly what we’re going to see going into Sydney.  That event is going to be worth double points, and if we go out with a bad performance and The Wave, Muscat or Emirates Team New Zealand come in with a strong one - we’re going to lose. So we’ve got to go out and try and get back on the podium.”

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Extreme Sailing Series, Alinghi clinch victory in St Petersburg event

From the following press release by the Extreme Sailing Series:
http://www.extremesailingseries.com/news/view/five-team-final-race-shoot-out-sees-alinghi-clinch-victory-in-a-game-of-rus#.U7Csma-KDrc

After four days and 22 races, Act 4 of the Extreme Sailing Series™ in Saint Petersburg presented by Land Rover came down to an edge-of-the-seat final race shoot out, with five teams gunning for the podium and no room for error.

The game of Russian roulette between The Wave, Muscat and Alinghi continued until the final double pointer, but the Omani team needed seven boats between them to overhaul the Swiss – which proved too tall an order for Leigh McMillan, and Alinghi comfortably took their third Act win of the season.

With the Series now at the halfway mark, helmsman Morgan Larson has already turned his attentions towards the bigger picture: 'It’s nice to put a little stamp on our win and to let the guys know that we’re here to try and win the whole Series this time. The team is working well together and we finally feel confident that we can do it. Saying that, the heat is on, some teams are working really hard and we know that we’ll have to step up if we want to stay head.'

Hoping the Omani team would trip up and waiting in the wings to pounce for second place was Emirates Team New Zealand – and they almost did – until a last minute roll of the dice by Leigh McMillan and the team paid off, and a fifth place in the final race was enough for the boat flying the colours of Oman to take second place. But more importantly, keeping them in touch with Alinghi on the overall season leaderboard.

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 And the highlights video is here:

 

Extreme Sailing Series, Alinghi Team victorious in Singapore

From the following article submitted to Sail-World by the Extreme Sailing Series

http://www.sail-world.com/Australia/Extreme-Sailing-Series---Alinghi-claims-faultless-win-in-Singapore/108428

In Act 2 of the 2013 Extreme Sailing Series, Morgan Larson and his Swiss team Alinghi sailed a faultless regatta in Singapore on one of the most memorable stadium race courses the Extreme 40 fleet have ever sailed on to claim overall victory in this truly spectacular Asian city. Only one race was sailed on the final day in typical light wind Singaporean conditions but it was one of the most-tense final races ever in the seven-year history of the Series with any of the teams capable of a podium position going into the race.

Shortly after the fleet left the dock and due to the lack of breeze, Race Committee made the call to run non-points scoring exhibition races, and as the racing was all but abandoned the wind filled in, and the committee were able to complete one more race which changed the face of the Act results.

According to the SAP analytics, at different stages during the final race, four teams including Alinghi (SUI), Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT), SAP Extreme Sailing (DEN) and Realteam (SUI) were all in podium positions with the constant shuffling of the leader board making it anyone’s game. Morgan Larson, who has led the pack since race six, was unflappable and his Swiss team claim a deserved win, their first win since Almeria in 2011.

'We're ecstatic! It's just been a great week for the team. We had a great time here in Singapore which really helped us to perform. It's a great city, with tough sailing conditions, but that's the same for everybody and we just had that little bit of luck along the way and we also did a great job.'

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