The final regetta of the 2011 Extreme Sailing World Series season starts on Wednesday (2 p.m. local time) in Singapore. Austria's double Olympic gold medalists Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher will be racing against the world's ten best sailing syndicates in the finale of the nine-race season together with their experienced crew (bowman Craig Monk/NZL and trimmer Matt Adams/UK).
SINGAPORE - The Austrian team got a second place in December 2009 at the Asian premiere of the world series and a sensational podium spot in the first appearance by the double Olympic gold medalists. "We want to a repeat of that success," said Roman Hagara after the final training session in Singapore where temperatures reached 36 degrees Celsius.
Red Bull Extreme Sailing will be coached in Singapore for the first time by Jay Glaser of the United States. Glaser is one of the world's most famous sailing coaches and in his long career has had many Olympic sailors under his tutelage as well as successfully guiding many big boat projects. Glaser said: "Roman and Hans Peter have a well-thought-out plan for a well-functioning team to be able to race at the very top. They don't leave anything to chance. There are hardly any other sailors out there who study the sport so intensively. I've spent the last few weeks analysing videos of their racing and studied the team as well as their opponents. I think that we've been able to work on some of the right areas in training before the finale. I hope that I'll be able to give the team support as ideally as possible from the motorboat and that we'll see an improvement in the season finale."
Hagara/Steinacher/Adams/Monk put in an impressive performance on Tuesday in training races staged by organizers by grabbing the places: 1/3/3. Steinacher said: "It's going to be a heated battle in a tight area with very fast boats. It's going to be a spectacle for the spectators but tortuous for the athletes. We arrived here well ahead of time to adapt as much as possible to the weather and wind conditions."
There will be up to six races a day including on Sunday on the course set up directly in front of the start-finish line of Singapore's Formula One track. The races can be watched live via www.extremesailingseries.com live zu verfolgen.
Pictures available for editorial use free of charge: S. Koenig for Chili Sports Communication
