Barker has a good first day in China

Emirates Team New Zealand leads the China regatta of the Extreme 40 Series after the first day’s racing.

Six races were held outside the breakwater at Qingdao in a 10-15 easterly. At the end of the day, with a finishes of 5th ,4th, 4th, 1st, 2nd and 5th and a total of 49 points, Barker has a slender two-point lead on three teams each on 47 points.

With four more days of racing – and a possible eight races a day – the team is not taking anything for granted. “First is a good place to be,” Barker said, “but we have three teams breathing right down our neck and at least three others are within easy striking distance.”

Barker is sailing with Glenn Ashby, James Dagg and Jeremy Lomas. He said, “Today we started a little slowly, which probably reflected the lack of practice, and we steadily improved.

“The racing is really tight but that’s why we’re here.. We want to test ourselves against the best multihull sailors in the world, and this is the place to be.”

Extreme Sailing Series Act 2 Qingdao
Current overall standings after Day 1 (13.4.11)

Position / Team / Skipper & crew / Points
1st Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Dean Barker / Glenn Ashby / Jeremy Lomas / Richard Meacham 49 points
2nd The Wave, Muscat (OMA), Torvar Mirsky / Kyle Langford / Nick Hutton / Khamis Al Anbouri 47 points
3rd Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT), Roman Hagara / Hans Peter Steinacher / Will Howden / Craig Monk 47 points
4th Artemis Racing (SWE), Santiago Lange / Rodney Adern / Morgan Trubovich / Andy Fethers 47 points
5th Alinghi (SUI), Tanguy Cariou / Yann Guichard / Nils Frei / Yves Detrey 44 points
6th Luna Rossa (ITA), Max Sirena / Paul Campbell-James / Alister Richardson / Manuel Modena 42 points
7th Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec / Christophe Espagnon / Thierry Fouchier / Hervé Cunningham 34 points
8th Niceforyou (ITA), Alberto Barovier / Mark Bulkeley / Daniele de Luca Simone de Mari 28 points
9th Oman Air (OMA), Sidney Gavignet / Kinley Fowler / David Carr / Nasser Al Mashari 24 points
10th Team Extreme (EUR), Roland Gaebler / Bruno Dubois / Sebbe Godefroid / William Wu 24 points
11th Team GAC Pindar (GBR), Ian Williams / Brad Webb / Gilberto Nobili / Jono Macbeth 10 points