EXSS @Istanbul 2014: Team New Zealand 1st

All pics by Lloyd Images. TNZ in winning form again. The EXSS series boats look now somehow outdated for top notch sailing teams targeting next Americas Cup in flying 62s, the X40s surely still provide great OD racing and put on a Show when the breeze is On.
And the breeze was on at Istanbul completed with an unique background scenery.

TNZ is keeping their core skipper/trimmer combo with Barker & Ashby. At San Francisco TNZ had their chances even in the last stage where Oracle achieved a marked superiority. It was tough to see them so close.
Their SF LV Cup win was almost a walk in the park, but it seems next Cup they will face strong competition from a new focused and now experience Luna Rossa, plus Artemis talented filled team, plus Ainslie British Challenge, plus Cammas unbeaten knowhow and skills, if the French end reaching the 62s racing this time, and of course we hope they do.-

X40s Istanbul Full report at extremesailingseries.com:
“…In some of the best conditions the fleet have raced in all year, you couldn’t have scripted a better final to the Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 6 in Istanbul, and the fans on shore and following around the world were rewarded with a nail bitingly close, down to the wire shoot out after 31 races. The 12 Extreme 40s blasted around the track in 20-23 knots, reefs in their mainsails, with the lead changing hands in almost every race. As fortunes swung one way, and then another,

Dean Barker and the crew on Emirates Team New Zealand needed to put two boats between them and The Wave, Muscat in the final race to take the win – and they did just that, clinching their first Act win of the year – the first time a team other then Alinghi or The Wave, Muscat have won an Act since 2012..”