(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) A fairly consistent performance from Oman Sail Diam 24 team has kept it on course for a podium finish as the team was placed third with 451 points following the completion of five of the nine Acts in the 40th edition of the Tour de France a la Voile (TDV) on Monday.
Tresors de Tahiti and debutant Team SFS were placed first and second in the 29-strong fleet with 468 and 466 points respectively. Team SFS claimed a double win when it won the Act Five Nautical Stadium win off the beach of Les Sables d'Olonne in France adding to the Coastal Race win. But a last-gasp gain in the Super Final by Tresors de Tahiti kept it in overall lead.
Team Oman Sail, co-skippered by Stevie Morrison and Thierry Douillard, finished in fifth in the Super Final, losing a place in the dying breaths of the race, but remain pleasingly consistent.
Morrison said, 'It was a long, tough day. We are well drilled so seem to be able to stay fairly consistent. But we made a good improvement in the windier stuff. But we did not maybe feel quite as quick in the lighter stuff later in the day.'
The stadium racing was off the busy beach of Les Sables d'Olonne and started in 14-15 knots.
Douillard said, 'The last couple of days have been pretty tough and the wind conditions have made it very unpredictable. We were not perfect but we again made it through to the grand final in Les Sables, and if we can keep on doing that then we can go well. Everyone on the team is happy, and we know that we are not at our absolute best yet, but we are very close.'
'We are behind Tahiti and SFS but points can be lost just like that, so we will stay focused,' said Douillard, a previous Tour winner.
'We have a couple of days now before the next event – it has been very intense but we are on our game and we aim to improve.'
The other crew members are Omani sailors Ali al Balushi and Abdulrahman al Mashari and French ace Mathieu Richard.
After a short break, the action moves to the Mediterranean where racing will resume at Roses in Spain on Friday, quickly followed by the final events in Port Camargue, Marseille and Nice.
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