Oman Sail Masirah has won the iShares Cup 2009, but it came down to the last leg of the last race on the last day of the last regatta at the iShares Cup Almeria in Spain, with Gitana Extreme - LCF Rothschild pushing Oman Sail Masirah right to the very last minute with a superb final performance.Pete Cumming and his crew held their nerve despite the strong comeback of Yann Guichard and the Gitana Extreme crew. Almeria's usually strong winds never materialised, with light winds adding to the nerves of the 10 teams challenging for the Andulician final event of this benchmark season for the Extreme 40 Sailing Series.
Franck Cammas' Groupama 40 crew finished third on the event leaderboard ahead of Oman Sail Renaissance, although Loick Peyron had the comfort of claiming third spot on the overall iShares Cup 2009 leaderboard ahead of Cammas. Shirley Robertson's Team iShares sailed an excellent regatta to win the mid-leaderboard battle ahead BT and LUNA, to finish 5th overall. Tens of thousands of spectators, the biggest stadium audience of the year, packed the port of Almeria to witness the double points final race of the season.
Final results
1. Oman Sail Masirah, 132 points
2. Gitana Extreme - Groupe LCF Rothschild, 129
3. Groupama Extreme, 112
4. Oman Sail Renaissance, 96
5. LUNA, 96
6. Team iShares, 83
7. Holmatro, 82
8. BT, 79
9. Rumbo Almeria, 73
10. Ecover, 89
iShares Cup 2009 overall:
1. Oman Sail Masirah, 53 points
2. Gitana Extreme - Groupe LCF Rothschild, 52
3. Oman Sail Renaissance, 42
4. Groupama Extreme, 41
5. Team iShares, 27
6. BT, 26
7. LUNA, 26
8. Holmatro, 24
9. Ecover, 10
