2012国际极限帆船系列赛青岛站“双星杯”比赛4月17日-20日在青岛奥帆中心进行。来自英国、法国、瑞士、丹麦、奥地利、阿曼、中国的9支船队参与角逐。截至4月19日，阿曼浪潮马斯喀特帆船队勇超红牛队，夺得总分第一，暂居榜首。

    2012国际极限帆船系列赛在全球共设置8站比赛：阿曼马斯喀特、中国青岛、土耳其伊斯坦布尔、葡萄牙波尔多、英国威尔士卡迪夫、意大利特拉帕尼、法国尼斯以及巴西。

    2012极限帆船系列赛青岛站比赛进入场地比赛第二天，水上竞争接近白热化，众多船队之间发生相互碰撞，裁判旗举落不断，8场比赛中，违规强出发多达11人次。奥地利红牛帆船队船长罗曼•哈加拉继续保持领先地位，其他队则为争夺更好名次开展了激烈角逐。

    Racing started in 12 knots of breeze, within the confines of the natural stadium of Fushan Bay, the fleet had to contend with big gusts up to 17 knots funneling through the city skyline making the bear-away turn at the final mark a tense moment.  With the 50m run to the finish boxed in either side by concrete, the Extreme 40 crews had to get it right as they hauled out the massive gennaker, bows digging in before sprinting to the finish. Getting it wrong, or fouling another boat coming into the turning mark, would have ended with a visit to the pit-lane for repairs!

    昨天青岛风速为每小时12节，瞬间达到17节，对选手提出了挑战，跑下风时需要迅速打开球帆，而由于风力良好，3小时内比赛进行了8轮，这对队员们的体力来说也是个考验。加上浮山湾的不规则场地，9支船队要不停地变换航向，调整帆面角度，绕过浮标，所以技术水平决定了比赛的最终结果。

    It was all about the nailing the reaching start line today which proved problematic with 6 of the 9 teams being punished for being too eager off the line, putting them at an immediate disadvantage as they fought to claw back places. The Wave, Muscat notched up three false starts – and added another to their tally in the opening race when they mistakenly thought they were over the line. The team managed to hold onto their second place position overall, much to skipper Leigh McMillan’s surprise. “I’ve got no idea how we are where we are! I think we got lucky and had a few gains in a few races… I think we got away with it today. To be in second position is massive shock. I thought the rest of the fleet were long gone, so its good to still be in the mix.”

    起航成了考验水平的第一关。6支船队发生了11次抢先冲出起点，裁判的哨声此起彼伏，犯规的船队不得不返回起点，原地绕两圈，才能再次出发。来自阿曼的浪潮马斯喀特队在3次抢先后，居然在第四轮出发裁判未有认可它违规时，自我惩罚原地绕两圈，尽管犯了如此多的低级错误，但是浪潮马斯喀特队仍然保住了第二的地位。赛后，船长李•麦克米兰说：“那几次抢先后我都有点晕了，我觉得我们今天很幸运，有几轮跑得不错，仍然排在第二位，出乎意料，但是其他队表现得也不太好，所以对结果我很满意。”

    Red Bull Sailing Team hold onto the top spot at the end of day two despite the efforts of the rest of the fleet - in particular those of Oman Air and Groupe Edmond de Rothschild who managed to make significant in-roads on the Austrian team’s points lead.  Although the French team’s mainsail trimmer, Hervé Cunningham, was far from impressed: “The result is good but we made so many mistakes on board and we’ve really got to step up and get the level higher if we want to get a good result here.  Roman is one step ahead and his team is one of the best boats on the water for the season, and we’re not going to achieve anything if we keep sailing like this.”

    阿曼航空和罗斯柴尔德队队对领先的红牛队发起了挑战，以缩小和对手的差距。罗斯柴尔德队的法国前帆手厄尔卫•卡宁汉姆说：“结果虽然不错，但是我们犯了很多错误，红牛的罗曼是个强劲的对手，如果我们想超过他们，我们不能有任何的疏忽。”

    Record breaking round the world sailor Loick Peyron and his French flagged-team ZouLou had their best day since making their Extreme 40 debut in Muscat, consistently sailing at the top end of the fleet with their first race win in race two and three further top three finishes. Their efforts were enough to climb a place on the leaderboard, finishing the day in sixth place.  

    法国Zoulou队虽然平均年龄最大，但是实力不可被小看，由单人环球世界纪录保持者罗伊克•佩荣掌舵的这支极限40老年队并未打算向年轻人低头。今天他们在两轮比赛中获得第一名，另外三轮比赛中进入前三，保持了积分榜中游的地位。

    The local contingent China Team continued to draw in the crowds with 2008 Olympic sailor Yngling Summer Song on board. After frustratingly having to retire from race six to repair a broken gennaker furling line, the team made a sterling effort to come back in race seven to claim their first podium position. Kiwi skipper Phil Robertson was pleased with the team’s performance but looking for improvements: “We were within the top three around the first mark in pretty much every race so the starts were great but from then it didn´t go as well. The conditions were perfect. It´s very difficult and frustrating at times but we are really enjoying the short and fast races.”

    美洲杯中国之队拥有来自主办地青岛的宋夏群做战术师。宋夏群曾经参加过2008奥运会英凌级帆船赛，对场地的熟悉是他们最大的优势。尽管由于球帆损坏，他们不得不退出第六轮的比赛，但是在第七轮比赛中，他们后发制人，获得了第一名。来自新西兰的船长菲尔•罗伯森队船队的表现感到满意：“在如此不利的情况下，我们能取得这样的成绩，我感到非常高兴。比赛中有令人兴奋的时刻，也有令人沮丧的时候，我们期待着未来几天能去个更好的成绩。”

    As the Extreme 40s go into the penultimate day tomorrow, the teams can expect plenty of more close racing on the short stadium courses as they fight to secure their positions on the leaderboard before the final day. Current event leader Roman Hagara was under no illusions that his position is safe. “All of the teams are really strong contenders - we could see it already in Oman. Due to our experience in Qingdao we could be regarded as the experts in open waters where we were yesterday but not inside the harbour. I think all the teams know what goes on inside the harbour.”

    八轮比赛结束后举行了颁奖仪式。红牛队、浪潮马斯喀特队和阿曼航空队获得了第二日比赛的前三名。颁奖仪式上，6次参加过奥运会并的红牛队船长罗曼•哈加拉很受当地观众的喜爱，2008年奥运会时他曾经来过青岛，并在那届比赛后退役加入职业帆船赛。19日，极限帆船系列赛将进入场地赛第二天，来自广东、福建、厦门等地的10家电视台将联合青岛电视台对比赛做全程直播。