New Zealand team has been under speculation lately because of their bad results in the previous outing at Cardiff. The team made a great comeback over a fortnight of the dismal performance in the Extreme Sailing Series in Istanbul. It was a sense of surprise for all the teams as well as the fans as Dean Barker’s crew fought hard to make amendments to their last position finish in the Cardiff. This comeback was written on the cards as the team was just at the loss of form. In the opening day of the Extreme Sailing Series the Emirates team from New Zealand found themselves tied up at the 1^st position with the current defending champion of this series. It was a result which no one thought of at the start of this series. Currently the SAP Extreme Sailing team is on 2^nd position followed by the Red Bull Sailing team.

Dean Baker the skipper from the New Zealand team came out speaking to the press about the joys of this performance. He agreed that in Cardiff it was a tough time for the team but today it is a delightful feeling in coming out of waters leading. He also stated that the team’s main aim is to move forward in continuing with the form and is looking forward to carry this form for the rest of the event.

Not only the team ended their day on top of the charts but they even came out in recording the fastest speed among all the other teams in the fleet. Their average speed was recorded as 16.27 Knots when sailing downwind while sailing upwind the team maintained an average speed of 11.80 knots. This racing was held in open waters at the Marmara Sea at the entrance of Bosphorus. The start was good and it will be interesting to see whether the New Zealand team will be able to hold it up throughout.