2011 Extreme Sailing Series™

2011 Extreme Sailing Series™

2011 Extreme Sailing Series™

2011 Extreme sailing Series™
The Formula One of sailing
I went down to Cowes to sail in the 2011 Extreme sailing Series™ with Olympian Leigh McMillan, skipper of The Wave Muscat, who grew up in Cowes and his crew: Kyle Langford, Nick Hutton and Khamis Al Anbouri.
The Extreme 40’s catamarans were designed by Olympian sailor Yves Laday as large super fast boats that can reach and surpass speeds of 40 Mph in winds of 30 Mph. All the boats in the competition are exactly the same which means that the race is won on sailing skills alone, if only that were true for some other racing competitions.
The day before I arrived, one boat, the Aberdeen Asset Management, capsized and required support boats to right it. Near misses, capsizing and full on crashes at high speed are fairly common fare as the boats compete in a very small area in front of the stadium for maximum viewing pleasure and there are numerous pleasure boats crisscrossing the water during the race. It’s like having a Sunday parade of small family cars pootling about the circuit track during a Formula One event, amazing there are not more pile ups.
There are over 40 races each lasting approximately15 minutes up and down wind and the boats spins around various marker buoys at high speed changing tack in mere seconds. Did I mention that much of this takes place within yards of the shore so that the boats are turning just before the rocks. This is exciting adrenalin packed fun.
I join Leigh for the 3rd race on board the Wave Muscat, he came third in the last one but is still in the running if he does well in the next two as he was ahead yesterday by 8 points. The points are based on the number of boats, 12 boats so first place gets 12 points, second gets 11 and so on.
I am the 5th man, which means you get to join these incredible athletes and share first hand in the wave fuelled excitement. A friendly warning, do be prepared to be shouted at as the wind makes communication difficult and time is of the essence when a poor turn could result in the hulls sinking into the water and a great deal of speed lost. They are however incredible polite when they bark orders which is so quintessentially English “would you mind moving over there, very quickly, sorry for shouting”, as you spring into action bouncing over the net a few feet from the water, spurred on by the fear of slowing them down.
The race is co sponsored by Volvo UK, Aberdeen Asset Management and Oman Air and fields numerous Olympians, AC campaigns, World circumnavigators and World Championship winners. This is like being allowed to play at Wimbledon against Roger Federer or play in the England Football team during the finals, if we ever reached them.
The crew move about the trampoline like lightning and every nerve is singing as you concentrate on the wind, the other boats inches away, the angle of the craft as it rises up 45 degrees on one hull and the all important next turn coming up.
Leigh and his crew hit each turn perfectly, catching the wind as they gibe and maintaining the speed on each turn of the course. We are nose to nose with Aberdeen Asset Management and they just pip us at the post. Second place is still 11 points and Leigh does well in the next two races and wins the overall first place.
Oman Air are jubilant as they are passionate sailors (they had two crews in the event, Oman Air and The Wave Muscat) and have won this leg of the series with one of their own (Khamis Al Anbouri) on crew with Leigh who starting his sailing career in Cowes, so a home and away win.