yachts
2011 Extreme Sailing Series ™
The Formula One
of Sailing International Life’s Yves de Contades went down to Cowes to sail in the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series™ with Cowes’ own Olympian, Leigh McMillan, skipper of The Wave Muscat and his crew: Kyle Langford, Nick Hutton and Khamis Al Anbouri.
T below: Oman Sail Extreme Catarmaran
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www.internationallife.tv/yachts
he 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. >>