26 HIGH S P E E D D U E L S
MATCH RACING
HIGH speed
© Mark Lloyd
DUELS
The Muscat event of the Extreme Sailing Series Asia has seen the circuit innovate this winter, with the introduction of match racing, a form of competition that many people believed would never be successfully performed in multihulls! Six crews proved that opinion wrong - not only is it viable, it’s also extremely spectacular! We talk to Paul Campbell-James, skipper of The Wave, Muscat and match racing expert. IN AVIATION TERMS, IT’S BLUNTLY REFERRED TO AS A DOGFIGHT. IT’S A FAST AND MERCILESS GAME, WITH ITS OWN EXTENSIVE AND SUBTLE SET OF RULES. On the water, it’s a one on one battle, during which crews try to push each other towards the edges of the race course, and force each other to commit mistakes resulting in penalties. Aggressive by nature, that tricky game becomes all the more exhilarating when played on board high-performance catamarans like the Extreme 40s. Introducing that discipline during the Oman stopover of the Extreme Sailing Series
EXTREME // The Official Extreme Sailing Series magazine for 2010