There was a lot of talk at the 100 year anniversary X One Design (XOD) Class event last night about the drama that occurred in one of the Extreme 40 events that day.
The description of the event by those running the series was, “In the sixth race of the day (Monday, 8th August) the Extreme 40 Aberdeen Asset Management cartwheeled spectacularly in gusty 20-25 knot conditions that was pushing the fleet to their limits.
“The British Extreme 40 team helmed by John Pink was charging downwind with reefed mainsail and gennaker, sandwiched between Italian team Niceforyou and Austria’s Red Bull Extreme Sailing. The bows dug in as a big gust hit all three boats, and with no room to manoeuvre, the boat cart-wheeled, flipped the boat almost vertical, before capsizing.”
The aftermath
What you don’t see in the footage is aftermath. VB understands that the boat sunk into the water and after a number of attempts of trying to turn it upright, the sails eventually had to be cut off.
