Many thanks to Suzanne and Alan Whitewood for their excellent roundup of Extreme 40s action out on the water during Cowes Week. In their own words. Ed
Changing weather conditions throughout the days of Act Five of the Extreme 40s sailing series held in the waters off Cowes have proved how versatile the crews must be to take part in this event.
With twelve boats at the start of the event competing, including a special guest boat from regatta sponsors, Aberdeen Asset Management, it made for some tight sailing on the course off Egypt Point.
Only UK port for Extreme event
Act Five of the Extreme Sailing Series stopped off in Cowes as the only UK port to host this event with the boats coming hot out of their containers following Act Four in Boston, USA.
One of the skippers is Island born Leigh McMillan on board ‘The Wave, Muscat’ who said on day one of this seven day event run in conjunction with Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week, “It is so tight in this breeze because we are going so fast, the closing speeds happen so quickly. We do everything possible to try to keep track of all the boats on the course so you know where the dangers are but sometimes you are taken by surprise. It is scary in between races because you know you have another one coming. But as soon as that gun goes the adrenaline is absolutely pumping and you focus on keeping the boat upright and overtaking boats. It all happens in a bit of a blur to be honest and you get to the end of a race and you think, How did that just happen?”
Extreme weather for Extreme Racing
Only four races were able to take place on the first day due to the extreme weather conditions with a compulsory mainsail reef and no gennakers rule imposed by the Race Control before the start of race four as wind speeds hit 20 knots with gusts over 25.
At the end of day one the first three positions were; First Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), 43 points. Second Luna Rossa (ITA) 42 points and third The Wave, Muscat (OMA), 34 points.
Breezy start to second day
Breezy conditions on the second day of Act Five, with 20-25 knots steady breeze with bigger gusts earlier in the day, the 12-boat fleet was split into two groups of six and raced with reefed mainsails and no gennakers.
For the first group racing three races, the action was pretty spectacular as the Extreme 40 crews manhandled their boats around the tight stadium racecourse. In the first race for the second group a collision happened between Artemis Racing and Groupe Edmond de Rothschild. France’s Groupe Edmond de Rothschild ploughed into Sweden’s Artemis Racing at the top mark resulting in severe damage to both boats – bad enough to end their racing for the day. A busy night was spent doing repairs but Artemis Racing did not race again at Act Five.
Overall standings by Day Two were: First Luna Rossa, Second The Wave, Muscat and third Groupe Edmond de Rothschild.
Breezy conditions continued on day 3 and in the sixth race ‘Aberdeen Asset Management’ cart-wheeled spectacularly in gusty 20-25 knot conditions. This British Extreme 40 team helmed by John Pink was charging downwind with reefed mainsail and gennaker,and was sandwiched between Italian team Niceforyou and Austria’s Red Bull Extreme Sailing when the bows dug in as a big gust hit all three boats. There was no room to manoeuvre,so the boat cart-wheeled and flipped almost vertical, before capsizing: It took some time for the boat to be righted and be made ready for the next day.
Luna Rossa held on to 1st place at the end of day 3 whilst Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, came up to 2nd place and in 3rd was The Wave, Muscat
Full-fleet racing
After the seven races on day four, including five full-fleet races, it was The Wave, Muscat skippered by Leigh McMillan who took over the lead at the top of the overall leaderboard from his friend and rival Paul Campbell-James at the helm of Luna Rossa. Weather conditions were easier on the boats and sailors. Well known faces dropped into the event including 2012 Vendee Globe entrant Mike Golding.
‘Extreme’, ‘dangerous’ and ‘on the edge’ were the skipper’s descriptions of the conditions that led to cancellation of day five of Act Five. With the wind blowing a steady 25-28 knots, combined with a strong tide, it was the first occasion in five years and more than 100 Extreme Sailing Series race days, that the organisers had to cancel completely.
Strong tides for day six
Day six dawned overcast and with a very strong wind (again) however by the time racing started, later than usual at 1640 BST, the wind had dropped and there were just gusts to 20 knots. The strong tide proved the major stumbling block to several crews but there was some fine inshore racing to thrill the large crowd.
At the end of racing The Wave, Muscat continued to lead with a margin of 10 points on Luna Rossa, Alinghi was third and Groupe Edmond de Rothschild fourth.
On the final day of racing, with much less wind than the rest of the previous days, there were still thrills and spills to delight the crowds who had supported this event. An estimated 72,500 have watched from the grandstand and shore around Egypt Point through this event.
Victory for local skipper, Leigh Leigh McMillan
For the forty-eight sailors from fifteen nations, Act Five concluded in a more manageable ten-fifteen knots for the now eleven Extreme 40s but with a powerful three to four knot tide testing each team’s tactical prowess. Incredibly, considering the giant race schedule, the outcome once again came down to the last race with The Wave, Muscat team having to finish within six places of second placed Luna Rossa if they were to hold onto the Act Five title.
While Luna Rossa soared away from the start into an unassailable lead, so it appeared that they might take the win as Leigh McMillan’s The Wave, Muscat lumbered out of the blocks in eighth. High tension for the fans watching as well, but the former Tornado ace punched his way up the fleet and although Luna Rossa was a leg ahead by the time she took the gun, The Wave, Muscat’s fourth place was enough to secure her victory.
Therefore it was a victory for a very local skipper and Leigh McMillan said,” It’s our first actual victory on the world tour, so an awesome result for us. It was really tight: Luna Rossa was going at us all day and towards the end they were trying to shut us out at every start, but I didn’t really want to get too involved in that kind of game because we can always come back after making a bad start. It’s awesome to be on the top of the podium that was our dream goal.”
Final scoreboard
Overall standings after 30 races at Cowes: First The Wave, Muscat (OMA), Leigh McMillan / Kyle Langford / Nick Hutton / Khamis Al Anbouri 236 points.
Second Luna Rossa (ITA), Max Sirena / Paul Campbell-James / Alister Richardson / Manuel Modena 228.8 points.
Third Alinghi (SUI), Tanguy Cariou / Yann Guichard / Nils Frei / Yves Detrey 214 points.
Fourth Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT), Roman Hagara / Hans Peter Steinacher / Will Howden / Luke Cross 188 points.
Fifth Oman Air (OMA), Sidney Gavignet / Kinley Fowler / David Carr / Nasser Al Mashari 179 points.
Sixth Team GAC Pindar (GBR), Ian Williams / Mischa Heemskerk / Andrew Walsh / Jono Macbeth 160 points.
Seventh Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Adam Beashel / Richard Meacham / Andrew McLean / Chris Ward 139 points.
Eighth Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec / Christophe Espagnon / Thierry Fouchier / Herve Cunningham 135 points.
Ninth Niceforyou (ITA), Alberto Barovier / Stefano Rizzi / Daniele de Luca / Simone de Mari 132 points.
Tenth Aberdeen Asset Management (GBR), John Pink / Rick Peacock / Greg Homann / John Gimson 126 points.
Eleventh Team Extreme (EUR), Roland Gaebler / Nahid Gaebler / Benedikt Wenk / Dan Morris 71 points.
Twelfth Artemis Racing (SWE), Santiago Lange / Andy Fethers / Michele Ivaldi / Phil Jameson 23 points
Next stop is Act Six in Trapani, Sicily, public days 16-18th September, preceded by two days of ‘open water’ racing 14-15th.
