Spills and Thrills at iShares Cup UK - Sailing at Cowes Week

Cowes UK - Though rarely disappointing, the racing of the Extreme 40 iShares Cup catamarans definitely proved EXTREME this week, as the winds never fell below 25 knots during all three days of racing. The lucky spectators at this year's Cowes Week had a real treat as they watched high speed hull-up racing, one sailboat capsize after another, and dramatic crashes these past few days, as the iShares Cup fleet and all-star sailors tested their skills sailing off the Isle of Wight. High action, top sailors and big winds - yacht racing just doesn't get much more exciting than this.

The crew sailing Alinghi managed to excel overall, winning the UK round of the iShares Cup at Skandia Cowes Week. "We're thrilled," said Alinghi skipper Ed Baird on the docks in Cowes. "These kind of conditions were a bit beyond what we've experienced before and so we've been learning in every race trying to figure it out, it was pretty hairy! All the teams were having their moments where they had a little trouble, but these guys did great and I'm really excited that we were able to hang in there and get the points we needed." He added: "It's been a tough series. It's been a lot of fun - and it's a lot more fun when you come out in front - but we really learned a lot today. We were definitely taking it easy, trying to be as conservative as we could."

Although Alinghi won this round, coming in at second place for Cowes Week it is Teamorigin who currently lead overall in the iShares Cup Extreme 40 sailing series. Their lead is tiny however, with only one point separating the two top contenders. Of course, one point is all it takes.

JPMorgan Asset Management capsized in the first race on day three, breaking their rig. Skippered by Paul Campbell-James for the day, the team was sailing at the head of the pack when they flipped dramatically during a bear-away. The boat rapidly inverted, breaking the rig, and leaving JPMorgan out of the race.

YachtPal Franck Cammas, who was skipper on one of the two BMW Oracle team catamarans, encountered a capsize of his own during the final day of racing - in addition to the dramatic collision with BT on day one of the iShares Cup UK. A quick righting of the boat by Cammas and his team enabled them to keep on racing however, earning the BMW Oracle team-Cammas fourth place overall.

"The first day, we won two of the four races. Unfortunately we hit BT during a maneuver, which we believed to be a result of a dodgy call by them but the jury decided otherwise. During the incident, the forward beam broke and we had to change boats. The new boat wasn't as well prepared and we never found the speed we'd had on the first boat again" said Cammas. During the last day of racing on Monday, the wind was again over 25 knots, "Thanks to the work we did on the boat, on the evening after the racing and on the morning prior to going sailing, we were a little quicker than the previous day. Strangely though we were always verging on capsize whenever we bore away, even though the crew was well positioned towards the stern. In fact, we noticed too late in the day that the mainsail sheet on our new boat was too short to be able ease the sail as was necessary".

You might think that all these rig failures and capsized cats would deter the competitors at these events. But in fact, this is just the kind of action the sailors, and the race organizers, were all counting on. "We created the iShares Cup to be something different and the 'crash and burn' racing we've seen is exactly the kind of product we hoped for!" said Event Director Gilles Chiorri of the iShares Cup UK regatta. "It's designed to deliver exciting and action-packed racing to the public and take close-quarter sailing to another level. There is a very efficient pit-lane so all the boats that want to race are out there the next day, it's part of the game. The sailors who race these boats love it exactly because it is so close and exciting, and they are more then well equipped to cope with the drama."

Watch for more of this high drama sailing action here at YachtPals.com when the Extreme 40 catamarans make their next stop in Kiel Germany for the next (and next-to-last) round of the iShares Cup on August 29th.

iShares Cup UK Results

1. Alinghi – 2,7,3,1,2,1,1,1,5,5,6,4,5,1,2,0,0 – 171
2. Team Origin – 4,5,1,DNF,3,2,1,6,2,2,2,2,3,3,4,1,0,0 -166
3. Holmatro – 3,4,4,2,6,3,5,2,4,4,3,3,5,4,7,3,0,0 – 156
4. BMW ORACLE Racing Cammas – 1,1,2,DNF,4,4,3,4,3,3,6,DNF,2,2,3,5,0,0 – 147
5. BMW ORACLE Racing Spithill – 9,2,7,DNF,1,8,8,5,5,1,1,1,1,1,2,6,0,0 – 144
6. iShares – 6,6,9,5,8,7,9,8,7,6,4,4,7,6,DNF,9,0,0 – 98
7. BT – 10,9,8,RDG,7,5,4,3,7,DSQ,8,7,9,8,8,7,0,0 – 94
8. Volvo Ocean Race – RAF,8,10,6,DSQ,9,6,7,6,8,9,8,8,7,5,4,0,0 – 90
9. Oman Sail – 5,3,5,4,DNF,DNS, DNS, DNS, DNS, DNS,10,5,6,9,6,8,0,0 – 74
10. JP Morgan Asset Management – 8,10,6,3,5,6,7,DNF,9,7,7,DNF,DNS, DNS, DNS, DNS - 62
11. Team Aqua – 7,11,DNS, DNS, DNS, DNS, DNS, DNS, DNS, DNS, DNS, DNS, DNS, DNS, DNS, DNS,0,0 – 8
12. Tommy Hilfiger – DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC,0,0 - 0

iShares Cup Video - iShares Cup UK Day 3 at Cowes Week

iShares Cup OVERALL Results

iShares Cup
Team Origin	9	9	9	-	-	27	1
Alinghi	6	10	10	-	-	26	2
Holmatro	4	7	8	-	-	19	3
BT	8	5	5	-	-	18	4
JP Morgan Asset Management	10	4	3	-	-	17	5
Oman Sail	7	2	7	-	-	16	6
Volvo Ocean Race	2	8	4	-	-	14	7
iShares	5	3	6	-	-	14	8
Team Aqua	3	6	2	-	-	11	9
Tommy Hilfiger	0	1	0	-	-	1	10

- Spills and Thrills at iShares Cup UK - Sailing at Cowes Week by KH for YachtPals.com

READ MORE ABOUT:

• Cowes Week - Crash and Capsizes for iShares UK
• iShares Cup
• Yacht Racing
• Cowes Week
• Isle of Wight
• UK Sailing