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05.09.2011
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Britain’s Olympian Ben Ainslie Goes Extreme!
September 05th 2011Britain’s most successful Olympic sailor Ben Ainslie
will skipper Oman Sail’s ‘Oman Air’ Extreme 40 in the next three Acts
of the Extreme Sailing Series™ in Trapani (Sicily), Nice (France) and
Almeria (Spain). The 34-year-old already has three Olympic gold medals and
one silver to his name, and is gunning for a fifth Olympic medal next year
in the Finn dinghy class, if selected to represent his country in 2012.
Ben Ainslie, Nasser Al Mashari, David Carr and Kinley Fowler © Lloyd Images
Ainslie recently competed in the Olympic test regatta in Weymouth and will
return to his Olympic ambitions at the ISAF World Champions and Finn Gold
Cup in Perth, Australia at the end of year. In the meantime, he has selected
the opportunity to step from one hull to two in the Extreme 40 class, and
step in to the cauldron of hot competition in the Extreme Sailing Series.
Multihull sailing may have been around for a few decades, but the current
trend puts the multihull platform firmly at the forefront of professional
sailing whether it is the America’s Cup, the new MOD70 circuit, round the
world speed records (fully crewed or solo) or the Extreme Sailing Series -
the ground-breaking circuit that has pioneered the Stadium sailing format
since its creation in 2007 – and now a global circuit visiting three
continents. “I’m looking forward to competing in the Extreme Sailing
Series,” said Ainslie. “I’ve had the chance to watch some of the
previous events, the sailing is very close and a great spectacle. This will
be my first competitive experience of the circuit and it’s an exciting
prospect.”Oman Air and fleet racing at Cowes Week © Lloyd Images
But Ainslie will feel the pressure of stepping into a new multihull class:
“There is definitely a bit of pressure stepping on the boat at this stage
in the Series, and I think it is going to be a lot about me not letting the
guys down as they have been doing a great job so far this year,” said
Ainslie. “We have just a couple of days training in Trapani before our
first event together, so it is going to be tough going in cold, but
hopefully I can pick it up quickly and we can get some good results.”Oman
Air racing in Boston © Lloyd Images
Ben Ainslie will be replacing French skipper Sidney Gavignet following his
move to Oman Sail’s new Multi One Design 70 campaign. The ‘Oman Air’
Extreme 40 team lie 8th out of 11 in the overall 2011 Extreme Sailing Series
rankings and Ainslie will be racing with the regular crew of bowman Nasser
Al Mashari, tactician Kinley Fowler and trimmer David (Freddie) Carr.
Double Olympic gold medalist and skipper of Red Bull Extreme Sailing, Roman
Hagara, commented: "I’d like to welcome Ben Ainslie to the circuit. We
both have a big Olympic background and know how to sail under pressure. This
is the right place for him to show his skills on big multihulls. For sure we
will have some great racing going on against each other in the coming
events."Red Bull Extreme Sailing and Oman Air © Lloyd Images
Paul-Campbell James, winning skipper on The Wave, Muscat in the 2010 Extreme
Sailing Series, now skipper of the Italian entry Luna Rossa is looking
forward to the next Act in Trapani (Sicily) where the Italian team can
expect some good ‘home’ support, commented: “It's great to have Ben in
the fleet and in the winning boat from 2009. I've never raced him before and
am fascinated to see how he gets on.”
Act 7 of the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series will be staged in Trapani on the
island of Sicily starting on the 14th September with Stadium racing staged
over the 16th-18th September.Trapani, Sicily
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