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May 19th 2011
Excitement builds ahead of Act 3, Istanbul
The third Act of the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series™ is rapidly
approaching with less than one week to go until the start in
Istanbul, Turkey from the 25th to 29th May, with the event
opening to the public from the 27th May.
Istanbul skyline from the water © Euroasia Sports
Istanbul is a new venue on the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series global
circuit and provides a unique setting in this iconic city where
East meets West. Istanbul is home to 13 million people (more
than London or Paris) and is located on the Bosphorus Strait
that connects the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea, dividing the
city into a European side and an Asian, Anatolian side. The city
is further divided by the Golden Horn, a natural harbour, with
the Extreme 40 fleet racing on the Halic estuary separated from
the harbour by the Galata Bridge, at the mouth of the Golden
Horn.
Aerial view of the Golden Horn where racing will be held ©
Euroasia Sports
Act 3 of the Extreme Sailing Series is being heavily promoted
with a national TV and radio advertising campaign and billboards
around the city of Istanbul, and EuroAsia Sports (representing
the host venue) has estimated crowds in excess of 15,000 on the
public days and, potentially, up to 40,000 for the final day.
The city recently hosted the F1 Grand Prix and has been
nominated the European Capital of Sport in 2012. Turkey's
national terrestrial broadcaster, TRT, will be providing live
race coverage on both Saturday and Sunday making Act 3 the third
event in a row this year to attract live race coverage from the
venue's terrestrial broadcaster, reflecting the growing appeal
of the Extreme Sailing Series to a indexstream audience.
Spectators watching the international teams in Qingdao © Lloyd
Images
The 11 international Extreme 40 teams dispersed after the action
-packed Act 2 in Qingdao, China to race onboard both mono and
multihulls across the world. Some went to race the new AC45's in
New Zealand, the Nespresso Cup in Portofino, Italy and to the
World Match Racing Tour in Marseille, France. The 44 elite
sailors will now reconvene in Istanbul to vie for victory at Act
3: "In Istanbul, we expect a really tough battle," said Pierre
Pennec, skipper Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, who lead overall.
"Not only because of the high level of the competition within the
fleet, which has gone up a notch as we saw in Qingdao but also
because the race course in Istanbul seems complex and very
particular. It's an inner race course with some effects from the
buildings on shore so the winds will be shifty. It will be
necessary to take advantage of the opportunities and to accept
to give away some places to be able to stay at the top of the
ranking. I have sailed through the Bosphorus during a boat
delivery from Lorient to Istanbul and I'm very excited to go
back to this beautiful city." Groupe Edmond de Rothschild is
leading on 20 points overall, followed by Luna Rossa in second
and Emirates Team New Zealand in third, both tied on 18 points
with Red Bull Extreme Sailing and Artemis Racing hot on the
heels of the current top three boats with 17 and 16 points
retrospectively. Artemis Racing skipper, Terry Hutchinson,
returns as resident skipper after Santiago Lange's efforts on
the helm in Qingdao.
In the second half of the leaderboard the Swiss team Alinghi is
in 6th place on 13 points after stepping up their game in Chinia
with five race wins, now three points clear of The Wave, Muscat
on 10 points. Torvar Mirsky's team suffered what was undoubtedly
the most dramatic capsize in the history of the Extreme Sailing
Series' in Qingdao, view video footage here
[http://youtu.be/Xs7jOYGppnw] . Roland Gaebler's Team Extreme
and Sidney Gavignet's Oman Air are tied on 7 points, whilst the
Italian team NiceForYou led by Alberto Barovier (10th place, 4
points) and Team GAC Pindar skippered by Britain's match racing
champion Ian Williams (11th place, 2 points) continue to find
their Extreme 40 form after two events: "We learnt a lot during
the China event, we had some ups and downs but everybody was
making mistakes and so were we but that is racing. We can't wait
to go back on the water and Istanbul is an amazing venue. We've
never sailed over there, so it could be tricky but we are
determined to reduce the gap and climb the ranking!" said
Alberto Barovier. With the top 5 teams going to Istanbul on such
close points the racing is going to be electric: "We are looking
forward to the race in Istanbul," said Red Bull Extreme Sailing
skipper, Roman Hagara. "We were on the podium in Muscat, close
to victory in Qindao, but after the capsize we did not find back
to our system quick enough. We are prepared for Istanbul and
want to finish on the podium again."
You can now watch programme 1 of the 2011 TV series that saw the
all-French team of Groupe Edmond de Rothschild clinch victory at
Act 1, Muscat online.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nvxE8jdgF4&feature=youtu.be]
19.05.2011 - Extreme Sailing Series erstmals am Bosporus
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