Extreme 40: Alinghi and Team Extreme Crash Analysis

by SailRaceWin

One man went overboard from each boat as a result of the impact of the collision. There were minor injuries all round, and Alinghi's helmsman was, understandably, very shaken by the incident.

From the videos it appears that Alinghi (on port) basically had nowhere to go. With a boat (NiceForYou) above them they first wriggled around the bow of Red Bull and then had to bear away hard to try to avoid the next starboard tacker, Team Extreme. With increasing pressure the bear away led to the bows digging in fairly hard, so the rudders came out of the water, and the combination meant that they weren't able to quite get behind Team Extreme, so went into them, at speed. These situations crop up quickly with the fast, close-quarters, racing in Extreme 40s.

It is unfortunate that the situation of no boat and redress not covering all the remaining races also meant that Team Extreme ended up last in Act 3. We hope that they will be able to either borrow Alinghi's spare boat or get a new hull in time for Act 4 in Boston.

For those involved: Schaue vorwärts, nie zurück. Neuer Mut bringt Lebensglück!

Extreme Sailing Series