More and more Extreme: Red Bull pierces Alinghi

The largest collision in the history of the Extreme Sailing Series: Red Bull, sailing at about 15 knots port tack, smashes into Alinghi’s hull (starboard tack) during the Chinese leg of the circuit in Qingdao, knocking both catamarans out of the running on the final day of racing in the third Act of the Land Rover Extreme Sailing Series. But not even a torn hull was able to stop the Alinghi team, which took the overall victory, confirming its leadership in the overall standings. The crew consisting of Morgan Larson, Anna Tunnicliffe, Nils Frei, Pierre-Yves Jorand, and Yves Detrey was found by the international jury to be not responsible for the event and thus entitled to repair points, helmsman Morgan Larson commented on the incident as follows: “We were approaching the start line ten seconds from the signal, most of the fleet was on the left, Red Bull tucked in behind us but the wind was very gusty and unstable, they couldn’t lean to avoid us and hit us hard. It happens. It’s good to have won, although it’s a shame we stopped like that because we were racing very well. The important thing is that no one was hurt and the boat is repairable for the next races. It will take a good week of yard work, but it will be back in place ready to race again.”

THE STANDINGS.
Land Rover Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 3 Qingdao. Ranking after 32 trials run
1 Alinghi (SUI) Morgan Larson, Anna Tunnicliffe, Pierre-Yves Jorand, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey 178 points.
2 Realteam by Realstone (SUI) Jérôme Clerc, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Denis Girardet, Bryan Mettraux, Thierry Wassem 168 points.
3 Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL ) Peter Burling, Glenn Ashby, Blair Tuke, Jeremy Lomas, Edwin Delaat 160 points.
4 The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Kinley Fowler, Nasser Al Mashari 159 points.
5 Gazprom Team Russia (RUS ) Igor Lisovenko, Paul Campbell-James, Alister Richardson, Pete Cumming, Aleksey Kulakov 140 points.
6 Oman Air (OMA) Rob Greenhalgh, Tom Johnson, Kyle Langford, Hashim Al Rashdi, Musab Al Hadi 133 points.
7 J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR ) Ben Ainslie, Nick Hutton, Paul Goodison, Pippa Wilson, Matt Cornwell 129 points.
8 Groupama sailing team (FRA) Franck Cammas, Sophie de Turckheim, Tanguy Cariou, Thierry Fouchier, Devan Le Bihan 128 points.
9 Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans-Peter Steinacher, Mark Bulkeley, Nick Blackman, Stewart Dodson 126 points.
10 SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN ) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Thierry Douillard, Peter Wibroe, Nicolai Sehested 125 points.
11 Team Extreme Qingdao (CHN ) Mitch Booth, Zhang Yiran, Liu Xue, Nick Moloney, Freddie White 111 points.
12 GAC Pindar (AUS ) David Gilmour, Troy Tindill, Ed Smyth, Sam Newton, Alexandra South 98 points.

Extreme Sailing Series™ 2014 overall standings
Position / Team / Points
1 Alinghi (SUI) 28 points.
2 The Wave, Muscat (OMA) 26 points.
3 Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) 24 points.
4 Realteam by Realstone (SUI) 22 points.
5 Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) 15 points.
6 Groupama sailing team (FRA) 12 points.
7 Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) 11 points.
8 J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR) 10 points.
9 SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) 9 points.
10 Oman Air (OMA) 8 points.
11 GAC Pindar (AUS) 3 points.