Paul Simpson captured the moment Aberdeen Asset Management's Extreme 40 flipped.
COWES WEEKTHE Extreme Sailing Series provided another action-packed day of racing yesterday (Monday).
The breezy conditions continued and in the sixth race the Extreme 40 Aberdeen Asset Management cart-wheeled spectacularly in the 20 to 25-knot conditions.
The British Extreme 40 team, with John Pink at the helm, was charging downwind with reefed mainsail and gennaker, sandwiched between Italian team Niceforyou and Austria’s Red Bull Extreme Sailing.
A big gust hit all three boats and, with no room to manoeuvre, the boat cart-wheeled before capsizing.
Pink said: "Coming down that run it just all got very close and the breeze seemed to fill in behind so everyone bunched up a little bit and then we had no where to go."
The four crew (John Pink, Rick Peacock, Gregory Homann, John Gimson) clung to the trampoline and were unhurt.
Pink and Peacock, experienced Olympic 49er sailors, have been putting in a great performance in the windy conditions over the last three days with two podium results on Monday.
"We were very happy, it was coming together and hopefully we can put the boat back together for tomorrow," added Pink.
The Extreme 40 fleet had been split into groups to race on the tight stadium course off Egypt Point but these excluded Artemis Racing, which was unable to repair the significant damage from the crash yesterday and is out of Act 5.
In the first race it was Leigh McMillan at the helm of The Wave, Muscat who led the way, winning the first race ahead of John Pink’s Aberdeen Asset Management.
In the second race, Oman Air who came to the fore ahead of Ian Williams’s Team GAC Pindar after a close battle.
By race three, the French team Groupe Edmond de Rothschild were back racing – impressive as the team only put the boat back into the water two hours before racing started –and Pierre Pennec won their first race ahead of the Italians on Niceforyou.
Team GAC Pindar and Luna Rossa both got a win in the following two races with McMillan getting his second win of the day in the final race.
After three days and 16 races, Luna Rossa tops the leaderboard with Groupe Edmond de Rothschild moving up to second overall in the standings having been given redress for the races they missed.
Reporter: martinn@iwcpmail.co.uk