The Red Bull Extreme Sailing team overcame a disasterous start to win the second race on the first day of the Extreme Sailing Series Europe event in Cowes, UK.
During the first race of the day's six competitions – the long distance race – the 40-foot Red Bull Extreme Sailing catamaran collided with a rock when they were in second place, close to the shores and on their way to the finish line, but as two-time Olympic champion Hagara explained: “However, we managed to cross the finish line in sixth place and ahead of three other boats".
The team then benefited from a three hour break before the second race began. “We were able to replace the broken parts of the boat. I think other teams also had to fix theirs. We took a great risk.” confirmed Spain’s David Vera.
A commanding victory followed in the second race, right at the shores and in front of all the spectators. “We were really frustrated and were able to further extend our lead with 16 knots right from the start of race two”, explained tactician Hans Peter Steinacher.
Things were about to take a turn for the worse though, as Steinacher confirmed : “Afterwards everything went wrong and two penalties followed," he said.
During the third race, a false start resulted in an eighth place for the team and similar results followed in the fourth race due to a defensive start.
In the fifth race, the jury penalised Red Bull Extreme Sailing (they had to turn around their boat around the axis once) at a speed of 21 knots after an infight with Ecover (UK).
During the sixth competition of the day, Hagara, Steinacher, Olivo and Vera were able to defend their third position until moments before they crossed the finish line, but then misfortune struck again: “The crew was not able to roll in the spinnaker. We were heading right in the direction of the spectators boats and had to veer off”, Hagara explained.
Six races have been scheduled for Sunday and the winner of the second stop of the Extreme Sailing Series Europe will be crowned on Thursday.
Find out more about the Extreme Sailing Europe event in Cowes by clicking here
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