Profile
off in the Sultanate of Oman in February, as part of the annual Muscat Festival, before heading to China for Act 2. The gateway between Europe and Asia, and European City of Sport for 2012, Istanbul, will host the third Act before the Extreme 40 fl eet travels to the USA for the fi rst time, to Boston’s waterfront in time for the 4th
July celebrations. Cowes Week welcomes the Extreme 40s for the
fi fth consecutive year for Act 5, ahead of a return to the Sicilian port of Trapani, for the second consecutive year. The French round will be staged on Mediterranean waters in Nice before Almería, in Andalucia, Spain hosts the penultimate event and the 2011 circuit will be decided in Singapore in mid- December.
Where the Extreme Sailing Series differs from
every other sailing event is that they are not going to established venues, they are not reliant on yacht clubs or existing facilities. They bring it all with them: the boats, the village, the pontoons, the lot. The venue, for the most part, is not concerned about the niceties of the sailing.
Monohull “They don’t usually care about what the sailing is,” says Mark. “Quite frankly, they wouldn’t know what match- racing is, what a monohull is or what a multihull is. In our sailing world that’s important, but what the venue cares about is the economic impact: what’s the media coverage? How can I engage my local community? And all those things. “This year there will be six 49ers performing as one of the “warm-up” acts, along with various dinghy catamaran classes and a ‘learn sailing’ platform with a load of Oppies at each venue. On land, there’s going to be a music package that we’re putting together…We’re going to come with a festival, basically; it’s called Extreme Sailing – not Extreme 40s. Our objective is to create eight hours of entertainment on each of three days at each venue. There will be two days of racing before the stadium opens, then three days inside the stadium, whichever way the wind’s blowing.” Extreme Sailing is now owned outside the OC Third
Pole umbrella, with OCTP running the show. Among the “group of investors” backing Extreme Sailing is Ernesto Bertarelli “Just one of the investors” – but it must take some of the heat off. And it certainly sounds like fun. The elephant in the room – in the most metaphorical
way possible – is Dame Ellen. Is it just a coincidence that all this change has come about with her leaving the company?
“Ellen last sailed in 2006. In 2007 we made a three-
year agreement that ended in 2010. During the three years we had projects like the BT Challenge, which had Ellen as a non-sailing fi gurehead. That worked very well. We knew in 2007 that what Ellen would be doing would be on the environmental and sailability side; the question was whether we would do that as part of OC or whether it would be something separate. By the time it got to 2009, it was clear that it needed to be separate and independent of the commercial deals
22 cywinter 2011
and the realities of running a business. It needed to be a charity. “We came close to bringing a group of investors on board who would buy her out, but none of that happened in the end, so we just did a transaction between the two of us to go our own ways. It really happened in 2007 when she stopped sailing.” New beginnings for Offshore Challenge, but still in the same, safe hands. CY
Above: Extreme 40’s Cowes Week 2010 Photo: Paul Wyeth
Ellen MacArthur supports Mark before the Monohull start of 2001 Transat
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