Extreme Sailing

The Extreme Sailing Series is racing in Boston this weekend. We went down to watch them yesterday.

There were three types of boats racing. Courageous Sailing had a bunch of kids out there in Lasers to start the day.

These were followed by the 49ers. These are a 16 foot skiff that they race in the Olympics. They’re kind of similar to the Aussie 18’s that they race in Sydney. They were really exciting. They carry an awful lot of sail for a small boat, and the crew is running around the entire time.

They looked like a bit of a handful actually. If you didn’t keep it level, the lee rack would get dunked and slow you right down.

These were followed by the big boats that everyone was waiting for. The 40 foot catamarans. There were 11 of these. The jockeying for position at the starts was pretty intense.

They’re running about eight short races a day, with the teams accumulating points over the season. This kept things pretty exciting because nobody was ever really out of it.

They’re beautiful boats, and they’re very fast and fun to watch. The course is quite short, and right in the inner harbor near Fan Pier. This means that the crowd can get a great view of everything.

They also know how to put on a great show for the crowd. The Red Bull team in particular, loved to fly one hull really high and buzz the dock to get everyone yelling.

Each boat has four crew members and one guest who’s just along for the ride. Chris doesn’t think that she could sail them because of how high they get. I think that they look pretty fun.

The teams spend the year traveling from race to race with the boats packed up in shipping containers. Before Boston, they were in Istanbul. Next they go to Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

It was a beautiful day in Boston, and we had a great time. You can see the rest of our pictures here.