Extreme Sailing Series Kickoff
With the America’s Cup in an off year and the next AC World Series not having started yet, fans of stadium racing on big catamarans fortunately have another option; the Extreme Sailing Series. Now in its 8th season, the ESS began its 2014 global tour in Singapore in a thrilling season premiere that had it all with close-quarters high-speed racing, gnarly crashes and carnage and even a Northern California native standing on the top rung of the podium!
Finishing in the top three in more than half of the 29 races that were run over the course of the week, Swiss racing syndicate Alinghi and their red-hot American skipper Morgan Larson’s consistency had the event wrapped up before the double-points final race was even sailed, a level of domination rarely seen on this circuit. The Nor Cal surfer, Moore 24 owner and Alinghi skipper reflected on the weekend, “We couldn’t have dreamed of a better start… I think we just carried on from last year and we’re the only team that hasn’t changed any of our crew. We will try and build on from last year and enjoy this victory!”
Aside from Larson and Alinghi’s stunning display of crew work and boat speed, the undisputed highlight of the weeks came when the blue Aberdeen Asset Management catamaran mounted Groupama from behind like something seen in a nature documentary. The video, which has now gone viral on the Internet, is well worth the price of admission.
Speaking of Groupama, one of their old boats has just been delivered to her new home on the West Coast. The VPLP-designed tri that debuted in 2004 as Groupama 2 and crushed the ORMA fleet into extinction has been purchased by West Texas ambulance magnate and multihull lover Loe Enloe. Bought to replace his aging ORMA 60 Loe Real, which was originally built as a prop for the movie Waterworld, the new Mighty Merloe is based in San Diego and will make her West Coast racing debut in April’s Newport-Ensenada race. With the fastest ORMA ever built and a MOD 70 (Orion) both campaigning this year, no West Coast course record is safe!