The Extreme Sailing Series and Cowes Week have always been bedfellows of circumstance and geography more than anything else. When the then OC Group started promoting the iShares Cup, it made sense for the Cowes based company to take advantage of a predictable sailing savvy audience and run the new – made for entertainment – stadium sailing event in parallel with the traditional, round the cans festival.
But the relationship between the two events has always been a bit tense. The Extreme Series was based at Egypt Point, which for anyone who has been will know – is a bit of a hike from the main Cowes Week activity, but even then, racing had to fit into tight schedules to allow sailors racing in Cowes Week to amble through the race-course on their final leg.
At the World Yacht Racing Forum in December, OC ThirdPole announced the calendar for the 2012 Extreme Sailing Series. The release showed a UK date, but not a venue. Now it has been revealed that the EXSS will not take place on the Solent, it won’t even happen in England – instead, the UK round of the Extreme 40 circuit will be hosted by Cardiff in Wales.
It’s not a one off to make way for a busy, complicated Olympic year either. The Extreme Series will visit Cardiff for the next three years. The host venue agreement with Cardiff City is backed by a Welsh Government grant for 2012-2014.
The Cardiff round of the EXSS will take place from 24-27 August, 2012. The event will be open to the public between the 25-27 August as the Extreme 40 fleet race in the circuit’s action packed ‘stadium’ format.
Executive Chairman of OC ThirdPole, Mark Turner said:
“Year on year the commercial value to the host cities of securing this event for the host venues has steadily increased, and this is reflected in 2012 developments. A pro-active and innovative host venue is critical to the success of the event, and we are very excited in this respect by the partnership with Cardiff and the Welsh Government.”
Cardiff Council’s Executive Member for Sport, Culture and Leisure Cllr, Nigel Howells commented:
“It’s great news that Cardiff has secured the Extreme Sailing series for the next three years, as a council we will do all that we can to support the event.
“Cardiff has proved time and time again that it can play host to a variety of world class sporting events. From top class football and rugby to newer events like Extreme Sailing. Since the opening of Cardiff International White Water (CIWW) in 2010 more and more watersport events are coming to Cardiff, which is helping to attract a new audience to Cardiff and Wales.”
There is no doubt that Cowes has produced some of the best racing of the Extreme Sailing Series over the years. High winds and strong currents, combined with a wind direction that means the race-course is usually parallel to the shore has resulted in spectacular sailing and a couple of notable incidents. (The television coverage to this day includes a shot of a capsize from one of the earliest years at Cowes.)
However, as the America’s Cup World Series in Plymouth showed in 2011, Cowes is not the only place in the UK that is capable of staging spectacular sailing, and perhaps Cowes needs to lose a few more events to cities that are less complacent, more hungry and perhaps more commercially minded.
With the loss of the Extreme Sailing Series, Cowes Week will almost inevitably return to an event purely for competing sailors. While the regatta can produce some photogenic start-lines, waiting for hours without any entertainment until the boats return is only appealing to the most geeky sailing watchers.
But Cowes Week organisers know their audience, and the blazer wearing traditionalists will have their own kind of spectacle back. Michelle Warner, Cowes Week Sales and Marketing Director was reported on the weekend as saying:
“… we look forward to seeing a welcome return of the traditional Cowes Week fleets running under spinnaker up the Green as they jostle for pole position at the finish; a sight many have missed.”
!
