Extreme Sailing Series 2012 TV series creates a buzz

by Extreme Sailing Series on 23 Nov 2011 Extreme Sailing Series 2011 started in February and has visited Muscat (Oman), Qingdao (China), Istanbul (Turkey), Boston (USA), Cowes (UK), Trapani (Italy), Nice (France), Almeria (Spain) and will finally visit Singapore in December 2011.

At the world’s largest trade show for sports rights owners, buyers and broadcasters, the Extreme Sailing Series 2012 TV series created a bigger buzz than ever before. Eighteen TV channels around the world are broadcasting the 2011 six-part series but after pitching the Extreme Sailing Series at Sportel in Monaco, up to 41 broadcasters are now interested in taking the TV series in 2012 – a two-fold increase – across Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

With just over two weeks to go until the final Act of the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series in Singapore, Oman Sail has announced that Britain’s Chris Draper will skipper Oman Air in the grand finale to be staged over the 7th-11th December. 49er double World Champion and Olympic Bronze medalist, Draper is also a highly-skilled Extreme 40 sailor, leading Oman Sail’s Masirah to victory in the 2009 Extreme Sailing Series: 'It is going to be really hard coming in for the last event when all the teams are at the top of their game. On the plus side though we will head to Singapore with nothing to lose, and everything to gain,' said Draper. More recently, Draper has been found at the helm of the AC45 Team Korea and he will be stepping into some big shoes, replacing triple Olympic Gold medalist Ben Ainslie who skippered Oman Air at the last three European acts in Trapani, Nice and Almeria (now competing at ISAF Worlds in Perth at the same time as Singapore). Draper will race with the regular Oman Air crew of UK’s David Carr, Australian Kinley Fowler and Omani bowman Nasser Al Mahshari. Next week the full crew line-up for each of the ten teams competing in the final Act will be revealed…

UK viewers are currently enjoying the six-part TV series airing on Channel 4 every Saturday morning. The next installment on Saturday, 26th November sees the Extreme 40 fleet arrive in Istanbul for Act 3 still shaken after the wild conditions in China, only to discover further shocks are in store! Don’t worry if you miss any of the programmes as UK viewers will be able to watch the entire series on YouTube following Channel 4’s transmission of the final programme. Also, this coming Saturday (26th November) Bloomberg viewers can watch programme 5 and witness one of the most emotional wins for the French team Groupe Edmond de Rothschild on home soil in Nice. For fans outside of the UK, you can already watch the TV series on YouTube and today programme 4 with action from Boston, Cowes and Trapani is now available on our YouTube channel with programme 5 from Nice coming soon.

Full TV listings here.

Extreme Sailing Series website