Extreme 40's battle at Skandia Cowes week

by Ben Faber on 3 Aug 2006 Team Basilica and the rest of the ‘Extreme 40’ fleet finally took to the water in Cowes today for the first of three days of Grand Prix racing at Skandia Cowes Week.

Following two days of frustration which saw no sailing take place due to excessively high winds, all three teams were relieved to finally get underway on Wednesday afternoon and it was Team Basilica who made the most of the conditions to take the only race win of the day, before sailing was once again called off as the winds picked up to 28 knots.

Team Conrad Humpreys Racing (CHR) was joined by Hollywood actor Jeremy Irons who saw his team finish in second place behind Basilica and ahead of Jet Air in the day’s only race. Irons will return to Team CHR on Thursday as all three boats look to set a new record time for sailing around the Isle of Wight, before continuing the Grand Prix racing in the evening.

Team Basilica skipper James Grant was delighted to have finally got out on the water and to have recorded the first bullet of the series:

'It has been extremely frustrating over the last couple of days to see such high winds in the Solent and to not be able to resume our competition with the ‘Extreme 40s’. To finally get going today was a great relief and I am very pleased with the way we sailed and obviously in finishing ahead of the fleet. It is again frustrating that we were not able to capitalise on our win and carry on racing but there are still two more days of competition ahead.'

Team CHR skipper and helm Conrad Humpreys is looking forward to the challenge of setting a new round the island record despite the forecast of more high winds:

'Tomorrow will be one of the biggest challenges yet for the ‘Extreme 40s’ as we are expecting more difficult weather conditions. It will undoubtedly be risky but we all know those risks and we are keen to see how these boats will perform. Despite morestrong winds today, Team CHR had a great day’s sailing and our guests had a fantastic experience, none more so than Jeremy Irons who has decided to return tomorrow for the record attempt.'

The ‘Extreme 40s’ will begin their round the island record attempt at 10am tomorrow morning from the Squadron line and are expected back between 13:00 and 14:00. Two more days of Grand Prix racing are scheduled to take place on Thursday and Friday evenings, beginning at 16:00.

Wednesday 2nd August Race Results

Race One:


1. Team Basilica

2. Team CHR

3. Jet Air