The Roaring 40s - Red Bull capsize - Video

by The Red Bulletin/Sail-World,com on 11 Apr 2010 Extreme 40's - are well named - super fast with an occasional spectacular wipeout- this is not new vision but if you have no seen it before - its a must watch

The lead is sizeable, but still uncomfortable. As 23mph winds push Red Bull's Extreme 40 downwind towards the final marker off the Omani coast. Scything through the chop, the catamaran passes ten meters away from a breakwater crowded with Sultanate officials.

The wind howls, and only snatches of the live commentary crackling through the loud speakers on land, reach skipper Roman Hagara and his crew of three on board.

A final mark rounding and an upwind finish, and Red Bull will have won its third race of the day, all but assuring the team first place on this, the last stop of the Extreme Sailing Series in Asia.

Crewmen David Vera and Gabriele Olivo crouch on the black mesh trampoline that spans the two hulls, pulling in the spinnaker. Hagara begins a turn, and the boat pitches suddenly and violently. The Austrian double Olympic gold medalist glances up with a sickly feeling.

A sliver of the spinnaker is still unfurled and flapping aggressively in the wind. Instead of catching just two sails, the powerful winds catch three with a power that drives the bow underwater and the stern up in the air.

It's too late to recover. The 1,000kg boat begins to pitch slowly. Vera hangs onto the mesh as the boat capsizes, before dropping into the water. Olivo balances himself on the now perpendicular mast. Tactician Hans-Peter Steinacher, Hagara's gold medal winning partner of thirteen years, locks his fingers into the mesh and holds on.

Hagara balances on the top hull, before a wave dislodges him and he falls twenty feet to the water. His left arm catches on the rudder and his ankle bangs against the bottom hull before he slips in. Six motor dinghies race to their aid.

Here is the short sequence