ROUND THREE OF THE ISHARES CUP 2008
JPMorgan Asset Management Extreme 40
Shirley and her crew onboard JPMorgan Asset Mangement Extreme 40 are heading into the third event on the iShares Cup circuit. For Shirley it is a return to home turf as she lines up against some of the best sailors in the world during Skandia Cowes Week.
The fleet has grown for this event with eleven teams battling it out for the top spot. The existing teams will be joined by two new boats, both from America’s Cup challengers BMW ORACLE Racing, with a squad that includes the America’s Cup and Olympic gold medal winning Russell Coutts, offshore multihull champion Franck Cammas, top match racer James Spithill, and the hugely experienced round the world sailor John Kostecki.
“This time last year I was preparing for my first ever Extreme 40 event, it is amazing how quickly the last 12 months have flown by! I feel like we have learnt so much as a team and I am excited to be lining up against the likes of Russell Coutts and the other America’s Cup crews. I am sure that the AC teams will mean we will all be raising the bar on the water and it will keep us all on our toes. This event is a special one for us as we will be sailing on home territory, so I hope that we can pull out some good races and stay on the podium. Sadly, I will only be competing in the first two days of this event as on Monday 4th I will be flying off to China to join the BBC team out there, but I will be checking in with the team and have my fingers crossed for the boys onboard!”
For Shirley this is only her fifth event on these boats and she admits that despite her huge experience in sailing, the Extreme 40 required her to start again from scratch. But then, as she points out, all the sailors who have raced them have tackled a steep learning curve.
“They are really tricky boats but I think they are tricky for everyone, even the experienced multihull sailors,” she explains. “When the boat is down-speed, it behaves a bit like a keelboat. And then when it’s going, it’s going like a train. So even some of the Tornado sailors were struggling to gauge crosses [when two boats meet]. It’s really hard. The angles are difficult; sometimes you get it right and sometimes you get it horribly wrong".
“One of the interesting things is that on the Extreme 40 what is going to happen to you next is in front of you,” she continues, “whereas with the Yngling it all just happens and you can’t do anything about it. So that takes a bit of adjusting to, just getting your eye in. But then again, a lot of the skills are the same; you’ve got to work with your team, you’ve got to play to your strengths. I was certainly the most inexperienced on our boat, which was good. It made me hungry, it made me enjoy it a bit more and I had a big smile on my face — I just loved it.”
The skippers will first race on the tricky Solent waters, with their strong tides, rocks and sandbanks, on a media day on Friday 1 August when the 11 Extreme 40s will start with cannon fire from the famous Royal Yacht Squadron at 14.30. The real action kicks off on Saturday August 2 — the first day of Skandia Cowes Week — when the iShares Cup races will take place over short, sharp courses, set off Lepe Beach every afternoon from 14.00-17.00.
Then from Tuesday 5 August to Friday 8 August the Extreme 40s can join in the Skandia Cowes Week racing, with their own start at 09.45 each morning from the Royal Yacht Squadron — so get down to the Parade or Cowes Green for a fantastic view of these speed machines. Famous sailors taking part will include Dame Ellen MacArthur who’ll join the team on the BT Extreme 40.
iShares Cup at Skandia Cowes Week entries:
1. Alinghi (Ed Baird)
2. BT (Nick Moloney)
3. BMW ORACLE Racing (Franck Cammas)
4. BMW ORACLE Racing (James Spithill)
5. Holmatro (Andreas Hagara)
6. iShares (Hugh Styles)
7. JPMorgan Asset Management (Shirley Robertson)
8. Oman Sail (Pete Cumming)
9. Team Aqua (Cameron Appleton)
10. TEAMORIGIN (Rob Greenhalgh)
11. Volvo Ocean Race (Herbert Dercksen)
