Dubai: The 2016 Extreme Sailing Series was officially launched at the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) on Wednesday with a full line-up of eight world-class teams, from eight nations confirmed.
As the event heads into its tenth year, a selection of the world’s top sailors have been trained and hosted this week at DIMC and expectations are high as the teams prepare to set sail on a new fleet of GC32 catamarans and a new generation of foiling boats which are partly manufactured in the UAE.
Following on from the launch in Dubai, the series will touch down in an additional seven iconic urban city centres, including the Portuguese capital Lisbon which will make its debut as a new stadium sailing racecourse. In previous years host cities have attracted more than one million spectators and have proved popular with residents and visitors alike.
Andy Tourell, Event Director, Extreme Sailing Series, commented: “2016 marks the tenth year of this elite competition a milestone year for us in more ways than one, not least the change of racing platform to the GC32 which brings with it a whole new dimension to the racing and public experience. The Dubai International Marine Club is the perfect venue to commence the season and we are grateful for their support and for helping make the event a success.”
The competition on the water promises to be fierce and action-packed with America’s Cup legends, Olympic heroes and world champions preparing to do battle at close quarters. Among the crews will be veterans of 13 Olympic campaigns and 22 America’s Cup campaigns. Between them they also hold 27 World Championship titles, 27 European Championships and 106 National Title Holders.
On the grid for the new season are 2015 runners-up SAP Extreme Sailing Team co-skippered for a fifth year by Jes Gram-Hansen and Rasmus Køstner from Denmark, who have boosted their on-board talent with Italian Pierluigi De Felice, a multiple World Champion and three-times America’s Cup sailor.
The fleet will once again do battle on a global stage, taking in three continents over the next 10 months, bringing foiling to urban city stadiums for the first time. After the season-opener in Muscat in March — where the eighth team will be revealed — the fleet will travel to China’s Olympic Sailing City, Qingdao in May.
Returning to Europe in June, the Series touches down on UK shores in Cardiff for Act 3 for the fifth consecutive year, an event that attracted record numbers of spectators in 2013, with over 120,000 people taking front row seats around Cardiff Bay. The German metropolis of Hamburg will host Act 4 in July following its impressive debut in 2015, before the Series heads to the spectacular skyline of St Petersburg, Russia for Act 5 at the start of September, and onto Istanbul, Turkey for Act 6 just three weeks later.
New to the calendar for 2016 Lisbon, Portugal will make its debut as the penultimate Act of the year, before the Series comes to a crescendo at the final Act in Australia in December.
2016 Extreme Sailing Series Calendar of Acts
March 16-19: Muscat, Oman
April 29-May 2: Qingdao, China
June 23-26: Cardiff, United Kingdom
July 28-31: Hamburg, Germany
September 1-4: Saint Petersburg, Russia
September 22-25: Istanbul, Turkey
October 6-9: Portugal, Lisbon
December 8-11: Australia
