Pink’s lucky not to sink after accident
EXTREME 40s delivered the drama at Cowes yet again yesterday when John Pink’s Aberdeen Asset Management cartwheeled spectacularly in gusty afternoon conditions.
The British team, who had earlier notched an encouraging second place in the day’s first race, were stuck between rivals Niceforyou and Red Bull Extreme Sailing when the boat flipped and almost capsized in the last of the class’s six races.
Pink and his three colleagues clung on and were unhurt, but the crew face a race against time to be ready for today’s fourth day of action in the UK leg of the Extreme Racing Series.
Leigh McMillan’s The Wave won two of the six races, while there were also victories for Oman Air, Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, Team GAC Pindar and overall leaders Luna Rossa.
Elsewhere at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week, Carphone Warehouse founder Charles Dunstone enjoyed his first win of the regatta, his Team Origin beating another TP52, Franck Noel’s Near Miss, in the Class IRC 0 by more than five minutes on corrected time.
Of the other larger boats, Eldred Himsworth’s Drumbeat ended Ray Rouse and Blanco’s two-day winning streak in the Contessa 32 class, while teenager Maek Lees’s Team Echo earned victory in the Quarter Ton class.
Among the smaller boats, Milo Carver and Richard Romer-Lee’s Dauntless lived up to their name by winning the Darings class, while Henry Bomby’s Team Baltic took the honours in the J/80s, the clear winner from Ian Atkin’s Boats.com and William Goldsmith’s Team Exess.