Testing the waters to the Extreme

On the first day of the Extreme 40 sailing series in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour, a winch exploded out of the deck and sailed through the air like a flying saucer after a collision en route to the start line.

Bits of carbon fibre - the hi-tech material from which the Extremes are constructed - were offered up to the sea like Dragon Boat Festival buns.

Shirley Robertson, a double Olympic sailing gold medallist at Sydney, in 2000, and Athens, in 2004 and the skipper/helm on Rumbo Almeria, took it in her stride. As happens in the world of Extreme sailing, the boat was repaired and was raced the next day.

'I have fear in my belly as I leave the dock some days,' says Robertson, who was in the right on starboard tack. 'There are not a lot of escape valves on an Extreme and there's no brakes.

'Sometimes you can feel the boat take off and it's as though the speed will launch you overboard off the back. In big breezes, down-wind these boats can pitch-pole, [the nautical version of a forward somersault].'

The Extremes are known for spectacular capsizes. The thought of being flung through the air when the rudder is out of the water, rendering the vessel out of control, does not deter Robertson from joining the most revolutionary circuit to happen in sailing for years.

A gap was seen in the grand-prix sailing market for fast, inshore catamarans, and the series has taken off in iconic cities such as Venice and London. With less than three months' notice, Hong Kong played host this month to six boats in the inaugural Extreme Sailing Series Asia.