There was a big crash between Alinghi and Team Extreme in the fourth race of today (day 3 of the Extreme Sailing Series in Istanbul).

The noise of the impact could be heard 500 metres away. In breezy conditions and gusts over 19 knots, it was a classic port/starboard incident, as Alinghi tried to go behind Team Extreme but didn’t make it and hit Roland Gaebler’s boat hard.

With a large hole in the back of port hull, Team Extreme was kept afloat by a support RIB. They were towed to the technical area and craned out. Both Alinghi, with bow sprit damage, and Team Extreme are out of the game for the rest of the day.

One of the Alinghi crewmen, Yves Detrey, suffered a minor injury in the collision and was taken off the boat just after the crash with an injury to his left arm but confirmed as not serious.

Mark Lloyd captured all the action – see the images above.