Extreme Sailing Series Act 3 opening day is fast approaching and has less than a week to the start in Istanbul, Turkey. It will take place from the 25 – 29 May, and will open to the public from the 27 May.

Istanbul is a new venue on the circuit and provides a unique setting in this iconic city where East meets West. It is located on the Bosphorus Strait that connects the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea. The city is further divided by the Golden Horn, a natural harbour, with the Extreme 40 fleet racing on the Halic estuary separated from the harbour by the Galata Bridge, at the mouth of the Golden Horn.

Turkey’s national terrestrial broadcaster, TRT, will be providing live race coverage over the weekend making Act 3 the third event in a row this year to attract live race coverage from the venue’s terrestrial broadcaster – reflecting the growing appeal of the Extreme Sailing Series to a mainstream audience.  

“In Istanbul, we expect a really tough battle,” said Pierre Pennec, skipper Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, who led overall. “Not only because of the high level of the competition within the fleet, which has gone up a notch as we saw in Qingdao but also because the race course in Istanbul seems complex and very particular. It’s an inner race course with some effects from the buildings on shore so the winds will be shifty.”

Groupe Edmond de Rothschild is leading on 20 points overall, followed by Luna Rossa in second and Emirates Team New Zealand in third, both tied on 18 points with Red Bull Extreme Sailing and Artemis Racing hot on the heels of the current top three boats with 17 and 16 points retrospectively.

Torvar Mirsky’s team suffered what was undoubtedly the most dramatic capsize in the history of the Extreme Sailing Series’ in Qingdao during the last event:

“We are looking forward to the race in Istanbul,” said Red Bull Extreme Sailing skipper, Roman Hagara. “We were on the podium in Muscat, close to victory in Qindao, but after the capsize we did not find back to our system quick enough. We are prepared for Istanbul and want to finish on the podium again.”

With the top five teams going to Istanbul on such close points the racing is going to be electric.