OC Sport, the organisers of the award-winning Extreme Sailing Series, has been forced to cancel Act six of the eight-act tour to be staged in Trapani, Sicily in ten days time. The Province of Trapani and the regional government of Sicily have failed to execute their financial and operational obligations, necessary to host the event, despite OC Sport’s efforts over the last few months.

“We are, of course, extremely disappointed to be in this position with only ten days left before the Extreme Sailing Series was supposed to start in Trapani,” said Mark Turner, Executive Chairman OC Sport.

“Trapani has hosted two excellent Extreme Sailing Series events in 2010 and 2011. The most frustrating thing is that the funding is assigned by the Central Government in Rome to the region to host specifically this event for three consecutive years, this year being the third. Our requests for clarification have been deflected or met by silence over these last few months and weeks, and economic and political difficulties in the region have certainly been important factors.

“We really did not want to cancel this event but we were left with no choice having being told this week that we would need to wait until 5 September to have confirmation that they would deliver on their contractual obligations – too late for us to ship the boats and event infrastructure. The episode really casts doubt on the region’s ability to host professional sailing and sport events of this stature in the future, which is very sad after the investments made by ourselves and the Italian government over the past few years, and the fact that Trapani as a sailing venue really has great potential.”

It is the first time in the 6-year history of the Series that an event has had to be cancelled. The points allocated to the event for the overall Extreme Sailing Series championship will be split between the remaining two events of the global tour – Nice (October) and Brazil (December). The Notice of Race for the 2013 circuit will be published in September, with an exciting 3 continent global tour once again including some new iconic Stadium Sailing venues.

For more, visit the Extreme Sailing Series website.