Red Bull Sailing Team
Over the course of their sailing career Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher have won pretty much everything there is to win on the world‘s oceans: back-to-back Olympic gold and a host of world and European championship titles. On top of that, they have twice been named Sports Team of the Year at the Austrian Sports Awards, and can rightfully consider themselves the most successful summer sportsmen of their age in their native Austria. So, nothing left to fight for? Think again! After thefirst year in the Extreme Sailing Series, the next big step will follow!
The Olympic champions are - as always - leaving nothing to chance. The Goal for 2011 is a overall Podium Place. After Olympic gold in 2000 (Sydney) and 2004 (Athens), the two world-class sailors are once again turning their eyes to the next challenge: Extreme 40 Big-Boat-Sailing. Making up the five-man crew: Craig Monk (NZL), Will Howden (UK) plus one very special guest per race. “Multihull racing is the future of sailing,” explains double-Olympic champion Hans Peter Steinacher, the tactician on board Red Bull Extreme Sailing. “The teams love it, and the fans can barely believe how fast and manoeuvrable the boats are. All those who doubted catamarans have been proved wrong and will continue to be – not least because the next America’s Cup is to be held on multihulls.”
200 square metres of sail, 20 metres high, 13 metres long and speeds of up to 75 km/h - those are the key facts when it comes to the new 40-foot catamaran from Red Bull Extreme Sailing.
„A crew of four professional sailors is actually a little small for a boat that is extremely hard to handle and four times as fast as a RC44,“ explains Bowman and two times America´s Cup Champion Craig Monk.
Despite the duo‘s enormous experience, Steinacher knows that sailing in the big boat category means moving up a size - in all senses of the word: „The biggest challenge is and was the boat‘s huge dimensions. After all, we aren‘t competing in long-distance regattas, but instead coming into towns and sailing in very tight spaces near to the banks in front of the spectators.“
A total of 12 race wins in the 2010 season leaves the international team comprising Hagara and Steinacher from Austria, Will Howden (UK) and Craig Monk (NZL) satisfied with a debut season made all the more difficult by major technical difficulties suffered pretty much throughout the six-race series. Following stops in Sète (FRA), Cowes (ENG), Kiel (GER), Trapani (ITA) and Almeria (ESP), Red Bull Extreme Sailing managed to secure sixth spot in the overall series standings. Up to ten teams competed in the Extreme Sailing Series 2010.
Skipper Roman Hagara explains: “We made some mistakes in our setup, which meant our sailset was never going tobe able to compete with those of the other teams. On top of that, we simply need more days training. We investedplenty of preparation work and training days. Now we hopefully can be up there with the best boats in the 2011 World Series.
In 2011, the multihull event will be transformed into a worldwide series taking in regattas in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the USA. The first race will take place in Muscat (Oman) end of February 2011.
Long-term the Austrian pair has of course eyes for the America‘s Cup, where they have already had a chance to gather some experience: „We have trained on this catamaran with Oracle often since summer 2008,“ explains Hagara. The man from the province of Burgenland in eastern Austria sees the decision to race multihull big boats as a step towards the future of the sport: Anybody who knows the duo and their crew, will know that such phrases are no empty words.
