There will be some new faces on the start line hoping to shake things up in Istanbul, including an all-new line-up for Alinghi. Winner of the Vendée Globe and offshore sailing legend Alain Gautier will make his Extreme Sailing Series debut as he takes over from regular helm Ernesto Bertarelli, commenting: "We know we will face crews which have raced several seasons in the Series so racing will be tough, but we will be in Istanbul with no pressure."
Gautier is joined by an impressive line-up of French sailors including six-time world champion Jean-Christophe Mourniac, and America's Cup sailors Christophe Lassegue and François Verdier. Morgane Gautier, a two-times match racing champion, will make it two women on the start line for the third event in a row, alongside The Wave, Muscat's Rachel Williamson. Nick Rogers, Britain's double Olympic silver medallist in the 470 dinghy from both the Athens and Beijing Olympic Games will make an interesting addition to GAC Pindar in place of Mark Ivey in his Extreme 40 debut. Also new to the roster is America's Cup sailor Mikkel Røssberg who will join the Danish SAP Extreme Sailing Team, while French Olympian Christophe Espagnon returns to Groupe Edmond de Rothschild for one Act only. On board ZouLou, Erik Maris will take the reigns from sailing legend Loick Peyron, who skippered the all French-team for the first two events.
The Wave, Muscat and Groupe Edmonde de Rothschild racing in Istanbul, 2011 © Mark Lloyd
The action on the water will be complemented by the first event of the NeilPryde Racing Series featuring the new, ISAF universal one-design windsurfing class, the RS:One with US$3000 for the taking by the winners. Read more here.
Live national TV coverage on Turkey's public channel, TRT Sport
Turkey's national TV broadcaster, TRT Sport, will present live TV coverage from the Race Village for the second year running in addition to daily race highlights. If last year's action was anything to go by, viewers can expect a treat – in 2011 more races were sailed in Istanbul than in any other venue, and we saw the biggest crash of the year between Alinghi and Team Extreme.
Team, Nationality, Skipper, Crew
Alinghi (SUI) Alain Gautier, Jean-Christophe Mourniac, Christophe Lassegue, Morgane Gautier, François Verdier
GAC Pindar (GBR) Ian Williams, Nick Rogers, Mark Bulkeley, Adam Piggot, Andrew Walsh
Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA) Pierre Pennec, Christophe Espagnon, Hervé Cunningham, Bernard Labro, Romain Petit
Oman Air (OMA) Morgan Larson, Will Howden, Charlie Ogletree, Nasser Al Mashari, Max Bulger
Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Matthew Adams, Pierre Le Clainche, Graeme Spence
SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Kostner, Pete Cumming, Mikkel Røssberg, Jonas Hviid
The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Hashim Al Rashdi, Rachel Williamson
ZouLou (FRA) Erik Maris, Philippe Mourniac, Jean-Sébastien Ponce, Bruno Jeanjean, Patrick Aucour
Extreme Sailing Series 2012, Series standings after 2 Acts
1st The Wave, Muscat (OMA) 19 points
2nd Oman Air (OMA) 16 points
3rd Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) 16 points
4th Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA) 16 points
5th GAC Pindar (GBR) 13 points
6th ZouLou (FRA) 10 points
7th SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) 7 points
8th Alinghi (SUI), 7 points