BT Extreme 40 looking forward to the Competition

'BT Extreme 40' , Skipper Nick Moloney.' ThMartinez &copy

Saturday, 2nd of August, will be the opening day of the UK round 3 of the iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series in Cowes - the third regatta out of five on this European tour.

An awesome and spectacular line up of 11 world class entries will be on the start line and the BT Extreme 40 crew will have to face some of the world's very best sailors at the UK regatta right now including - Round 1 winner, double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson, helming JPMorgan Asset Management, winner of the first event in Switzerland; current series iShares Cup overall series leader and British America's Cup challengers TEAMORIGIN skippered by Rob Greenhalgh; and round 2 winners in France and America's Cup Defenders Alinghi, with Ed Baird. These top teams will be joined by two further Extreme 40s fielded by America's Cup challengers BMW ORACLE Racing boats, skippered by Franck Cammas and James Spithill.

With this in mind, Nick Moloney and the BT Extreme 40 crew of Steve Mitchell, Andrew Walsh and Ed Barney have been training hard this week in Cowes to prepare the boat spend the maximum of their time on the water with their coach, Rob Wison. The objective is clear - to be on top-form on Saturday to go head to head with some of the greatest names in the sport.

Coming back from a long day on the water, Nick, BT Extreme 40 skipper, stated: 'For me it's the best calibre of sailors that I've had the chance to sail against for a long, long time. I love to sail with the best, it always pushes you to do the best for yourself and your team. I've always said in any event you have to have great competition to really cherish the result!'

Whereas some skippers could feel stressed just looking at the entry list, Nick is looking forward to race against old friends: 'I think there is a lot more excitement than the other events because the whole iShares Cup is going up a level - a prestigious level. For me personally, I know a lot of guys in different teams - some of those guys we sailed together when I was 20 years old and it's just such a great to sail with them again! Alan Smith from BMW ORACLE Racing, is a really close friend, we did the America's cup together, we did the Whitbread Round the World Race together and we've maintained contact, and this is the first times we've sailed against each other for a long time.'

The iShares Cup UK regatta runs from 2nd August to Monday, 4th as part of Skandia Cowes Week. The Extreme 40s will join over 900 yachts and keelboats sailing out of Cowes on the Isle of Wight. The sailing conditions will definitely be very different to the previous regattas in Lugano (Switzerland) and Hy?res (France). 'Generally, we have good wind in Cowes and we get thermal sea breezes in the afternoon at this time of year. There's so much going on with Skandia Cowes Week and all the other racing associated with it so the whole thing gets pretty crazy and you have to keep really focused. It's not really a very long period - three days - but it's really intense with up to six races each afternoon. Tides are the biggest issue in the Solent - it's really tricky and you have to really concentrate which throws another element into your race strategy but its very influential and you really don't have much headspace. So it comes down to who can make the best calculations that will do well.'

To view the iShares Cup Leaderboard: www.isharescup.com/leaderboard.asp