iShares Cup

The iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series consists of five premier European Race Events, hosted by France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the UK. The last weekend in August the iShares Cup took place in Kiel and thousands of spectators watched the incredible catamarans competing for the crown at the fourth event of this premier European circuit. The field was packed with the world's top sailors from the world of the America's Cup, Olympics and offshore racing scene and it is a rare opportunity to see this class of sailors racing so close to shore.

One of the core objectives of the iShares Cup is to bring sailing to the public, and the new venue of KIEL.SAILING CITY was ideal. Every year the city hosts Kiel Week, the biggest sailing event in the world and huge summer festival, which sees crowds of spectators lining the city's sea walls to view the action, and the iShares Cup was held in the same fantastic sailing amphitheatre.

The iShares Cup race village was open to the public where there was live music each evening - and lots of chances to find out more about the Extreme 40s and the incredible sailors who race them. The last day of the iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series was a real dream day for sailors and pure advertisement for sailing sport. "It was absolutely amazing, the best stage" said Shirley Robertson's (Team JP Morgan, Great Britain). Crew member Fraser Brown really wants to come back to Kiel: "There was good sailing and lots of visitors in Kiel - this was really the best."