PHOTOS: What it's like aboard the high-speed catamarans racing on Sydney Harbour

Sailing isn’t meant to be a contact sport, but the bang and shudder that hit the Australian team boat, as it headed for the start line for race 3 of the Extreme Sailing Series yesterday on Sydney Harbour proved otherwise.

Business Insider was on board 33 South Racing, the Sydney-based wild card entry in the aquatic version of Formula One racing, when Italian rival Lino Sonego clipped the back of our 40-foot (12m) catamaran and it sounded like the starting cannon had been fired. 33 South had the right of way and the Italians were obliged to avoid a collision.

Skipper Katie Spithill didn’t realise it, but the Italians had punched a large hole in the back of the hull. We raced on, with the andrenalin surging as the champion sailor and younger sister of two-time America’s Cup winner James Spithill pushing her rookie entry to the front of the pack. She’s the first female skipper in a series filled with Olympic gold medal-winning sailors and showed she has what it takes.

The boat seemed a little off the pace towards the end of the 15-minute race, but still finished a credible 5th in the 9-boat race. It was only after that we realised 33 South had been taking on water and her debut in the series was over for the day.

“The Italians tried to duck us and misjudged it. We finished the race thinking we could tape up the hole but it turns out it’s a lot bigger than that,” Spithill said. “It’s really frustrating but our results so far are promising. We’re competitive.”

Great first day racing we are competitive!! Bad news is day was shortened by the Italians on port tack. #bighole #notourfault #33southracing

A photo posted by Katie Spithill (@katiespithill) on Dec 9, 2015 at 9:13pm PST

The 33 South team have worked through the night to get the boat back on water today for day two of the four-day series being held between the Sydney Opera House and Mrs Macquarie’s Point.

The Extreme 40s can reach speeds of up to 30 knots (56km/h) and the racing on the tight circuit at high speed is like dicing through the chicanes in F1.

And sometimes it goes horribly, horribly wrong, as this clip from last year’s series shows:

The incredible thing about the Extreme Sailing series is each boat is crewed by a team of 5 and also takes out a guest sailor. There’s not other sports experience like it in the world, putting spectators into the thick of the action during the racing.

It’s exhilarating and exhausting. Just sitting on the boat during the 15 minute race, seeing how hard everyone pushes both themselves and the boat at high speed leaves you pumped and drained as you cross the finish line

Business Insider had the chance to head out with the SAP Extreme Racing team first. The German multinational software company provides live data analysis of the racing you can follow online here, as well as sponsoring the Danish team.

After the first day of racing, SAP leads the Sydney series, the eight and final round for 2015. They’re also in the running to win the 2015 championship.

33 South is hoping to put an Australian team in the Extreme Sailing series in 2016, when it moves to even faster multihulls with foils. Team manager Joshua Chant is still hoping to land the major corporate sponsor that will allow them to compete next year. If you’re interested (and want to go out for a sail with them), the details are here.

You can head down to watch the racing this weekend from the Sydney Opera House, or Mrs Macquarie’s Point, where the competition has a base. There are about eight races every afternoon, kicking off at about 2.30pm.

Here’s the Business Insider’s eye view of what it’s like to be in the thick of the racing.

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