This is what a near miss looks like from the deck of a racing boat

Sailing might look a gentle sport from the comfort of the couch, but on board it’s a very different story – as this near miss demonstrates.

During the opening day of the Volvo Ocean race – a 45,000 mile race around the world – Turn the Tide on Plastic, skippered by Britain’s Dee Caffari, came close to disaster.

From above the incident looked tight, demonstrating just how close the two boats came to crashing.

THAT WAS CLOSE! 😱@turntideplastic and @scallywaghk take on the spectator boat slalom! ⛷ #LEG1 pic.twitter.com/XetiRVAN6l— Volvo Ocean Race (@volvooceanrace) October 22, 2017

And footage from on board was even more dramatic – passing just inches from spectator boats, the near collision prompted wild shouts from the crew of “get out of the way”.

If you thought that @turntideplastic's near-collision looked close from the air, here's the view from onboard 👀 pic.twitter.com/gBYPSpzuov

— Volvo Ocean Race (@volvooceanrace) October 22, 2017

With six continents to visit in total, and this being the 13th and longest edition in the race’s history, Turn the Tide on Plastic’s journey could have been very short-lived indeed.