69F Gold Cup: "Golden Girls" - Premiere on course for the Women's America's Cup
Tatjana Pokorny
· 01.09.2023
The names? You know them! Luise Wanser, 470 mixed world champion from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein in Hamburg. Tina Lutz, Olympic silver medallist in the 49erFX in Japan from the Chiemsee Yacht Club. Alica Stuhlemmer, Olympic bronze medallist in the Nacra 17 in Japan from the Kiel Yacht Club. Carolina Werner, once Kiel's "German Wonder Kid" alongside Paul Kohlhoff during their joint ascent in the Nacra 17 and now one of the strong drivers in the Women's AC Team Germany.
Sophie Steinlein, another strong 49erFX helmswoman and 2022 Kieler Woche winner, is in the mix alongside two-time Olympic bronze medallist Thomas Plößel. In addition, Moth ace Franziska Mäge from Bayerischer Yacht-Club, Luisa Krüger from NRV, Hannah Anderssohn (Warnemünder Segel-Club) and Theresa Steinlein (NRV).
We set sail to shatter clichés and make waves in history." Women's AC Team Germany
Nine top German sailors will initially form the Women's AC Team Germany. They have been training in various constellations on Lake Garda over the past few days for their first joint regatta start. Some of them are now starting at the Women Foiling Gold Cup off Gargnano. They still lack the experience of racing on the speedy 69F foilers, but the learning curve is steep.
The ambitious German women have now published their motto for the America's Cup 2024 on social media: "We are setting sail to shatter stereotypes and make waves in history. Introducing Germany's fearless women's team at Women's America's Cup 2024. Join us on this exciting journey as we redefine what's possible in the world of sailing."
The aim is to successfully participate in the Women's America's Cup
The golden F69 foiling summit for female sailors celebrates its own premiere. "Gargnano will forever be remembered as the place where the 69F Foiling Gold Cup for women was held for the first time," the organisers proudly announced. For Germany's ambitious top female sailors, the Gold Cup marks the beginning of their sporting endeavours, the start on the Barcelona course. The starting signal was given on 31 August.
With F69-experienced coach Lukas Hesse from the Seebrucker Regatta-Verein and spurred on by Kiel mentor, sponsor, Cup expert and internationally outstanding networker Marc Pickel, the female Team Germany is looking for its chances in the competition with well-known rivals. The Australian team includes Lisa Darmanin, Olympic Nacra 17 medallist and SailGP commentator.
American Magic and Orient Express send women's teams
The New Zealand women are relying on the superpowers of 49erFX Olympic silver medallists and world champions Alex Maloney and Molly Meech, among others. The current America's Cup challengers from Team American Magic have two teams in action in Italy. The new French Cup team Orient Express will also be represented by a female quartet.
Some of the participating women's teams come from the America's Cup campaigns. They use the Gold Cup for women as an ideal training and racing platform for the Women's America's Cup and also the Youth America's Cup, in which some of the youngest women will also take part in a mixed constellation. Both competitions will be held in 2024 with German challenger teams competing against the "ablergers" of the Cup teams in Spain's sailing metropolis of Barcelona.
Fair sailing, no penalties
The F69 Gold Cup offers many of the female teams their first outstanding opportunity to race in a fleet of foiling monohulls and maximise their learning curve. What was striking on the first of four regatta days: the umpires did not impose any penalties in eight races, as the teams behaved fairly on the water and adhered to the rules.
The first test of strength took place on Thursday in winds of between eight and eleven knots. A southerly breeze blew from midday until around 4 pm. Five flights are planned until Saturday. The best six of the ten teams will start the Gold Fleet series on Sunday morning. "The start was challenging, but we will fight for a place in the top six," said Carolina Werner after day one of the 69F Gold Cup. The event will culminate in a best-of-three match race between the two leading teams in the early afternoon of 3 September.
Sailing across Lake Garda at 30 knots is exciting and great fun." Carolina Werner
With an uneven number of races completed, Team American Magic 1, the women's crew from the racing team of the Cup challengers from New York, initially took the overall lead ahead of Team Jajo - DutchSail and Società Velica Barcola e Grignano. The German sailors, skippered alternately by Luise Wanser and Sophie Steinlein in the current Gold Cup, paid a lot of tuition fees on the first day of racing, but were also able to show where their commitment will lead in the future with a second place.
"We have a lot to learn in all areas: starts, communication and handling, where the latter is already going well," says Caro Werner. The strict regulations also present many hurdles on the course for the first race. "There is a lot to take into account and include in the strategy. For example, the rule that you can't get closer than two metres to turn marks. A minimum distance of four metres must be kept from opponents. And also this: you must not sail directly behind a boat in front of you at a three-metre distance."
Sailing performance is the only thing that counts on the speedy foilers
"We were able to train for three days," says Carolina Werner about the team's departure. That's not much, but it's still valuable. Caro Werner continued: "It's super important for us to finally be able to race here after months of Zoom meetings, preparations and planning. The training beforehand was very good. Sailing across Lake Garda at 30 knots is exciting and great fun."
This racing pleasure is made possible by the 6.90 metre-long 69F foilers, which are sailed by crews of three or sometimes four in the Women's Gold Cup. The Persico 69Fs form a strictly controlled standardised class in which only sailing performance counts.
