Youth America's Cup: Lack of experience prevents bigger things - German team eliminated
Max Gasser
· 23.09.2024
A total of eight qualifying races have created clear conditions in both starting groups of the Youth America's Cup. While half of the twelve teams in total have to head home after an eventful day with six races across both groups, the semi-finals start tomorrow for the others.
The junior teams of the big Cup teams from Group A are the still dominant Italians with youngster Marco Gradoni, American Magic with skipper Harry Melges and the British Athena Pathway team. The French team, which was plagued by technical problems in the first four races, missed out on the next round by two points, while Emirates Team New Zealand also suffered an early exit one point behind them. Among the invited teams, including AC Team Germany, Sweden, Spain and Australia made it through to the semi-finals.
Luna Rossa youngsters still the favourites
"I think our group was really difficult," said the three-time Opti world champion Gradoni after two more race wins back on land. With his team from the Italian racing team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, he will also start the semi-final series as the favourite, but the 20-year-old does not feel any pressure. "I never feel pressure, but it will be tough, there are only four races and it won't be easy."
The toughest competition is likely to come from the Americans, while the Swedish winners of Group B could now find themselves in serious trouble for the first time. "Our goal was to get this far and from now on it's about getting the best out of ourselves and enjoying ourselves. We're looking forward to everything that lies ahead," said trimmer Jaime Framis.
AC Team Germany eliminated before the semi-finals
Meanwhile, after two close races in 12-14 knots of wind, Germany's junior foiling team finished eleven points behind the Dutch team in penultimate place. Both teams were the only ones not to have had any additional training hours on the fast AC40s beforehand. "Our boat handling was simply lacking in some areas, so we weren't able to solve some situations as well as planned. We trained in the simulator for a year, but you can't replicate real sailing there as well as we have done in the last few days," said skipper Maru Scheel in her initial summary.
Even with Ilca 7 talent Julian Hoffmann, who was rotated into the team to replace campaign initiator Paul Farien, at the second helm, the German AC40 crew once again proved strong and competitive at times today. Then again, mistakes due to a lack of experience led to unsatisfactory results at the finish: sixth place in the first race and a fifth place in the second race of the day. Scheel summarised: "I think we have learned a lot. Unfortunately, you can't see that in the results."
German team challenged in the first Women's America's Cup
That is set to change when she takes part in the first Puig Women's America's Cup on 5 October. With the knowledge she has now gained, the 24-year-old from Kiel wants to help the German team in the best possible way. "I'm really looking forward to taking all the experience and learning with me there."
First up on the programme tomorrow are the four races of the semi-finals in the Youth America's Cup. The Live transmission starts at 2 pm. The match race final will take place on Thursday between the first two races of the Louis Vuitton Cup final between Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Ineos Britannia. Here to see the results and current interim results.
