Team Germany has recorded its first victory in the pre-regattas for the America's Cup. After the opening defeat against the highly favoured US team BMW Oracle Racing on Thursday lunchtime, skipper Jesper Bank (Denmark) and his crew achieved an impressive victory against Mascalzone Latino in the late afternoon.
The team on the GER-72 outclassed their Italian opponents with a lead of
9.46 minutes ahead at the finish. In light, unsettled winds and tactically highly
conditions, the Italian yacht got stuck twice in doldrums, while the GER-72 successfully circumnavigated the problem areas.
"This is match racing," said Jesper Bank in the evening in Trapani, "the race against Mascalzone was something for Bravehearts, because suddenly two wind systems were fighting each other. You had to be careful not to end up between them. That happened twice to the Italians."
The interim assessment of the double Olympic champion sounded correspondingly positive: "In the first race, the tide pushed us just over the line. Overall, however, the boat ran very well in these light winds. At the moment we are sailing strongly in under 10 and over 20 knots. Also
we did almost everything right on board this time. Our concept of not changing anything before this series and keeping the game simple was exactly right. The crew even had a day off yesterday. The
confidence is there."
This was confirmed by Jochen Schümann's former Soling foresailor Gunnar Bahr, who is the runner grinder on the GER-72: "This victory was important for us, because the Italians are among those with whom we currently have to compete."
The surprise of the day came from the French K-Challenge, who managed to beat the favourites Emirates Team New Zealand. The Swiss Cup defenders from Team Alinghi, the Italian Luna Rossa Challenge, BMW Oracle Racing (USA) and the Swedish Victory Challenge finished the first day of racing unbeaten, while the Germans and Emirates Team New Zealand took a win. The five other teams remained winless.
When the Cup yachts returned from their courses in the evening, around 1000 fans were once again on the shores to greet them. The eighth pre-regatta for the America's Cup will continue on Friday with two more match races.
Team Germany will face Emirates Team New Zealand, who are struggling today, at midday and South Africa's Shosholoza in the afternoon. "If we want three points," says Jesper Bank, "then we need them against Shosholoza. That's the purely statistical view. The same applies to Shosholoza, of course."
Hamburg sailing pro Tim Kröger, boat captain on Shosholoza and a good old friend of Soling Banks, promptly returned the "love greetings": "In Valencia, we gave away a sure victory against the Germans due to a stupid mistake just before the finish. In Malmö we couldn't even compete against Team Germany because we couldn't set the mainsail. I have a lot of friends on board the GER-72, but that will fade out on the water tomorrow. We are really keen to get the point in the duel with Team Germany."
