Power struggle on land, sporting upwind on the water: While the tug-of-war between CEO Uwe Sasse (Munich) and the Chairman of the Supervisory Board and main sponsor Ralph Dommermuth (Montabaur) has flared up again in Team Germany, skipper Jesper Bank and his crew achieved brilliant races in the ninth pre-regatta for the America's Cup off Trapani at the start.
After the first of three days of racing in Louis Vuitton Act 9, the team on the GER 72 finished fourth and seventh with 15 points, putting them in fifth place in the field of twelve Cup yachts. With their best daily result in the 2005 America's Cup season, the 17 sailors flying the German flag impressively defied the management chaos ashore. Skipper Jesper Bank's starts in particular were outstanding, and he came away first in the second race of the day.
However, the success will taste bitter, because at the time of the races the team knew nothing about the imminent return of the (ex-)team boss Sasse, who had already been dismissed and was unpopular with the sailors, and who wants to manoeuvre his way back to the top of the syndicate by means of an interim injunction.
The surprise team of the day was the South African team Shosholoza with Hamburg sailing pro Tim Kröger on board. The youngest crew in the field of twelve America's Cup yachts sailed to two fifth places and fourth place (16 points) in the intermediate classification, just ahead of Team Germany.
"An extremely motivating result for us," said Kröger happily, "our handling is
handling is getting better and better and so we can more effectively
get the most out of our boat."
The day's winner was Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle Racing team (23 points) ahead of the Swiss America's Cup defenders from Team Alinghi (22 points) and Emirates Team New Zealand (21 points).
The conditions were not easy. Especially in the first race, which had been postponed several times due to gybes, gusts in the second half of the race disrupted everything. When the wind picked up to 25 knots, gusting up to 30 knots, the spars burst in rows. In the surf, the IACC yachts reached top speeds of up to 20 knots! This is the absolute limit for the cuppers, which displace around 25 tonnes, and the crews.
