Doubts and waiting are finally over for the STG/NRV Youth Team in the early hours of this morning. The seven German sailors, who were in San Francisco last week to take part in the first selection round of the Red Bull Youth America's Cup with the AC45 winged cats, joined forces with the New Zealanders from Full Metal Jacket and will now sail for the first Youth America's Cup from 1 to 4 September. Both teams had 13 points each, but STG/NRV had won five races, while the Kiwis only had three. "It was an incredible week," said STG/NRV skipper Philipp Buhl before leaving San Francisco. "We weren't expecting first place, but we never took off throughout the week and have consistently improved. The manoeuvres and teamwork in particular worked well. And there was less talking at the end." It wasn't necessary, because the team's performance spoke for itself. In addition to Buhl, Erik Heil (helmsman), David Heitzig (runner), Max Boehme (headsail trim), Max Kohlhoff (bow), Michael Seifarth (floater) and Justus Schmidt (substitute) also sailed.
"We're delighted to have made the qualifying round," team coordinator Markus Koy told YACHT online half-asleep after having to wait until the results were announced at 02:30 CET. "We had already raised our hopes a little after our good result. Now we're going to finalise our plan and work hard so that our learning curve continues to rise." Koy adds that he has really enjoyed training these young talents and witnessing their great progress in a short space of time. Anyone who watched him coaching this relaxed but highly focussed team in San Francisco and taking them to work every day in the black Chevy Suburban on Pier 80 will take his word for it.
From the second series, which finished yesterday, the Swiss from Team Tilt and, somewhat surprisingly, the Portuguese from ROFF/Cascais Sailing Team qualified, both of whom won two out of three races on the final day. In contrast, the favoured Brits, who were still leading by one point after two days of the regatta, collapsed and were eliminated, but disappointed with 2nd, 3rd and 3rd place. The nomination of the fifth team in the shape of Objective Australia from the first week was also not entirely to be expected. Like the British, they had made a brisk and good start to their selection regatta, but on the final day they dug deep into the points pot with 2, 3, 3 and ended up in penultimate place in their group in the sailing classification, behind the Danes and Austrians.
But the rules for progressing were not set in stone. The selection committee, which consisted of the two Austrian cat sailors Roman Hagara and Hans-Peter Steinacher and the US 505 helmsman Mike Martin, wanted to assess not only the sailing results (60 per cent) but also intangibles such as communication and team spirit as well as the preparation plan presented by the team and, of course, the finances that will be required to continue. It is currently not known whether further qualifiers will be nominated. The organisers have left this option open. As things stand, the following teams will be competing in September:
Qualifiers
STG/NRV Youth Team (GER), skipper Philipp Buhl,
Full Metal Jacket (NZL), William Tiller
ROFF/Cascais Sailing Team (POR), Bernardo Freitas
Team Tilt (SUI), Lucien Cujean
Objective Australia (AUS), Jason Waterhouse
Set (supported by a team that sails the America's Cup World Series)
France - Energy Team/French Youth Team
New Zealand - Emirates Team New Zealand/Name TBC
Sweden - Artemis Racing/Swedish Youth Challenge
USA - Oracle Team USA/American Youth Sailing Force (SFO)
USA - Oracle Team USA/USA45 (USA)
