Admiral's Cup: BYC team in the top ten - "Sailing a bit off the devil's ear"

When Moriz Forster sat among the legends of sailing at the press conference on the eve of the Admiral's Cup opening race, it was extraordinary for the 24-year-old sailor from Munich. "Being there as a youngster was a very special moment," said the young crew co-manager of the TP52 "Red Bandit", "I was very proud that I was able to represent all the German teams. You can see what a range of professional sailors and legends you can compete against here."

Admiral's Cup opener: Favourites in front

While the professionals, Ocean Race winners and America's Cup contenders such as Vasco Vascotto, Abby Ehler, Ian Walker, Mike Sanderson and Gavin Brady talked about memories of previous Admiral's Cup editions, Moriz Forster listened to them in awe. He himself was only two years old when the last Admiral's Cup was held 22 years ago. He was not yet born when some of the experienced Cup protagonists were already fighting for the golden trophy that is now once again the object of their desire.

The Admiral's Cup is back after a long break and got off to an exciting start with the Channel Race. At the front, the top favourites went toe-to-toe in the historic south of England. Hardly anyone was surprised that after the first overnight stage of the Channel Race, which started gently and ended in a power play, the Italian team from the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda came out on top with equal points ahead of Karl Kwok's team from the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (both 10 points).

They were followed after the Channel Race by the equally highly rated teams from the Yacht Club de Monaco (12 points), the Royal Swedish Yacht Club (16 points) and the New Zealand Yacht Squadron (18 points). The best of the three German two-boat teams on Sunday evening after the double scored Channel Race was the duo from the Bavarian Yacht Club with Carl-Peter Forster's TP52 "Red Bandit" and Dirk Clasen's "Ginkgo" (30 points) in eighth place.

"Red Bandit" impresses in the Channel Race

From a German perspective, "Red Bandit" and her young crew impressed at the muscle show in the large AC 1 class. As the fifth Admiral's Cup boat, the youngsters left well-known teams in their wake. Crew co-manager Moriz Forster said after the Channel Race: "That was really, really good. We are very happy with the result. It wasn't an easy race. Not for our boat. There was a lot of reaching and courses that didn't suit our boat at all. However, the new sail rig really helped."

Nothing is given to you here. You have to push every moment and always give it your all." Moriz Forster

At the same time, Moriz Forster was pleased to see that "Red Bandit" got off to a particularly good start in their chocolate conditions. "We performed very well in VMG Downwind and VMG Upwind." Smiling, the young sailor from the Bavarian Yacht Club added: "The boats ahead of us are pretty, pretty good." In the Admiral's Cup channel race, they were none other than the Italian Wally Rocket 51 "Django WR51", which won AC 1 according to IRC calculation, Karl Kwok's TP52 and series world champion "Beau Geste", Niklas Zennström's Carkeek CF 520 and "Line Honours" winner "Rán" and Peter Harrison's TP52 "Jolt 3". Click here for the team standings.

Team mate "Ginkgo", the Clasen family's Humphreys 39, contributed tenth place to the good team result in the small AC 2 class. Dirk Clasen and his crew enjoyed the Channel Race, even though it got very wet in the final power play. The skipper reported: "The race started with little wind. It was a bit of a room sheet start, a bit of poker. It was only after two and a half hours that there was a bit more wind. During that time, it was really choppy. Some people couldn't catch up. We were still able to make up quite a bit of ground."

Admiral's Cup: Eventing competition in the Channel Race

The game then changed during the night. Dirk Clasen said: "From half past two this morning, the hot ride with wind started right from the back. We had between 20 and 25 knots of wind and were able to really step on the gas." Was the steering fun? Clasen laughed: "Yes! You can give the devil an earful." Dirk Clasen and his son Jacob Clasen took it in turns to steer. "He wasn't afraid either," said his father, "you do that until your arms hurt. The "Ginkgo" crew recorded a top speed of 22 knots.

The Channel Race has tested its challengers in many disciplines over 160 nautical miles. After the rest day on Tuesday, some different qualities will be required in the three-day phase of the short races. Moriz Forster could not yet give a clear forecast for the performance of the Admiral's Cup team from the Bavarian Yacht Club, but said: "It will depend on the conditions. We have now experienced in the offshore race that the conditions were not exactly ours. We were still able to hold our own. Always fifth would be very, very good!"

The second German team from Regatta Verein Greifswald opened the Admiral's Cup with the yachts "Imagine" (skipper: Felix Strecknbach) and "X-Day" (skipper: Lars Hückstedt) and 48 points in 13th place. The Hamburg Sailing Team (60 points) will have to start from 15th place with "Elida" (skipper: Daniel Baum) and "Edelweiss" (skipper: Thomas Reinecke).

The highlights of the Channel Race: