The Ocean Race Europe 2021: Three-country quartet at the start under the German flag

Skipper Robert Stanjek, 39, team "Benjamin" Phillip Kasüske, 25, British circumnavigator Annie Lush, 41, and French Vendée Globe ninth-placed Benjamin Dutreux, 31, make up the three-country quartet in Offshore Team Germany, which will start the premiere of The Ocean Race Europe on 29 May in Lorient under the German flag. Felix Diemer will be on board as onboard reporter. Five Imoca yachts, including the German "Einstein", and seven VO65 teams make up the two fleets in the advertised classes, which will also characterise The Ocean Race 2022/2023 on two tracks.

On Monday, the team started training on their Imoca "Einstein" (ex-"Acciona from 2011) in France. The team has one month and a total of three training blocks to prepare for the first summer battle under The Ocean Race umbrella. At an online press conference, skipper Robert Stanjek, CEO Michael End, co-initiator and team manager Jens Kuphal and the crew reported on the status of their preparations. Around five years after the start of the campaign, Jens Kuphal took stock: "It has been a long and not always easy journey with many twists and turns. We have experienced a lot so far. But ultimately, our big goal remains to sail an Ocean Race as a German team for the first time again next year, 20 years after the 'illbruck'. That was always our goal." The "illbruck Challenge" won the most important team regatta around the world in 2001/02, which was still organised under the name Volvo Ocean Race, with the American skipper John Kostecki and an international crew sailing under the German flag.

Kuphal describes The Ocean Race Europe as "a great opportunity to try us out". Kuphal continued: "We will get to know the race from the inside and have the opportunity to present ourselves and then hopefully take the big step to be part of the big race next year."

The sailing team led by Robert Stanjek, sixth at the 2012 Olympics, will be attempting to bring the German colours back into play from the end of May. He will be supported by Finn dinghy sailor Phillip Kasüske (2016 Junior World Champion in the Finn), four-time British match race world champion and Olympic starter Annie Lush and the technically extremely accomplished Imoca soloist Benjamin Dutreux. The Frenchman wants to use the new team commitment on the way to his next Vendée Globe start to broaden his own horizon of experience. Conversely, the German team will benefit greatly from the expertise of the 31-year-old materials technician and sailing professional.

On its course, Offshore Team Germany is still looking for partners for the big goal. CEO Michael Ende said: "Our idea is not to find a big sponsor who will then make the boat yellow, red, white or green. We really want to create a 'Made in Germany' campaign, preferably with many medium-sized companies, in order to sail around the world with this 'Made in Germany' logo. That was the basic idea behind this campaign." The company's own company End-Armaturen from Bad Oeyenhausen, a manufacturer and supplier of industrial fittings with 110 employees, led the way and got involved. Further major breakthroughs on the sponsorship front have not yet been achieved during the challenging coronavirus period, but the team remains optimistic. CEO Michael End says: "The challenges of the coronavirus pandemic have not made the search for sponsors any easier. But of course we also hope that we can win over one or two fellow entrepreneurs for our ideas for The Ocean Race Europe. Otherwise, if The Ocean Race Europe goes the way we want it to, it should be a good example for the actual The Ocean Race next year to make it a little easier to find sponsors. We are optimistic, just as we have been optimistic for five years." This also applies to skipper Robert Stanjek: "We have now put together an incredibly great team here. It's very important that we have qualified and great people on board. We realise that we are now growing together well."

The two most experienced sailors in the team are Annie Lush and Benjamin Dutreux. Stanjek says: "I am definitely the offshore rookie among the internationals. Both of them clearly also have a coaching role. Annie is incredibly strong when it comes to optimising our teamwork and team performance. She is totally meticulous, from planning to evaluation. Benjamin brings specific Imoca experience and navigation is his job. We have managed to bring in really top people." The boat, says Stanjek, is "in great shape", even if there are always "individual minor teething troubles" that "still need to be worked out".

In the coming week, the Imoca "Einstein", as a non-foiler not among the race favourites, will receive a new set of sails. "Then we will be ready for the race in terms of material. That will be a great moment," said Stanjek. The skipper knows: "Of course, the first leg will most likely be a long downwind race in the Atlantic. I don't want to say that we've booked the final lantern, but it will be tough against the top line-up of the new ships. But then it's off to the Mediterranean. And anyone who's ever been there knows that the Mediterranean can get very choppy. Especially at night. We have to see what happens there. A non-foiler, i.e. a daggerboard boat, also has major advantages. I'm also very excited, because our ship was planned in 2011 with the highest R&D costs. It's actually a displacement boat that has been calculated incredibly quickly, but has never been pushed to its potential. That will be interesting again."

The rule change in the crew area, which only allows four crew members to sail on board the Imoca yachts instead of the originally planned five, will also place maximum demands on the athletes. Annie Lush says: "We sailed the Fastnet Race with five people on the Imoca. It felt very short-handed compared to the sea sailing I've experienced before. In my first race with Team SCA there were eleven of us, in Team Brunel there were nine. The fact that there are now only four of us is an important part of the race. Everyone has to be able to do everything, everyone has to be an all-rounder. We have to work out how we can support each other and have good energy management."

The starting signal for The Ocean Race Europe will be given on 29 May off Lorient. The race takes the participants to the Italian finish harbour of Genoa via stage stops in Cascais (Portugal) and Alicante (Spain).