SailGP: Two top starts and a shock manoeuvre - rock 'n' roll for the Vettel team
Tatjana Pokorny
· 24.02.2024
This first day at the Australia SailGP in Sydney could have turned out much better for Sebastian Vettel's Germany SailGP Team: In the first of three starts, the team around helmsman Erik Heil was "spat out" at the back by the US team around Taylor Canfield, as Wedo Sports commentator Thomas Plößel put it. But then the crew flying the German flag managed two impressive leeward starts, at the end of which they were the first team to pass the first turning mark. There were other reasons for the fact that after three short races, the German newcomers were only able to score 8, 8 and 5.
Rock 'n' roll at the price mark
In the first race, the Germany SailGP team was unable to recover from the late start. The victory was secured by SailGP dominator Tom Slingsby and his Australians ahead of the well-performing Danes with Nicolai Sehested and New Zealand with substitute helmsman Nathan Outteridge. In the second race, the Germans were very much in the game after their leeward lightning start, until a dramatic encounter with France took place when rounding a buoy.
Like Team Germany, Quentin Delapierre and his team decided to round the left-hand buoy. With a very narrow lead and right of way, they closed the door in a good position for the German SailGP team, who had to spectacularly abort their attempt to squeeze through between the French and the buoy. Instead of forcing their way through the eye of the needle between their opponents and the buoy, the Germans made a last-minute manoeuvre on the wrong side of the turning mark and then had to round it again.
The German team almost capsized with a hull high in the sky above Sydney. "It's pretty scary to hang in the air like that," reported strategist Anna Barth later. The crew led by helmsman Erik Heil lost a lot of places during their knife-edge ride, finishing in eighth place at the end of the race instead of what could have been a top five finish.
Team Germany with four German players in action for the first time
In the third and final race of the day, Erik Heil and his team were able to repeat their strong performance from the second race. With another lightning start downwind, they rounded the first turning mark in first place again. This time, the Germany SailGP team was more focussed and finished in fifth place despite losing a few positions. The teams of the day were the Danes and the Australians (26 points each), who shared the lead in this order after three races ahead of New Zealand (24 points).
The Germany SailGP Team, which only entered the SailGP at the start of the current fourth season, had four German players in Sydney for the first time: alongside driver Erik Heil, strategist Anna Barth and grinder Jonathan Knottnerus-Meyer, Felix van den Hövel celebrated his SailGP sailing debut. The Berlin native is no stranger to the world's leading professional league and the Germany SailGP Team. As a boat builder, he has built two F50 catamarans himself in the America's Cup and knows the boats inside out.
Felix van den Hövel: from boat builder to league athlete
Felix van den Hövel later worked for the SailGP league, where he was initially part of the global technical team and then responsible for the wing sails before joining the land team of Sebastian Vettel and Thomas Riedel's new German racing team. "Now I can finally use what I used to build. It's like unpacking a toy," said the 35-year-old before his first race, which is now behind him.
Felix van den Hövel trained hard to be able to race on the racing catamaran, including gaining 13 kilograms in body weight. After the three Saturday races, the new grinder in Sydney said: "It was so awesome! Probably the best start I could have had. I've been through everything that others might experience in a whole season. First the tight situation with France, then the barrel, then almost capsizing ... Of course that's annoying, but the most important thing is that nothing happened to anyone. I'm perfectly happy right now. It was very exhausting, but also very motivating."
The German team (12 points) at least managed to relegate the stumbling teams from Great Britain and the USA to 8th and 9th place. The Canadians and their driver Phil Robertson were unable to finish higher than tenth and last, having to watch the last two races of the day from the sidelines with technical problems. Erik Heil and his team will start the final two fleet races on 25 February from seventh position. Wedo Sports will again be broadcasting the Sunday races from 6 a.m. here transferred.
