Promising start for the German AC40 team – problems with the foil – Sailing Reporter

The Youth America’s Cup has had a hard time getting going so far. The boats in the A group broke down, but today the B group with the GER team was able to race for the first time. Maru Scheel and Paul Farien explain in an interview with SR how they did.

The weather in Barcelona is not yet kind to the AC40 teams. The A group with the youth crews of the cup teams started two days ago in strong winds and waves and technical problems meant that the race was not serious. Yesterday the race of the B pool started with the invited teams without AC40 experience. Today, Friday, there was finally only one race that was delayed. The conditions were at the lowest limit.

The wind speed must be 7.5 knots on average for an AC40 race to start, which is one knot higher than for the AC75. In rainy weather off Barcelona, ​​however, the wind sometimes drops to five knots after the starting signal. This means that foil mode is no longer possible. In the race, it is more important to let the AC40 fly than to look for wind shifts.

The Swedish team in particular seems to have mastered this well. No wonder, since the former America’s Cup team Artemis is behind the project. Rumours are that sponsor Thorbjörn Tornquist is heading for a new America’s Cup challenge. Not least because he has just bought an AC40 for the Youth Team. This automatically makes Sweden the favourite in Group B, as the only team with extensive AC40 sailing experience. All the others had to rely on the simulator.

It is therefore no surprise that the Swedes complete the first lap of the race with a huge lead. Their experience with the boat seems to have enabled them to stay on the foils better. But the picture changes as the race progresses. Sweden also falls into the water on the shortened course at the start of the finish line and has to settle for third place.

The German team almost flew past them. The helmsmen Maru Scheel, Paul Farien and the sail trimmers Jesse Lindstädt and Tom Heinrichs delivered a promising first race with actually perfect timing at the start. In the SR interview they then explained what happened…