A good piece about the upcoming German Sailing Grand Prix by German journalist Andreas Kling is running in the German media and elsewhere around the world this morning....


America's Cup Grand Prix comes to Kiel
1:53 AM Sat 15 Jul 2006

America’s Cup Racing Yachts from BMW ORACLE Racing (USA), Team Shosholoza (South Africa) and United Internet Team Germany prepare to race Grand Prix in August in Kiel.

They are the Formula One crafts in sailing, 24 metres long, 33 metre mast-height and pure high-tech: the America’s Cup Class (ACC) yachts.

Usually they are kept away from close public eyes in the syndicates’ base camps, but in Kiel the three ACC yachts and their professional crews present themselves during the German Sailing Grand Prix from 3rd to 6th August. The syndicates BMW ORACLE Racing (USA), Team Shosholoza (South Africa) and the United Internet Team Germany will sail fleet and match races directly in front of the public. For the first time in the 155-year old history of the oldest sports trophy in the world, three of the current challengers will meet in Germany to compete against each other.

The Louis Vuitton Act 12 finished on July 2 was the last qualification regatta for the 32nd America’s Cup in 2006. But for three of the twelve teams competing the racing season has not yet ended. In Kiel they will sail another showdown. The three top skippers Chris Dickson (USA 71), Mark Sadler (RSA 48) and Jesper Bank (GER 72) are promising thrilling battles in the demanding waters of Kiel.

While the Cup racing is the highlight of the event, an interesting addition will be the public program in the race village at the inner fjord, attracting up to 200.000 sailing enthusiasts to visit KIEL.SAILING CITY.

The event area known as Kiellinie from the Kiel Week starts at the Institute of Marine Sciences, where the Cup boats are moored, on to the Reventlouwiese. Along the way numerous panels will inform about the America’s Cup and the three teams. Grinder contests, match race simulation and merchandising articles from the involved parties will be offered to the public. And in a water basin different America’s Cup models can be sailed via remote control by everyone.

For the big ones it gets serious on Friday. In the beginning of the event, on Thursday (August 3) the teams will sail a warm-up on J/80 boats in the afternoon (13–17 h). Each crew will consist of two America’s Cup sailors supplemented by VIP guests.

The first fleet race starts on Friday at noon directly in front of the Institute of Marine Sciences. Turning marks in the inner fjord of Kiel lead the impressive yachts along the cities’ coastline and then out again to the open Baltic Sea at the bay of Strande or Stollergrund at Kiel Bay, where a round robin with three match races will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Even out at sea the sailing stars will not be out of sight.

The races will be shown live, along with commentary, on a big screen behind the stage in the race village. And everyone who wants to watch the racing more closely, can book a trip to the match race course at the tourist information of KIEL.SAILING CITY (phone: +49/1805/656700). The range of spectator boats starts with the traditional three mast-schooner Thalassa, continue with a big motor vessel Nordstern and culminate in sailing on an authentic America’s Cup yacht.

Kiel would not be the capital of sailing, if the visitors could not test the water sport themselves. The Camp24sieben is a project, organised by Stadtwerke Kiel and KIEL.SAILING CITY on the same ground where the German Sailing Grand Prix action takes place and offers free sailing for children and adults on the weekend of August 5/6. Everyone who has ever made the experience of wind and waves can imagine the performance of the professional sailors on their racing machines much better.

After their daily match race duels boat against boat, which will also be held on Saturday at the same time and Sunday two hours earlier, the trio starts again for a fleet race. The finish can be watched in the inner fjord of Kiel at around 6 to 6.30 p.m. (Sunday 4 to 4.30 pm). Afterwards, Christoph Schumann, the voice of sailing in Germany, will talk to the sailors of the day up on stage in the race village.

The first German Sailing Grand Prix will convey the fascination and excitement of the America’s Cup to enthusiastic sailing fans and interested general public alike. The three teams, which have asked the Kiel Yacht Club to act as the race organiser, take it seriously: 'We will start with our top teams and give our best,' the three crews said in one voice.

The German team will show up in their home port with the GER 72, a formerly Italian boat from Mascalzone Latino of 2003. In Kiel the crew around skipper Jesper Bank had been training for several weeks last year. 'I don’t know, whether it will be an advantage', said the Danish skipper, 'but we want to improve our results from the last races in the Valencia Acts.' In Spain, the United Internet Team Germany became next to last, also because the other teams started with their faster new boats.

But in Kiel they will all start with their training yachts. Even the USA 71 from BMW ORACLE Racing is three years old and served as sparring boat on the whay to the finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup in 2003 against the Swiss Alinghi team, that later won the America’s Cup.

'It will be a great opportunity to line up against two other challengers in a different venue from Valencia and bring the excitement of America’s Cup Class racing to Germany for the first time', says Chris Dickson, skipper of the USA 71. 'We race every chance we get in preparation for 2007. Many of us have sailed in Kiel but never before in America’s Cup Class yachts so it will be a new experience for all of us'.

Tim Kröger (41) is boat captain on the RSA 48 in the Shosholoza Team, which is supported by T-Systems. The boat which is the yacht that Prada Challenge (Italy) had used in the Louis Vuitton Cup 2000 has been prepared for the start to show a perfect performance. Kröger: 'The RSA 48 is the foundation stone of our campaign, it is like a myth. It made its way from Cape Town to Valencia and now comes to my home country. It means a lot to us to show the yacht in Germany.'