German team succumbs to BMW Oracle Racing

by Oliver Laskowsky, United Internet Team Germany on 21 Apr 2007
The teams had to wait for four days at the Louis Vuitton Cup – now the match races have started.

The United Internet Team Germany had a good start in the race against the US-team BMW Oracle Racing, however did not manage to win.

'We are very happy with the start of this race. The decision for the right was very good, and we managed to stay even in the first part of the race. But then we couldn’t hold on to the speed of the opponent', navigator Philippe Mourniac said right after the race.

At the start it first looked like Germany I went pass the start boat, but then the German yacht went higher over the starting line than her opponent towards the right side. On the right side the two boats showed a close match. During the second half of the cross BMW Oracle Racing went off and arrived at the first windward mark with a gain of 44 seconds. The US team could enlarge this gap and had a winning margin of 2 minutes at the second mark. This was also the time lag between the two boats when crossing the finish line.

In the second race of the day the United Internet Team Germany will race Shosholoza from South Africa. Shosholoza has lost its first race against Victory Challenge from Sweden. The German team stands a good chance to gain a win and collect first points in the Louis Vuitton Cup. 'It is a new race. We go into with confidence after the ggod start in the first race', says Philippe Mourniac.