AC German team resumes training after broken mast

by Oliver Laskowsky on 23 Sep 2006 After a two day break, the German team resumes the sailing training again on Friday (22nd September) in Valencia.

The reason for the interruption was an incident during the training on Tuesday, when the mast of training yacht GER 72 suddenly broke. Now, the crew can carry on with their preparation for the 32. America's Cup in 2007, where they will be the first German team at the starting line.

The spare mast was erected on the training yacht GER 72. 'We will have to adjust everything to each other during today's training. Tomorrow we will be ready for a regular training and for the races against the other teams', skipper Jesper Bank says. The involuntary break is rated by him like this: 'Of course this break throws us back, but at this point, we can't evaluate how much.'

The mast of GER 72 suddenly broke in seven meter height during regatta training on Tuesday. When hitting the surface of the water, the top part of the mast broke once more and sank. No crew member was injured in this incident. The yacht was towed back into the harbour.

The new yacht, Germany I, with the sailing number GER 89 is remaining on land this week. After last week´s training with both boats of the German team, the new yacht was being optimized the last couple of days.