The Swiss America’s Cup defender Alinghi continues to be the measure of all things. On Monday, Jochen Schümann's crew won Act 6 from Malmö after ten out of eleven races.
Overall, it was the 21st match race victory in the 21st race for the Swiss boat this season. So everything is going very well for Schümann and Co., while the other big teams have to give up. Neither BMW Oracle Racing, LunRossChallenge nor Team New Zealand got through the competitions completely unscathed. For the perfectionist Schümann, the act is far from over. "We want the sweep like in Valencia."
For the first German challenger in the America’s Cup, there was a victory and a defeat on Monday. In the first race against Team Shosholoz, the German crew benefited from material damage to the South Africans, where the guide rail on the mast for the mainsail was defective. Team Germany won the race without a fight.
Race two started with an embarrassing "false start". Because the strategy of the French K-Challenge had been misjudged, Jesper Bank had to stop the boat shortly before the start to avoid a false start. "That's why we crossed the starting line much too late and without speed," said strategist Michael Hestbaek. "But otherwise we didn't do badly. We were within two or three meters again. Then they pulled us away." The Germans are still sailing with the old mast because they are waiting for important spare parts from Valenci. "We still have major deficits in the equipment," said Hestbaek. "We have to buy more sails, and actually we need a replacement for every part. But we are working on it."
Nico Jeschonnek also gained something positive from the defeat. "We are on the right track and showed today that we shouldn't be written off. We want to do what we came here to do again." Jeschonnek wished that sailing should be in the foreground again. "The other things are there and we can't take them away either, but for us it's supposed to be about sailing again."
Act 6 ends on Tuesday. Team Germany meets +39 Challenge from Italy in the last race. The meeting of the "Big Four" also promises excitement. BMW Oracle versus LunRoss and Alinghi versus Team New Zealand.