The United Internet Team Germany surprisingly announced changes to the top management on Sunday. The general meeting of the Deutsche Challenge AG decided to put sports director Andreas John on leave "with immediate effect". "John successfully supported us in the build-up phase of the team as a sports director and is now leaving the campaign," said team boss Uwe Sasse.
Sasse himself also wants to retire from the position of CEO by the end of the year and concentrate on his role as a shareholder in the AG. This decision was made in agreement with Ralph Dommermuth, head of the main sponsor United Internet. "He initiated the campaign," said Dommermuth, "we agreed that the range of tasks is permanently too large and that we want to distribute the responsibility over several shoulders in the next phase."
Together with the supervisory board, which includes Dommermuth, Michael Scheeren, Edzard Reuter, Dr Klaus Murmann, Rainer Siggelkow and Norbert Lang, Sasse wants to redesign the management structure. Talks with suitable successors are already underway, but concrete negotiations are not being held. Dommermuth traveled to Malmö especially for this. Willy Kuhweide, the commodore of the German Challenger Yacht Club, also arrived in Sweden on Sunday.
Andreas John was no longer able to fill his role, said Sasse about the reasons for the leave of absence. "The assessment that he has weaknesses has been around for a long time. After the events of the last few days, this is a necessary step. It was always clear that we needed a strong sports director," said Sasse. "We need rest in the team again."
The accident of foreship man Christian Buck, who is on the mend, apparently put a lot of strain on the crew. With Willy Kuhweide, Lufthansa psychologist Reiner Kemmler also joined the team. "We want to make sure that nothing gets stuck," said Sasse.
The sailing crew of Team Germany suffered two defeats against Alinghi and the Swedish Victory Challenge on Sunday. Both times the crew of skipper Jesper Bank lost the starting duel. They were able to keep the gap low against the Swiss favorites for a long time. The gap only became clearer on the last downwind course. "The race was as expected," said Wolf Dietz from Munich, "from a feeling we were able to keep up better than in Valencia." Alinghi helmsman Jochen Schümann also praised the performance of the Germans. "They didn't sail that badly. It's not that they were two worlds."
The surprise of the day came from the Italians from +39 Challenge, who took the victory from the favored New Zealanders. Alinghi is the only undefeated team to lead the Act 6 points classification.
Results
Flight 7
BMW Oracle Racing (US76) beats ChinTeam (CHN 69) 1:51 Alinghi (SUI 75) beats United Internet Team Germany (GER 72) 1:45Victory Challenge (SWE 73) beats Desafio Espanol (ESP 67) 1:21Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL 82) beats K-Challenge (FR60) 1:12LunRossChallenge (IT74) beats +39 Challenge (IT59) 1:44Mascalzone Latino-Capitali Team (IT77) beats Team Shosholoz (RS83) 0:4
Flight 8
Alinghi (SUI 75) beats ChinTeam (CHN 69) 3:11 BMW Oracle Racing (US76) beats Desafio Espanol (ESP 67) 1:56Victory Challenge (SWE 73) beats United Internet Team Germany (GER 72) 1:20+39 Challenge (IT59) beats Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL 82) 1:06Mascalzone Latino-Capitali Team (IT77) beats K-Challenge (FR60) 1:06LunRossChallenge (IT74) beats Team Shosholoz (RS83) 1:1
Points
Alinghi 8 BMW Oracle Racing 7Emirates Team New Zealand 7LunRossChallenge 7+39 Challenge 4Victory Challenge 4Mascalzone Latino-CapitaliTeam 4Desafio Espanol 3K-Challenge 2Team Shosholoz1United Internet Team Germany 1ChinTeam 0