It didn’t take long for Europe’s biggest nation to evaluate the pros and cons of participating in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup. Last Thursday’s unfortunate accident onboard the Artemis Racing AC72 yacht and the tragic death of British Olympic sailor Andrew Simpson prompted Sailing Team Germany (STG) and the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) to withdraw from the event. Although the STG/NRV Youth Team had qualified for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup in San Francisco, they will not be at the start line in September. As per the team’s statement, “the health of young sailors should not be compromised.”
“The tragic accident has prompted us to evaluate our participation in the Youth America’s Cup from scratch. When it comes to such a tragedy for the world’s best sailors, we want to exclude the early risk of endangering the health and Olympic ambitions of our athletes. I know Andrew well from the past Laser years and I’m shocked by his death,” explains Klaus lame, NRV sports director, the unanimous decision by the STG and NRV.
“The forces that act when sailing a 22-meter racing catamaran, are hardly manageable even for professionals. The risk of an accident is constantly present. Hopefully the America’s Cup management will take this incident as the impetus to thoroughly rethink the future, the format and sports equipment,” said Oliver Schwall, managing director at STG and former Tornado world champion.