Right before the Esimit Europa crew docked off for its third day of training in Valencia we caught up with skipper Jochen Schuemann and talked about the sailing program of the team as well as its long-term plans that might include the America’s Cup and the Volvo Ocean Race. The German Olympic medalist and America’s Cup winner seems to be critical of the two events and considers they are both “struggling” and are unable to get a critical mass of participants. The pan-European team will not take any decision before late 2013, once the future of sailing’s top competition is clearer.
Conditions on Thursday were even better than Wednesday, with flat seas, bright skies and a breeze that kicked in even earlier and peaked at 12 knots.
VSail.info: In yesterday’s interview Igor Simčič talked about his vision and the business and commercial aspects of the project. Let’s talk about the sports and sailing part of Esimit Europa.
Jochen Schuemann: That can be a long story! The vision of Simčič is very important and it is to make a private, company-owned project possible. All these commercial projects, obviously, depend on sponsors and it’s a good thing that his vision is also shared by some of the biggest European companies and we all know that in all European countries, Europe is a big topic. We might not all agree on all the issues but I’m convinced that in the end we need to agree, otherwise we will all be on the same boat but each one will have their own target, their own destination.
I think that a boat with 20 sailors onboard is a very good ambassador for what has to happen in Europe. This is exactly how people from the EU Commission see it, people from Gazprom and, hopefully, people from other companies that will join us as partners and make it possible that a 100 footer with the most modern technology, from power-driven winches to canting keel can have a sailing program.
You must have noticed that there are a lot of known faces onboard, sailing together as a European team and this is exactly what we did earlier in my career with Alinghi. We brought the best people with the best skills together and sailed successfully. That’s why you see Juan Villa back again, Cico Rapetti, other people as well or Alberto Bolzan, the younger helmsman from Italy. In the past we might have sailed against them mainly, we now bring them together in the same team and will try to achieve the same high goals.
Esimit Europa 2 on her third day of training. Valencia, 3 May 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info
VSail.info: What is the racing calendar for 2012?
Jochen Schuemann: The racing calendar is focused on the main Mediterranean offshore races which can be considered quite inshore in reality. It’s the Giraglia, the Maxi World Cup, the Barcolana, which is a very local race in Italy but receives tremendous coverage and interest. It is a unique event, at times unbelievable, with more than 1,000 boats on the starting line at the same time! This race serves our media expectations very well and I doubt you can’t achieve more with a single race. As a commercial project, all the sport events must have a meaning for our sponsors and partners. We need the PR, we need to show what our mission is.
VSail.info: Will that be the only type of racing you’ll do even in 2013 and 2014?
Jochen Schuemann: No, we will go to other big events and, among others, we have in our calendar the Gotland Round in Sweden or the Fastnet Race in the UK. However, if you aspire to be a symbol it is important that our boat is technically in the highest standards. On the sports side we need to be at the highest level, otherwise what kind of symbol are we? In order to be a winning boat we need to train and that’s why we are here in Valencia. We, obviously, also have guests, like you this morning, but the end goal is to train, to learn. We have to be a reliable partner for our sponsors and become a top team.
VSail.info: Regarding the boat can you give us some details on the refit you did this winter?
Jochen Schuemann: It’s not really a refit. We did a big maintenance and solved a few problems we identified in the last two years, after we bought her from Neville. We didn’t carry out any big modifications because, after all, this boat is on its own and there is no direct comparison to anything else. As a result, it’s more an issue of making sure that all the technical details are on the highest standards and really reliable such as the whole PLC system that drives the engine and distributes the hydraulic pressure everywhere. It’s a big fine-tune for the different gears, the different loads. It’s not as simple as it would be with a human where you just grind faster or slower. Here, you have to basically program it, early enough, that’s what we’re doing now, so that you understand how to share the available power from the engine. It’s quite a sophisticated process and you have to carry out computer simulations during the winter which you will then prove here in training. It’s a very complicated machine and it takes time! Youu have to confirm your simulation in real life and that’s exactly what we are doing right here in Valencia.
VSail.info: How long will you train here in Valencia?
Jochen Schuemann: We are actually working very hard to make Valencia our permanent team base, like we did earlier with our boats, such as the AUDI ALL4One. The America’s Cup Port is an unused diamond for the sailing world and we are trying to bring our projects and activate them here. For the moment, the boat will leave Valencia on the 10th of May for an offshore training to Trieste. We will be back here in late June because we are trying to make this our home. We will have to work out an agreement with the city on how to do it and I’m sure there are enough facilities around and I think it’s in the interest of the city to keep it active. We are trying to bring in as much activity as we can because it’s also in our interest.
VSail.info: In yesterday’s interview Igor Simčič mentioned the possibility of participating, longer term, in the America’s Cup or the Volvo Ocean Race. At what stage of preparation are you right now regarding these two events?
Jochen Schuemann: I think you asked the question the wrong way.
VSail.info: Tell me then what is the right way to ask it.
Jochen Schuemann: Obviously, any sportsman will always want and strive to achieve the best result in the best events of his sport. The America’s Cup used to be, and probably still is, one of the top trophies in our sport but at the moment, I’m sure you know, I’m not sure it’s fulfilling all the criteria perfectly. For sure, it’s a high-tech event and it will probably have the biggest media coverage in sailing but the effort is just too big. I think that you simply can’t convince a commercial partner to do such an event because there is not enough return for what they are trying to right now. For the moment, it is just a private event for the richest people in the world, playing their egos and trying to win the trophy.
VSail.info: Maybe but the America’s Cup has always been like that and you personally raced, and won, with the team of Ernesto Bertarelli, whom I wouldn’t call a poor person…
Jochen Schuemann: Of course, sailing, at these levels, isn’t for poor people. It is an exclusive sport but at the end you have to organize an even competition where more than one have any chance of winning and with more than three participants. The Esimit Europa project has a future until at least 2015, so after 2013, after the Cup, we will, hopefully, know how the sailing world will settle, restructure or develop. We have ambitious plans for Europe and Europe has a future over 2015, so I’m sure we will find the right challenge where we can go one step further. As a sportsman I want to go forward not back. So, from here the next step could be a long-distance race around the world.
Esimit Europa 2 on her third day of training. Valencia, 3 May 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info
VSail.info: I guess you are referring to the Volvo Ocean Race.
Jochen Schuemann: The Volvo Ocean Race is also struggling right now. We don’t know even if the current format will also be in the next edition. If you ask me about what we are seeing today, the Volvo Ocean Race in trouble, the America’s Cup in trouble, we wouldn’t join them as they are at the moment. However, I’m sure they both have a future and they will both find the right solutions and then we can take a decision about what we want to do. The potential is here and if you already have a 100-footer you won’t end up participating in an event with 20-footers. You must take it for granted, it has to be a big event with a big boat.
VSail.info: Talking about big boats, I can’t help asking about your view on the AC72′s. Having been the skipper of an America’s Cup winning team I feel there aren’t that many people more qualified than you on that issue.
Jochen Schuemann: I don’t have an opinion yet because they are not on the water sailing. [Laughs] I, obviously, think that the wingmast technology and the multihulls are very high-tech orientated but I personally doubt they are practical to run big events and find enough participants. I also doubt they represent the wider sailing world. I also think that you only have enough fans and followers if you do something that people understand. Even sailors that went to watch the latest event in Naples couldn’t understand what was going on. They were asking who was winning what because you had speed trials, match races, fleet races. Even sailors don’t get the full pictures. They do understand that the boats are fast but that’s all and it isn’t enough.
For me, sailing isn’t about the show, speed and crashes only. We have all these factors now because the boats are much faster, more powerful and we have seen there’s high risk of damage to the equipment and injuries to people. Sailing used to be a safe sport, putting safety first and I think this should also apply to the Cup and the Volvo Ocean Race. Sailing should be about nature, team work, reliable high technology. These values are much more important and sailing should convey them. In fact, I think that sailing is more qualified to show the values of big corporations than other sports, even soccer.
For sure soccer has billions of followers because every little kid loves to kick a ball but for big corporations, I think the sport of sailing can do a lot better than we are doing right now. The sailing world is a little bit behind in their professional approach but I’m sure there will be a development. It will be hard and at the moment we are still owner-driven and the owners are big sponsors, because if you think about it a sailing boat with 20-25 sailors is like two soccer teams. I have nothing against those people, they love sailing, they are passionate about it and they sponsor 20-25 people. However, if we want to restructure the sailing world we have to understand that the commercial money, the commercial interests must have a place and that will bring more continuity to the events and the sport in general.
VSail.info: What about Esimit Europa’s crew? Is this the final configuration?
Jochen Schuemann: Yes, we have a final plan for the racing crew but for such a big boat you need a bigger squad around the race team. We are trying to sail this boat with 17-18 people only, which is a lot less than last year.
VSail.info: What is the ideal crew size for this particular boat?
Jochen Schuemann: There is no ideal number. You can sail these boats with just 12 people in light airs but as soon as the breeze picks up and you have any kind of problem you would love to have 30 people onboard! You have to find the right compromise and that’s what we are practicing, getting the right people that are multi-tasking, able to perform lots of functions and well-trained on technical aspects. The big lesson for us is to sail with less and less people and I think we are doing it very well. Still, we need a lot of backup people, in case someone is sick, injured or simply unavailable. We will sail probably 50 days in a year, so people have other projects where they train, hone their skills and talents. So, if for any reason somebody is unavailable we need to find someone that can jump in, take his place but with the same level of performance. This is the wider squad that we are trying to grow slowly with the aim to have 25 people, available at all times, that can fulfill the 18 roles onboard. This is a slow process and it doesn’t have to be done tomorrow. We are slightly over 20 at the moment but we will build that core group during the year.
VSail.info: Finally, let’s talk about the AUDI TP52. Will you still be involved this year?
Jochen Schuemann: Yes. We have already modified the boat and this year it will be an IRC52. For us and AUDI, our top sponsor, the two main events are the Kiel Week and the Copa del Rey. Kiel Week is a huge event in terms of spectators and media attention and it’s great for AUDI and our team, the symbol of AUDI in sailing, to be present there. The Copa del Rey is very important for AUDI Spain which is the main sponsor. We will also use the 52 Super Series to train and practice with the other TP52 and IRC52 teams.
VSail.info: Do you think the TP52 class still has a future?
Jochen Schuemann: in my opinion the TP52 is one of the best boats I have sailed. It’s small when you compare it to a 100-footer but it’s the right size for a pure racing yacht. It’s a pure race horse, very fast in all conditions, very dynamic, very nice to sail and very reliable even in 30 knots of wind. I think there is indeed a future for this boat but we need to change our approach a bit in order to make the fleet bigger. For me sports is when there are enough participants. Everybody wants to win but when the fleet is big enough being third can also be valuable.
When there are only four teams like in the America’s Cup what value do you give a third place? You are second to last. There is no value to that and you actually feel bad being second to last! As long as the competition is strong and you have many teams there is nothing wrong with being third. But when there are only 3-4 teams, finishing third looks bad. I think this is a problem and in my opinion, ideally, a sailing competition must have at least 10 participants. With such a fleet there is enough space for everyone, whether you win or lose.
Esimit Europa 2 on her third day of training. Valencia, 3 May 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info