July 2002 - Nr. 7
German Yacht Wins
Round-the-World Race
TWIG - The German yacht illbruck Challenge won the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race after the final leg ended in the north German port city of Kiel on Sunday (June 9). More than 120,000 spectators gathered on shore and scores of boats escorted the illbruck to the finish line in what skipper John Kostecki called "a fantastic welcoming party." The yacht, whose home port is Düsseldorf and whose corporate home is Leverkusen, came in second in the final leg but was the overall point leader at the end of the 32,700-mile race, which began in Southampton, England, on September 23, 2001.
"With this victory, we have shown that such projects can be initiated successfully from Germany," said Michael Illbruck, head of the company that sponsored the syndicate. "Anyone who has seen the enthusiasm here in Kiel and still doesn’t understand that sailing is a wonderful, publicly effective sport lives on the dark side of the moon. We have worked hard for this moment for four years and with it have created a platform for more high-profile projects in German sailing…. Now we want to win the America’s Cup," Illbruck said, speaking of the premiere world sailing event.
A grand celebration on Monday capped Kiel’s Ocean Race Festival with a prize ceremony attended by Prince Andrew, Duke of York. The race finale has brought international media attention to Kiel, where as many as 300,000 people were estimated to have attended the festival over the weekend, and marketing officials say the event could bring in as much as 12 million euros (US$11.2 million). Two U.S. cities, Miami and Baltimore, also held waterfront festivals when the race stopped in their ports earlier this year.
