America's Cup German youth team is out

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A German sailing team dropped out of the America's Cup youth regatta Monday, saying the crash that killed an experienced seaman raised questions about whether the squad's young sailors would be safe.

The decision by Sailing Team Germany/Norddeutscher Regatta team has no direct effect on the four professional teams racing to win the full America's Cup this fall. But it is an awkward development for the event, coming just four days after two-time Olympic medalist Andrew "Bart" Simpson died when the Royal Swedish Yacht Club's catamaran broke apart during a practice run near Treasure Island.

"This tragic accident is an occasion for us to totally re-evaluate our participation in the Youth America's Cup," Klaus Lahme, the German team's sports director, said in a statement translated from German. "If tragedy comes to the world's best sailors, we want to avoid risking the health and Olympic ambitions of our athletes."

The Germans were one of five youth teams set to compete in the Red Bull Youth America's Cup, a new race that will parallel the 162-year-old America's Cup regatta. The national teams, made of sailors ages 19 to 24, race on 45-foot catamarans - a little more than half the size of the 72-foot boats the professional racers use.

The regatta "is a minor part of the whole show," said Andy Turpin, managing editor of the Bay Area sailing magazine Latitude 38. "But for the first time there is a youth race as part of the schedule. It was really trumpeting the main message that this is all about inspiring youth and young sailors."

Simpson, a strategist for the Swedish Artemis Racing team, died when his team's sailboat fell apart Thursday, trapping him underwater for at least 10 minutes. Simpson, a 36-year-old Briton, was pronounced dead on shore 20 minutes later. The cause of the wreck is under investigation.

Simpson was practicing on a souped-up boat capable of reaching 45 mph. Race organizers hoped the high-octane boats would attract a wider television audience.

But sailors have struggled with the large boats in the choppy bay waters. Team Oracle USA's $8 million catamaran was destroyed in October when it capsized and was swept out the Golden Gate.

German team organizers said they didn't think young sailors were ready to sail the 45-foot boats on the bay.

"The forces that act when sailing a ... racing catamaran are, even for professionals, hardly manageable," Oliver Schwall, the team's managing director, said in German. "The risk of an accident is constantly" there.

"Hopefully the America's Cup management takes this incident as the impetus to rethink the (race's) format and equipment," Schwall said.

The youth regatta will continue and the German team can be replaced, said Tim Jeffery, a spokesman for the America's Cup Event Authority.

The 45-foot boats are safe, he said.

"There have been 138 races in the AC45s without serious injury," Jeffery said. "There have been hundreds, literally hundreds and hundreds of hours of practicing, also without serious injury."