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The organisers of Germany's first challenge for yachting's America's Cup say they are discontinuing all preparations for their campaign, effective immediately.
Intensive efforts to find a corporate sponsor have been unsuccessful, said Michael Illbruck, CEO of the international company illbruck GmbH and chairman of the illbruck Challenge.
He said the decision to discontinue plans to challenge for the America's Cup, which starts in October in Auckland with the Louis Vuitton challenger selection series, will have no impact on the team's current participation in the Volvo Ocean Race.
The illbruck Challenge is the overall Volvo Ocean Race leader with four of the nine legs completed. The race, which finishes in Kiel on June 9, is now in its fifth stage from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Miami, Florida, USA.
At the helm of illbruck in the round-the-world race is John Kostecki of the United States, who was also expected to lead the team's America's Cup campaign.
He is a two-time America's Cup tactictian, Olympic silver medallist and 10-time world champion in a range of one-design classes.
A new boat for the Cup campaign has been under construction in Bremen, Germany.
Although illbruck has a base among the America's Cup syndicates at the Viaduct Basin in Auckland, it has only been used to host the team's round-the-world race operations thus far.
The withdrawal of the German bid means there are now nine challengers for the America's Cup, which is also the number of challenger bases available at the Viaduct Basin.
The Germans' departure could enable the French challenge, which has so far not announced the location of its Auckland base, to join the other teams at the Basin.
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
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