2024 – A big thank you
The year 2024 took the Black Star Sailing Team through high waves and tight manoeuvres, and gave them some truly remarkable moments: our sixth regatta season was marked by changes, challenges and a highlight that will stay with us for a long time: the RC44 World Championship on Lake Lucerne.
Report 44Cup World Championship 2024 Brunnen
21–25 August 2024, Brunnen, Switzerland | So now it was here, the big event that every competitive athlete hopes for in their career: the world championship in their own country! The Black Star Sailing Team had it even better, with the 44Cup 2024 World Championship Brunnen taking place literally on their doorstep.
Waving the Swiss Flag on the 44Cup World Championship Brunnen
Repost from 44Cup.org – 24 August 2024 Switzerland may be in the news recently with the exploits of its Alinghi Red Bull Racing challenger for the 37th America’s Cup, and posting some solid results in the sailing at the Olympic Games, but, meanwhile, back home on Lake Uri (Lucerne), one of the most significant sailing events […]
Report 44Cup Baiona and Marstrand 2024
After a break of several months, we are now back with reports on two regatta events which, as you will soon read, kept us so busy that we almost missed writing down what happened.
Certainly an exciting summer read…
Sicherlich eine spannende Sommerlektüre…
44Cup Baiona – Switzerland’s day in the sun
Repost Newsfeed 44Cup.org of 10 Mai 2024 History was made on the 44Cup today when, for the first time, a team representing land-locked Switzerland was top scoring boat of the day. Admittedly this came after an awkward one race day, but victory in this for Christian Zuerrer’s Black Star Sailing Team is indicative of the […]
Report 44Cup Calero Marinas 2024
44Cup Calero Marinas, 28 February – 3 March 2024, Porto Calero, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain | After finishing the 2023 season in Lanzarote last November, we were delighted to start the new regatta year at the same venue at the end of February. Black Star Sailing starts its fifth regatta season with the 44Cup Calero Marinas.
2024, here we come!
Five years have now passed since Black Star Sailing was founded in January 2019. Since we started with the GC32 catamaran in the GC32 Racing Tour, we are already completing our sixth regatta season this year – but only in the RC44 class.
2023 – Thanks for this!
Christmas and the festive season are just around the corner. And as the year draws to a close, it’s time to take a look back and honour all the events and the associated support that the Black Star Sailing Team continues to receive from all over the world:
Report 44Cup Calero Marinas 2023
44Cup Calero Marinas, 22 – 26 November 2023, Porto Calero, Lanzarote, Spain | The season finale took the RC44 racing circus to Lanzarote. While winter was already setting in in more northerly latitudes, we were looking forward to warmer temperatures and sunshine. As far as temperatures were concerned, the Lanzarote Canary Island actually lived up to its reputation. But unfortunately it disappointed in terms of wind…
Report 44Cup Alcaidesa Marina 2023
44Cup Alcaidesa Marina, 18 – 22 October 2023, La Línea de la Concepción, Spain | The second-to-last regatta of the 2023 44Cup season took place in the bay off La Linea. And with it came the long-awaited moment when the Black Star Sailing RC44 team was finally allowed to climb onto the podium. Under the famous Rock of Gibraltar, of all places, we managed the small feat of achieving a podium place in our sixth regatta on our own yacht. So our credo of not closing ourselves off to criticism and facing all challenges with an open mind paid off for us almost symbolically at the foot of the iconic “Rock of Monkeys”.
Olympic Gold Medallist Will Ryan tries out the 44Cup
Repost Newsfeed/Interview 44Cup.org with Will Ryan 22 October 2023 | For the 44Cup Alcaidesa Marina, Christian Zuerrer’s Black Star Sailing Team is trialling gold and silver medallist Will Ryan on mainsheet 470. Ryan has been part of the extraordinary Australia Olympic 470 medal-making machine that saw their men’s crews win gold in four out of the last six Olympic Games, and podiuming in five.
Report 44Cup World Championship Cowes
RC44 World Championship Cowes 9 – 13 August 2023 | The Black Star Sailing Team started with the declared aim of sailing as consistently as possible. We wanted to avoid the up-and-down of past regattas as much as possible.
In the first two days we were able to implement our goals well. With quite constant results in the midfield, we were able to improve visibly compared to the last event and rank ourselves in the middle.
Report 44Cup Marstrand 2023
44Cup Marstrand, 28 June – 2 July 2023, Marstrand, Sweden | After the result in Oman, we wanted to finally achieve that, if possible, we would no longer “sail behind”, but would finally actively compete in the field. With the 6th place at the 44Cup Marstrand, we say goodbye to the last place in the annual ranking for the moment. But the most important thing for us is that we managed to move forward again and that we are obviously optimising and improving in the right places.
Report GC32 Lagos 2023
GC32 Lagos Cup, 22 – 25 June 2023, Lagos, Portugal | We travelled to the Algarve in Portugal this year with a good feeling. After all, we had won the World Championship at this very place last year. At the same time, the excitement of the upcoming races outweighed the frustration of the fact that the GC32 Lagos Cup is the only event on the GC32 Racing Tour 2023.
Report 44Cup Oman 2023
44Cup Oman 2023, 1 – 5 March, Muscat, Oman | The first months of the new year went by with a lot of momentum. As the 44Cup Oman 2023 was the first event on our calendar, we got to work on the RC44 boat class, which is still new to us. There were still some crew issues to sort out on board and to get even better as a team. Positive experiences from our GC32 team event at the beginning of 2020 moved us to approach the 2023 season with an RC44 “get-together”. That our return to Muscat and the 44Cup Oman 2023 didn’t turn out as expected due to the Swiss ambassador and an unexpected weather change, you can find out here in our RC44 quarterly report.
GC32 Challenges
As if “on the side”, we also started our preparations for the GC32 Racing Tour. Already last season, certain challenges became apparent – both on the GC32 Racing Tour and quite tangibly on our foiling catamaran. Get the full story in our GC32 Q1 2023 report.
6th Foiling Awards – Nomination
Foiling Awards 2022: The Black Star Sailing Team not among the winners.
2023 – Saison start in Muscat
44Cup Oman ’23, RC44 team updates, Woman Power for Black Star | The 2022 season barely ended in December, and we are already facing the first regatta this year with the 44Cup Oman. The time in between was shorter than ever before. It was used to take a breather and enjoy the holidays and the turn of the year with the family – but above all to organise the new season.
2022 – A big thank you for a great year
Some say that anticipation is the best joy. Perhaps this is also true. In any case, in order to really savor our joy of looking forward, we would like to look back once again on a truly eventful, but above all also gratifyingly successful 2022.
Report 44Cup Oman
44Cup Oman December 7 – 11, 2022, Muscat, Oman | After more than two years the way led for the Black Star Sailing Team again to Oman – more precisely to the Al Muji Marina in Muscat. After sailing the final event of 2019 in Muscat as part of the GC32 Racing Tour, skipper Christian […]
Report 44Cup World Championship Portorož
44Cup World Championship Portorož, 12 – 16 October 2022, Slovenia | Full of excitement and energy, we travelled to Portorož at the beginning of October, finally able to compete in this world championship with our own RC44 yacht. With the last place, we could not convert our ambitions into tangible results so far. Nevertheless, we are satisfied with our performance.
2022 GC32 Racing Tour Vice Champions!
Already in the planning phase of the GC32 Racing Tour 2022 last fall it became clear that the GC32 regatta calendar will overlap with some important events of other regatta classes. These overlaps with the SailGP class, among others, could no longer be avoided, as the 2022 planning was already too far advanced.The GC32 lineup […]
Finally the own RC44 yacht
At the beginning of September, the time had finally come: fresh from a dock in England, we were able to sail our own RC44 Black Star for the first time in the Solent, a strait not far from the English Channel. What a feeling, what a joy!
Report GC32 World Championship 2022
GC32 World Championship, 13 – 17 July, Lagos, Portugal | With a solidifying team event but no training in the luggage, the Black Star Sailing Team went to the start of this year’s GC32 World Championship in Lagos. After a satisfying first day the team around Christian Zuerrer had to take a setback for getting really up to full speed.
Report 44Cup Marstrand
44Cup Marstrand, June 29 – July 3, 2022, Marstrand, Sweden | The Marstrand event meant some hectic and strenuous times for the sailing crew and shore team. Sweden welcomed us with pleasantly cool temperatures, but with somewhat rougher conditions on the water. Despite the eighth final place, the Black Star Sailing Team made a step forward on the RC44 yacht.
Report GC32 Lagos
GC32 Lagos I, 22 – 26 June 2022, Lagos, Portugal | After a successful start of the GC32 season at Lake Garda, the Black Star Sailing Team had to go down again in Portugal. Unfortunately the meanwhile excellent skills could not be converted into a success in the second event of the series.
Black Star Win GC32 Worlds Nail Biter
Repost of GC32 Website | K-Challenge Team France was the dominant force for the first half of this GC32 World Championship, held in Lagos, Portugal, but for the second half it was Christian Zuerrer’s Black Star Sailing Team which overtook the French after today’s third of four races. With outstanding consistency, the Swiss podiumed in every one of the last 10 races. This afternoon they were crowned the flying catamaran class’ fourth World Champions following Team Tilt, Alinghi and Red Bull Sailing Team.
Report GC32 Riva
GC32 RIVA, 25 – 29 May 2022, Riva del Garda, Italy | Almost without a break, we went to Lake Garda to start the competition season on the catamaran as well.
After a good training session in Lagos in March, we were positive about the new season.
Report 44Cup Cascais
44Cup Cascais, 11 – 15 May 2022, Cascais, Portugal | On 12 May, a Swiss team competed in an RC44 Cup for the first time. Black Star Sailing set a historic mark by crossing the starting line: never before has a Swiss team competed in this boat class.
However, it was also shown to us straight away that even in this boat class the rewards are high and that we cannot simply sail along at the front.
44Cup Cascais: Baptism by fire passed
44Cup Cascais | 11 – 15 May 2022 | After the event is before the event: The start of the GC32 Riva Cup is just around the corner. And we are still processing the 44Cup Cascais. Here is a wrap-up.
Now we start twice!
Announcement: the Black Star Sailing Team will definitely start the 2022 season with two boats. The “flying” GC32 catamaran will be joined by an RC44 yacht.
Back with good news
After a somewhat long winter break, Black Star Sailing is back with the first news post of 2022. Of course we were not idle during the winter months – and so we can now come up with a lot of great news.
2021 – Time for a thank you!
2021 – Time for a thank you!We are fast nearing the end of the year. Just before the holidays, we would like to pause for a moment and look back on a remarkable 2021 in many respects – a year that literally flew by.Start with delayInitially, however, it did not look as if the GC32 […]
Regatta 4: Showdown without a bang
GC32 Mar Menor Cup | 3 – 7 November 2021: The situation for absolutely exciting races was given, it was shown over the past events that the different teams are quite equal, because every now and then another boat emerged as the winner of a race. At the same time, the top four teams were only three points apart. So a lot could still happen.
Swiss teams Alinghi and Black Star start the GC32 Mar Menor Cup on top in San Pedro del Pinatar
Repost aus murciaplaza.com – 4/11/2021 – SAN PEDRO DEL PINATAR. The Swiss boats Alinghi and Black Star Sailing have started their participation in the GC32 Mar Menor Cup leading in the first of the four days that make up the fourth and final round of the international circuit GC32 Racing Tour held in Murcian waters and both share the lead in this flying catamaran regatta with five points.
Regatta 3: Good, but not yet good enough
Black Star at the World Championship in Sardinia | 15 – 19 September 2021: The steeper you go up, the harder you can fall. Somewhat disappointed, we look back on the past World Championships and at the same time take a lot of positive things with us into the end of the season. Even though we prepared well for the competition and left almost nothing to chance, practically nothing went as expected.
Busy in Villasimius
So here it is, the highlight of the season! Already training on the water in the bay in front of Capo Carbonara, we are looking forward to the upcoming top-class regatta full of impatience and zest for action.
Regatta 2: Black Star on the podium
GC32 Lagos Cup II | 28 July – 1 August 2021: With the experience from the first event and a lot of positive energy successful at GC32 Lagos Cup II
Regatta 1: Almost like the first time
GC32 Lagos Cup I | 30 June – 4 July 2021: Black Star Sailing Team well prepared at the start of the first GC32 Racing Tour 2021 event in Lagos, Portugal.
The GC32 Racing Tour wants to take off again
Repost from Tip & Shaft Magazine – 28 June 2021 – After a year off, the GC32 Racing Tour resumes with the first of four events of the season in Lagos, Portugal. Six teams are competing, a smaller turnout than in previous years but one that should increase as the season progresses. Tip & Shaft takes a look at this circuit where owners and professionals meet.
Just in Time
We are very happy about this news: Tavannes Watch is entering into a partnership with Black Star Sailing. We can announce this new acquisition precisely for the first regatta of the 2021 season – which also marks the start of our countdown to the first race on our homepage with the Tavannes Watch branding. We […]
Ready as never before!
This time it will work: After increasingly positive developments around the pandemic and increased relaxations in various European countries, we are looking forward to the long-awaited start of the GC32 Racing Tour 2021 at the end of June. Like all competitive sports, the lockdowns and security measures have paralysed the regatta world over the past […]
2020 – We say thank you!
2020 – We say thank you! With 2020, an extraordinary year in every respect will soon come to an end. Because hardly anything took place as planned at the beginning, we learned a lot, achieved a few things, and were rewarded for our efforts with a title. At the end of this remarkable year, the […]
M32 European Champion 2020
EUROPEAN CHAMPION! We have done it! The Black Star Sailing Team wins the M32 European Championship 2020! The intensive trainings on the Lake of Uri and in Denmark have paid off: With the victory of the European Championship of the M32 class from September 4th to 6th, 2020 in Riva del Garda in Italy we have […]
Take-off in the primal Switzerland
Actually the GC32 is not really new anymore. Nevertheless even die-hard sailors are “out of their minds” as soon as one of these foiling catamarans can be observed in full speed.The appearance of the Black Star on Lake Lucerne was accordingly sensational. Our short announcement video was watched 6000 times within a short time. And […]
Guest sailing 2020 on the Lake of Uri
Foiling on the Urnersee As announced last year after our visit on Lake Zurich, the Black Star Sailing Team will be back in Switzerland in 2020. Unlike last season, this year we have the additional goal of preparing for the first regatta in Portugal at the end of August. In order to be able to […]
Finally, sailing!
The hoped for decrease of COVID19 infections is now followed by a gradual return to normal life. The governments of various countries are easing travel restrictions, borders are being opened tentatively and – sailing in Switzerland is finally permitted again. Although still with restrictions, these should – we hope – be eased as well soon. […]
Sailing against the wind
Despite a worldwide lock-down with an uncertain outcome, one thing is certain: The Black Star Sailing Team will continue! The Corona crisis has the world firmly in its grip. Many companies from the economy, gastronomy, tourism and sports have hard times ahead of them or are even on the point of going out of business. […]
GC32 Racing Tour season opener in Muscat cancelled
In the middle of the last preparations before our departure for the “Oman Cup”, the Ministry of Health of the Sultanate of Oman decided that no more sports events may take place. Unfortunately, this also has an influence on the start of the GC32 Racing Tour 2020, which also had to cancel the start in […]
Successful training event in Oman
In the middle of February the Black Star Sailing Team finally met again in Muscat after the three months winter break. The extensive camp, planned as a training start into the 2020 season, served as a team event and as a reassemble of our boat – before the coronavirus abruptly pressed the “pause button”. Teambuilding […]
A plea for the foiling catamaran
It is now about two years since I decided to switch to foiling catamarans with the GC32 boat class. Having been at home in multihull-sailing for quite a long time, it was obvious for me to try out a catamaran with foils. But my “first time” on a GC32 boat turned out to be a […]
GC32 Oman Cup – season finale in the Orient
After a stormy, cold start to the season in Villasimius, the GC32 Racing Tour 2019 was concluded in Muscat, the capital of Oman, in the week of 6 November with a dignified and brilliant finish. “Never before have I sweated so much while sailing,” team boss Christian Zuerrer sums up the races in the Gulf […]
Black Star Stopover – Flying on Lake Zurich
Directly after the regatta at Lake Garda we brought the Black Star to Lake Zurich to rebuild it in the harbour of Wollishofen. What was a premiere for our yacht was also a premiere for Lake Zurich: the Black Star has never been seen here before. The interest in Black Star Sailing was correspondingly high. […]
GC32 Riva Cup – Connection to the dense field of favourites
With the GC32 Riva Cup the fourth event of the GC32 Racing Tour 2019 took place – and was something like a home game. Because the Riva Cup at Lake Garda has been part of the program since the beginning of the racing series. The organisation between the race control and the hosts was accordingly […]
Copa del REY MAPFRE – good result
Palma’s always worth a trip. While some visitors are drawn towards Ballermann or Magaluf , others enjoy the inland nature or the less touristy coasts in the west of the island. The focus of the Black Star Sailing Team was solely on the bay of Palma and sailing. The Copa del REY MAPFRE is a […]
GC32 WM in Lagos – Clear progression
The GC32 World Championship and second station of the GC32 Racing Tour was in many ways an increase to the Villasimius Cup. First and foremost, the Portuguese port city welcomed with absolutely perfect weather. Protected by the Capo de São Vicente, the lagoon city in the Algarve kept what its good reputation promises: sunshine, constant […]
GC32 Racing Tour Event 1: Satisfied, but not at the goal yet.
On Sunday 26 May the Villasimius Cup, the first regatta of the GC32 Racing Tour 2019, ended with the 16th and final race. Soaked by the heavy rain and the rather stormy sea, the ten teams took part in the award ceremony right after the race. Black Star Sailing and six other teams unfortunately only […]
Villasimius Cup: Compete against the strongest GC32 Racing Tour line-up ever
Yesterday Thursday was the day: The first race of the GC32 Racing Tour was about to start.After two training camps the Black Star Sailing Team was already quite experienced – but still a new formation. Of course our first race could have gone a bit better. But also the conditions were not optimal. So all […]
A strong team defies even bad weather
Another training session was planned for Easter. This time our destination was Villasimius, the place where the first GC32 Racing Tour event will take place. Full of expectations we set off. With Alinghi, Red Bull and Zoulou, three teams were already training on site. Immediately after our arrival we unloaded the hulls to do some […]
GC32 Racing Tour 2019: All eyes are on the new season
Launched in 2014, the GC32 Racing Tour 2017 received admission from World Sailing, the official world sailing federation. In 2018, the GC32 Racing Tour was able to host an accredited world championship. As a result, the GC32 Racing Tour is now the centre of racing for this boat class. The upcoming season was full of […]
Flying into the Season 2019
After two intensive training camps in Port Camargue, the Black Star Sailing Team focuses on the third camp in Villasimius. In Port Camargue we found ideal conditions in the harbour and at the Hotel Spinaker, which allowed us to come together as a team. Due to perfect water conditions the maneuvers could be practiced and […]
Maiden voyage with new branding
After arriving without a hitch we could set up the GC32 Black Star for the first time. The entire team was present and so the work could be divided between the team members. While the rig has being adjusted by some, the others were able to assemble the platform. Finally, we were able to crane […]
Departure into the first training weekend
The bags are packed and the cars and trailers are loaded. At any moment we depart for our first training in the south of France. There we will be able to put the material through their paces and the newly established Black Star Sailing Team will be able to gain their first experience. Clear the […]
Preparations are in full swing
Preparations are underway. All material of the dismounted GC32 catamaran has to be tested. Since the carbon construction of the boat is built under very high tension, it is especially important to check the loaded areas carefully and to replace them in cases of doubt. At the same time the branding of the newly founded […]