John Kostecki - a madforsailing interview

Illbruck's skipper talks about his combined Volvo/America's Cup project

With aspirations to win not only the Volvo Ocean Race, but also the America's Cup, Illbruck Challenge has to be the ultimate yacht racing team at present. In true German tradition their double campaign is being carried out with meticulous precision. On the Volvo side of their operation, Illbruck were first out of the blocks - first to announce their entry and first to sign up the ubiquitous Farr Yacht Design Ltd to design them a race-winning machine. They also purchased both EF boats from the last race, including Paul Cayard's winner EF Language and have been using these for crew training and sail development since April 1999. Add to this equation a skipper who is viewed as one of the best in the business and it is understandable why many in Volvo Ocean Race circles, including most of the other campaigns, view Illbruck as the boat to beat.

Illbruck skipper, John Kostecki, 36 was Soling World Champion in 1986 and 1988 and won a Silver at the 1988 Olympics, before moving into bigger boats during the 1990s. He won the One Ton Cup in 1994, and the Mumm 36 Worlds three years on the trot between 1996 and 1998. But the beefy Californian is best known for his role in the America's Cup - as tactician in 1995 for Young America and in 2000 for America One. Like Conner and Cayard, it is interesting how Kostecki made the transition from racing round-the-cans to round-the-world, sailing the last Whitbread with George Collins' Chessie Racing. "To be honest it wasn't something I was aiming to do. After Chessie I took a liking to it. I never realised that ocean racing would be like the close, one design racing I've been doing all my life," Kostecki told us when madforsailing caught up with him in Charleston, South Carolina.

Although it is natural that Kostecki should be in his native country, the team is - as is often the case with campaigns of this calibre - of no fixed abode. Illbruck HQ is in the German city of Leverkusen-Neuenkamp on the Rhine between Dusseldorf and Cologne. This is where Illbruck, the company, manufactures the 40,000+ plastic components which go into the cars made by manufacturers all around the world. It is also where Killian Bushe and his team set about building their new Volvo Ocean 60. As the boat was in build Kostecki and his crew were testing and training aboard the EF boats in Vigo in northern Spain, but then moved transatlantic to Charleston. "In April we had some difficult weather patterns that prohibited us from achieving what we wanted to achieve," says Kostecki. "We also wanted a change of venue. We have a meteorologist on board with us (Chris Bedford). He did a study of the East Coast ports. Anywhere further north (than Charleston) would have been quite difficult for us. Further south it would have been too hot during the summer months. Charleston was a happy medium."

The team moved lock, stock and barrel to the historic South Carolina port where their new Volvo Ocean 60 arrived by ship from Germany on 14 May. Kostecki says that during July they will be sailing the boat against EF Language which has now been fitted with a carbon mast, as allowed under the rules for the latest race. Along with unresticted Code Zeros, carbon masts are the biggest change to the boats this time round and teams are still trying to assess their characteristics. "It's hard to measure," says Kostecki on this subject. "It definitely makes for much better handling because it is stiffer and more controllable. I think that is the biggest difference - you don't have to restrict it all the time like you had to with the alloy masts." Illbruck have been getting their new masts from Southern Spars and have been trialling them for the last five months.

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