The seventh regatta day of the Travemünde Week was a day for lovers of the flag alphabet. It started with “AP” over “H”, continued by setting the flag “S” on some lanes and finally ended with “AP” over “A” for Formula 18, J/22 and Olympic dinghies. The lull once again intervened strongly in the events for Travemünde Week 2023, allowing only shortened races in the meantime after the start postponement in the morning, and in the case of Formula 18 even no further race for the World Championship. Nevertheless, overall race director Anderl Denecke was satisfied with the past few days before the TW starts its final weekend. “It was difficult to find the right wind windows. But the teams on the tracks did a very good job, so that we had absolutely valuable World Championships. The Formula 18s were no longer able to sail at the end, but we had already ensured a full programme on Thursday with four races,” said Denecke. With the conclusion of the World Championships in Formula 18 catamarans and the Junior World Championships of the 49er and 49erFX, new title holders from Australia, Sweden and France were crowned.
For the Swede Emil Järudd, the Formula 18 World Championship was a “nice extra regatta”. Normally, the 25-year-old sails with his partner Hanna Jonsson in the Nacra 17 and is aiming for his second start at the Olympics next year after 2021. He took Rasmus Rosengren on board for the Travemünde Week and sailed to the title with Olympic competence – despite a disqualification in the second race due to a rights of way violation. “We were hoping for a good result, but the title exceeded expectations. We are, of course, very happy. The days were difficult because you never knew what the wind was doing. That’s why consistency was a key to success. And we had a high boat speed on the downwind course. The race committee didn’t have an easy job, but they did it well,” said Järudd, who will travel to Belgium for training immediately after the Travemünde Week and then sail the Nacra17 World Championships in The Hague/Netherlands again in August with Hanna Jonsson on board. “The World Championships and later the European Championships are important events for us to qualify for the Olympics.”
Before Travemünde, he had taken the lead of the field on the first day of the World Championship final round and then extended his lead. On the last day, the fleet waited in vain for a sailable wind, so that the attack of the pursuers did not materialize. With Gavin Colby/Kai Colman and Brett Burvill/Max Puttman in second and third place, Australia followed in a double pack. The only German crew in the top ten were the brothers Helge and Christian Sach, who at the age of 66 and 64 won the Masters World Championship title for the organizing Lübeck YC.
The French Manon Peyre/Clara-Sofia Stamminger de Moura, who celebrated the greatest success of their young careers by winning the World Championships, were overwhelmed by their own success: “It’s unbelievable, we can’t believe it yet. We started this morning a bit nervous, and it was stressful sailing with the start, abortion and new start. It was a game of nerves. We just tried to sail our race. That worked out well,” said the successful helmswoman Peyre, who defended first place ahead of Illy Wureit/Yuval Barnoon (Israel) and Sofia Giunchiglia/Giulia Schio. With Anna Barth/Emma Kohlhoff and Sophie Steinlein/Max Körner in sixth and seventh place, Germany has two teams in the top ten.
In the juniors of the 49er class, there are even two races at the end of the World Championships. The Jacks from Australia defended their top position despite their 11th and 7th places, as the direct pursuers had only achieved medium results. Gold went to Jack Ferguson/Jack Hildebrand ahead of Richard Schultheis/Youenn Bertin (Malta) and Marius Westerlind/Olle Aronsson (Sweden). “We’re really happy. The guys from Malta gave us a tough fight. It’s a strong start to our campaign for us, as we’ve only been sailing together for three months,” said Jack Ferguson. “Our next stop is the elite World Cup in The Hague in two weeks’ time. Before that, we’ll take a few days off, and then we’ll go to Belgium for training.” In fifth place, Valentin Müller/Moritz Fiebig, the best Germans, were close to the podium places.
The European Olympic dinghies and the J/22 World Championships, which will come to an end on Saturday, were left without races. The J/22 had their appearance at the Volksbank Trave Race in the evening. Jean-Michel Lautier (Netherlands), who is clearly leading in the World Championship standings, also prevailed in the show race and wants to invest the 300 euros won in a colourful evening for the whole class.
There was at least a narrow program for the corsair and keel migratory bird classes for the ranking regattas. However, this did not change anything in the top positions. Silja and Jonna Braun are the leaders of the corsairs, Michael Hotho/Marcus Hahn lead the keel migratory birds.
In the Sailing Bundesliga, the teams remained stubborn and fought for every race. But in the evening, the third flight had to be interrupted in the leaden Baltic Sea. In the 1st league the NRV from Hamburg has the bow ahead, in the 2nd league it is the WYC Delecke. The reward for a strenuous race through the night was picked up by the sailors on Friday afternoon in the Sailing Village. The crew led by Moritz Moltmann (Lübeck) on the M34 “Dojo” had mastered the 60 nautical miles in a large triangle through the Bay of Lübeck to just before Wismar. After taking off on Thursday evening in the Trave, it returned to Travemünde twelve hours later in the morning rain. “We went into the night well prepared and were prepared for everything by the organization. At night it rained heavily, there was little wind and uncomfortable. But that may be part of the long-distance adventure,” Moltmann reported. “We had a good vibe on board, sailed with a spontaneous guard system where everyone could take a break when they needed it. So everyone had two hours of sleep.” In the end, the “Dojo” crew not only celebrated the unofficial title as “first ship home”, but was also calculated to be at the top of the group of ORC yachts. The yardstick classification was won by the “Traverna” of Olav Arne Nehls (Lübeck). For the contenders for the German championship title in the ORC Double Handed, the endurance race was the prelude to the four days of the championship. Uwe Kleinvogel/Michael Haupt (Rostock) took the lead with their “Nemo” with the endurance victory.
