Swedes take the Dragon Grand Prix
Sailing can be brutal: the Dragon Grand Prix at the Travemünde Week was only decided in the last 100 metres of the final seventh race. The Swiss Jan Eckert allowed one boat too many to pass and lost the dress rehearsal for the European Championships just one point behind two-time Olympic participant Jesper Stalheim (Sweden). Three other classes crowned their winners at the TW, while the championship classes were just starting to pick up speed in their title races.
Before the final day of the Dragon Grand Prix, the team flying the Swiss flag with helmsman Jan Eckert was a strong bet to win. But then the victory slipped out of the hands of the 1992 Olympic participant. The first attempt at a race had to be cancelled due to the wind conditions. At this point, Eckert was well in the race with his crew Torvar Mirsky and Frederico Melo. And he also had everything under control at the restart. But on the last cross he had to let one competitor pass too many. 13th place in this race meant he slipped behind Jesper Stalheim. “That’s a great pity. Overall victory would have been the icing on the cake. But we’re still very happy with our performance, we’ve achieved two victories in a strong field,” said Eckert and immediately looked to the future: “Hopefully we’ll save the victory for the European Championships in Estonia.”

The Swedes around skipper Jesper Stalheim narrowly won the Grand Prix classification of the dragons. Photo: segel-bilder.de
The continental championships will be held in Pärnu at the beginning of August. “We don’t know the area yet, but we are ready,” said Eckert. “Travemünde was a good preparation with two days of champagne sailing in good wind and waves. After that, the conditions were a bit more difficult. But the race committee and the helpers managed everything well on the water and on land.”
Winner Stalheim was naturally delighted with his victory: “The races yesterday and today were really close, with many changes during the races. Consistency is always the deciding factor in the end. You have to fight for every point. That was evident today.” The former Laser sailor does not have the European Championship on his calendar: “Unfortunately not. I’m travelling to the Olympic Games, where I’m looking after our Swedish Ilca sailor. But I will of course be watching the Euros from afar.”
Another Swedish crew led by helmsman Jan Secher finished third in the Grand Prix of Travemünde. The best German team in fourth place was the crew led by Christoph Toepfer from Hamburg.
The German Open of the RS Aero was won by the Ukrainian Sofiia Naumenko. She took part in all three major German sailing weeks in 2024. She competed in the Ilca 6 class at the Kieler Woche and Warnemünder Woche, and now in the RS Aero in Travemünde. “I wanted to try something new. That’s why I decided to sail RS Aero as well as Ilca 6. At the beginning, it wasn’t so easy to switch to the much lighter and more unstable boat. But I’m learning more and more,” reported Naumenko, who also talked about her special situation.

Sofiia Naumenko switched from the ilca 6 to the RS Aero and went straight to victory at the German Open. Photo: segel-bilder.de
After the war of aggression began in her Ukrainian homeland, Naumenko initially travelled around Europe in her van, going from one sailing regatta to the next. She lived in the van at the time and trained far away from home. She and her family have now found a new home in Croatia. During the sailing season, she is still constantly on tour with her van. Every now and then she returns home for a short time, for example for national sailing championships. The sailor comes from the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, located on the river of the same name, on which Naumenko used to sail. The town is one of the very few in the central region of Ukraine where sailing is still possible. However, training there is interrupted by constant air raids.
Juliane Barthel (Osnabrück) followed in second place in the unofficial German championship for the young class, leaving Marcus Walther (Darmstadt) well behind.
There was a winner with a very special connection to Travemünde in the Dyas category. Two years ago, Arndt Fingerhut from Edersee proposed to his girlfriend on the Trave, and the two are now married. And with the sail number of his wedding day (GER 1432 for 1 April 2023), he sailed to success with his skipper Andreas Malcher. “As always, it was very nice during Travemünde Week. Sliding down the waves is just great fun with the Dyas. The boat is perfect to handle. We enjoyed the wind and waves during these days. We also enjoyed the Ballermann wind on Monday,” said Fingerhut.
The winner was a little disappointed with the small fleet in his class off Travemünde. But the quality of the fleet was good, and with the change of courses and the different wind conditions, there was something for everyone. The other podium places went to Andreas and Alexander Romanowsky (Herrsching) and Alexander Wobetzky/Heiko Erdmann (Berlin).

André Budzien did not let an early start stop him from winning the Finn class. Photo: segel-bilder.de
André Budzien from Schwerin took a superior victory, albeit with a blemish. The three-time world champion in the OK dinghy showed his qualities this time in the Finn dinghy: “I like sailing both classes. This year I’m focussing more on the Finn because I want to compete in the Gold Cup in Aarhus,” said Budzien. He is aiming to win a medal at the World Championship in the ex-Olympic class. “I’ve already been Master World Champion three times in the Finn. And since the discontinuation of Olympic status, we no longer have to compete against the professionals in the open class either.”
The Travemünde week was a good preparation for the Gold Cup. With five victories in the eight races, it went well. He was finally able to cancel the early start disqualification in the third race. “That happens when you start aggressively. It wasn’t the first time for me. That’s why I can deal with it. And if you want to win, you have to take risks.”
His offensive style was ultimately rewarded. He took the Travemünde Week gold ahead of Bas de Waal from the Netherlands and Fabian Lemmel from Berlin. After the sailors in the IC-Canoe class were badly shaken by Travemünde on the first day of their World Championship, they were able to complete two more races on day two of the World Championship, now with a much larger fleet. Whereas only 17 boats finished on day one, 32 now have a result on the list.
The victories went to the English-speaking participants. Glen Truswell (Great Britain) and Michael Costello (USA) shared the top places between them. They are followed by another Englishman, Mike Fenwick. In the IC’s brother class, the Taifun, Felix Mosebach is initially in the lead, ahead of his club colleague Martin Droll and Johannes Meyer from Bremen in the German Open rankings.

Dutch sailors Hylke Sasse/Doete Vogelaar lead the Flying Junior field. Photo: segel-bilder.de
As expected, the Dutch favourites Hylke Sasse/Doete Vogelaar set the tone at the start of the Flying Junior World Championship. After three races, they are clearly ahead of their compatriots Martijn and Anna Aarts. Matthias Riffeler/Justus Rüthing (Ville/Lippstadt) are keeping Germany’s hopes of a World Championship medal high in third place. In the Javelin Euro Cup, however, it is a tough fight for the top places. The top three are separated by just one point. Great Britain’s Eddy and Neil Reid maintain a minimal lead over Christian Wirts/Thorsten Fischer (Hanover), who have overtaken Jens and Robin Schlittenhard (Hanover).

240 Optimists started the German Youth Championship. An international field is on the start line. Photo: segel-bilder.de
The huge fleet of 240 Optimists started in three groups. The results list is still very mixed and will only become clearer over the next few days. In the strong international field, the young German sailors were able to make a good impression on day one. Between the Swedes Cornelia Baldock Frost in first place and Isak Kaplan in third is Paul Fiete Hickstein, who took second place with the 6, 1, 3 series.