The dragons had to cope with strong gust fronts on the Baltic Sea. Photo: segel-bilder.de
A day for heavy weather sailors
An unexpected gust front with top speeds of up to 27 knots moved across the Bay of Lübeck on Monday afternoon and made life difficult for the participants in the Travemünde Week. While the keelboats in the Dragon, J/22 and Dyas classes were still able to cope well with the conditions and the dinghies had to fight hard, the IC Canoe skiffs were pushed to the limit at times. With a lot of damage to sails, rigs and hulls, the first race attempt was cancelled. After a repair break on land, a reduced fleet was able to continue in the late afternoon.
Emma Grigull, the spokesperson for the German IC Canoe class, had suffered damage to her sail after capsizing, as she had drifted into a boat belonging to the race organisers. The valuable cloth went straight to the sailmaker. She was also unable to finish the restart with a different sail. Others also had to retire. “There was some damage. We had mast breakage and damage to the spreaders, tears in the sails and a hole in the hull.”
Jacob Wegner from Preetz was the unlucky one who had to give up with a leaking boat. He hit the hull after capsizing and broke through the plywood: “The boat is no longer very young and it was a dilapidated area. I hope to be able to laminate the damage with a carbon mat.” However, he was only able to watch the late race from land. The second canoe class, the Taifun, decided not to race in the conditions. The only race of the IC was won by Michael Costello from the USA out of 18 starters.
Reiner Brockerhoff’s crew sailed to a superior German Open title in the J/22 class. Photo: segel-bilder.de
While the IC Canoe were still sailing at the start of their World Championship, the J/22s were already celebrating the winners of their German Open. Reiner Brockerhoff (Duisburg) and his son, 505 ace Felix, and Frenchman Christoph Declerque in the foreship had put together an almost flawless winning streak. The Franco-German crew won seven of the eight races: “In the first race we still had to get used to it a bit, but after that it went very well. We had very good speed, especially in the stronger winds today,” reported skipper Brockerhoff.
He acknowledged that the second-placed team from Berlin, led by Wolf Jeschonnek, were strong opponents. Third place went to Thorsten Spötter and his team from Hamburg. However, several crews from the German fleet were missing from Travemünde. “I don’t know why they weren’t there. We will advertise the Travemünde Week. It was a great event,” said Brockerhoff.
Jens and Robin Schlittenhard had fun on the course during the first day of the Javelin Euro Cup. Photo: segel-bilder.de
The Javelins also had a lot of fun on the track on their first day in the Euro Cup. “It was borderline, but nice. A great TW day to kick things off,” reported Jens Schlittenhard, who sails on the foresheet with his nephew Robin. Currently in third place, they are currently the best Germans – behind the two British teams Eddy and Neil Reid and Ben and Richard Fisher. “It’s great that some family crews have come together in recent years. That’s good for the class,” says Schlittenhard, who is expecting an exciting battle for the title in the coming days. After day one, only a single point separates him from third place and the top spot.Four classes are heading for the final of their TW. For the dragons, it’s all about winning the second Grand Prix of the year on Tuesday. The Swiss Jan Eckert has taken the narrow lead with a victory in the sixth race. The helmsman from Lake Geneva has an international crew on board with the American Tovar Mirsky and the Portuguese Frederico Melo. However, everything is wide open on the final day, as the chasing pack led by Christoph Toepfer (Hamburg) and the Swede Jesper Stalheim are only just behind with two races still to go.
The dragons fought close battles for position during the ton manoeuvres. Photo: segel-bilder.de
Ukraine’s Sofiia Naumenko is back on the road to success in the RS Aero. With two victories in the challenging conditions, she significantly extended her lead at the German Open. One good race in the two remaining races will be enough for her to win the title. Marcus Walther (Langen) and the German class president Juliane Barthel (Osnabrück) will battle it out for silver and bronze.
André Budzien is back at the head of the Finns. The man from Schwerin has cancelled his early start disqualification from the second day for the time being, but must not allow himself any more slip-ups in the battle with Berlin’s Fabian Lemmel on the final day of the Finn regatta. Dutchman Bas de Waal will also start the final day of the former Olympic class with a chance of victory.
Before the start of their championships, the Optimists and the Flying Juniors undertook a territorial test with their practice races. The Flying Juniors had the opportunity to present themselves in front of an audience at the Volksbank Trave Race. 16 teams competed in two semi-finals and the final for the prize money of 300 euros offered by Volksbank Lübeck. In the decisive race, the Italians Stefano Baciga/Marcello Cassini finally prevailed. They had the best start and confidently defended the lead from there. “We really enjoyed sailing here in front of an audience. As a sailor, you don’t usually get that chance. But we also felt very comfortable on the Baltic Sea. We are looking forward to the world championship in the coming days,” reported the winning team.
Christian Mehrens, Board Member of Volksbank Lübeck, was delighted with the show race in the best conditions on the Trave: “It’s great that these races take place and that the visitors stop and watch the sailing sport. We as Volksbank are very happy to support this and are already looking forward to Wednesday, when Lübeck’s city president Henning Schumann competes against Reinhard Meyer, the Minister of Economic Affairs of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in the Volksbank Rotspon Cup.”
