Champagne conditions for the sea sailors in three races. Photo: segel-bilder.de
What a start to the 135th Travemünde Week! With sunshine and a fine easterly wind, the maximum number of 16 planned races in the six classes were completed on time. In the evening, the champagne sailing day culminated in a colourful and exciting show race of the Hobie catamarans on the Trave.
The ambience of summer on the River Trave against the backdrop of the Passat and the festival in the bright sunlight also inspired the more cosmopolitan guests. “It’s hard to believe I’ve never been here before. It’s just beautiful,” said Peter Gilmour. The Australian has travelled directly from Perth with his son Sam to take part in the Grand Prix with his Japanese sailing partner Yasuhiro Yaji.
Gilmour is one of the sailing legends, having won the Match Race World Championship four times in his career, which he began in his home country on a small self-built Pelican dinghy. In 2007, as coach of the Swiss team Alinghi, he lifted the America’s Cup, the most famous sailing trophy in the world. His passion for sailing now belongs to the Dragon. And sailing at the top is no easy task, even for a professional like Gilmour. “A place in the top ten is the goal here at the Grand Prix. The competition is tougher than in the America’s Cup. In the Dragon, all boats are the same, it’s people that make the difference. We have to be very focussed.”
The 64-year-old left nothing to chance in his preparations. Before the start on the course, he sent his 29-year-old son into the water. He dipped the hull again and removed the film of dirt. Nevertheless, on the first day of the Grand Prix of the Travemünde Week, it was not enough to achieve the placement he had hoped for. However, the sailing success is no longer entirely decisive for Gilmour. He now runs a farm in his home country, where he breeds the Japanese luxury cattle Wagy. He is particularly pleased with the way sailing is presented in Travemünde: “It’s great how sailing and the festival mix. It’s a great platform to promote our sport. And everything is here, from small boats to yachts, from youngsters to world champions.” He was particularly taken with the young Opti kids. “You could see the sparkle in their eyes. Simply marvellous.”
In the first race of the Grand Prix, Gilmour finished in 16th place among the 35 teams from eight nations, eventually working his way up to twelfth place. The mixed crew from Hamburg and Munich with Nicola Friesen at the tiller initially took the lead by winning the first race. After two races, however, London-based German Christoph Toepfer is in the lead.
Whilst the kites were satisfied with two races on this day, the sea sailors took advantage of the conditions with an early start for three races. The favourites made a strong start. In both ORC classes, the leaders have a clean slate. Jürgen Klinghardt (Lübeck), owner of the “Patent 4”, has three wins in Class C, as does Jan Peters’ “Adamas” (Heiligenhafen) in Class A/B. One crew also set the standard for the yardstick yachts. Christian Masilge (Berlin) brought his “Krabauter” to the finish line as the winner in all three races.
The J/22s also sailed the first races of their German Open, the unofficial German Championship, on the sea course far out in the Bay of Lübeck. As expected, the Franco-German team led by Reiner Brockerhoff (Duisburg), which has already celebrated many successes in Travemünde, came out on top. However, they have a tough opponent in the Berlin team of skipper Wolf Jeschonnek, who managed to snatch one victory from the Brockerhoff crew in the three races and otherwise finished directly behind the favourites.
In the impressive field of 47 Finn dinghies, André Budzien from Schwerin proved that he is not only an outstanding master of the somewhat smaller OK dinghy, but also of the former Olympic Finn. Budzien has already been world champion in the OK three times and is also one of the world’s top Master sailors in the Finn. And at the Travemünde Week, he will be greeting the Finn leaders after day one – with Dutchman Bas de Waal and former German Finn champion Fabian Lemmel (Berlin) in tow.
The 26 RS Aero from six nations share a track with the Finns. For them, the TW is competing for the German Open title. And the Ukrainian Sofiia Naumenko is laying claim to it. The 25-year-old has been touring Europe in a van since the war broke out in her home country. Her original aim was to qualify for the Olympic Games in the Ilca 6. She didn’t succeed, but now she is also showing her sailing class in other classes – in the RS Aero. She has three wins to her name after day one, putting her ahead of Marcus Walther from Darmstadt and Juliane Barthel (Osnabrück).
For the Hobie 16, the start day of the Travemünde Week was characterised by a double shift. First they completed three races in the regular regatta, then after a short stay on land they returned to the water for the show races. While Stephan Schubert/Anke Delius were ahead in the ranking of the ranking list regatta, the team Jelle Paulsen/Paula Deppenbrock came out on top in the Trave Races.
The first day of the Trave Race could hardly have been more exciting. Charlotte and Wiebke Finkemeyer and Jelle Henning Paulsen and Paula Deppenbrock secured the final places in the first semi-final. In the second semi-final, the finalists were already known at the start, as the other two teams were not counted due to an early start. The teams Niklas Jansen/Thilo Jablonsky and Ben Jochims/Matteo Perret benefited from the situation and were able to sail relaxed in the semi-finals.
The audience had to be patient until the final decision, as the first final race had to be cancelled due to commercial shipping passing through. The final ultimately offered pure excitement. After a tight start, the order of the boats changed again at every buoy, even Niklas Jansen and Thilo Jablonsky, who were initially far behind, surprisingly worked their way back to the front. The decision was made in the very last second at the finish line in a real photo finish. Victory went to Jelle Henning Paulsen and Paula Deppenbrock (WSV Kolmar). Second place went to Ben Jochims and Matteo Perett from the Nordwind Wassersport club.
Captions from top:
Peter Gilmour, competing under Japanese colours, is hoping for a top ten finish in Travemünde, but will have to make do with twelfth place for now. Photo: segel-bilder.de/Travemünder Woche
The sailors used the day for three races. Photo: segel-bilder.de/Travemünder Woche
In the Finn, former German champion Fabian Lemmel has to recognise André Budzien’s superiority after day one. Photo: segel-bilder.de/Travemünder Woche
Jelle Henning Paulsen and Paula Deppenbrock steered their Hobie to victory in the Trave Race. Photo: segel-bilder.de/Travemünder Woche
