Top day again at Travemünde Week 2026: the 13 classes scheduled for the day were sent out onto the course early in the morning; the races got off to a brisk start and were completed swiftly. And by early afternoon, the boats were back in harbour. There, however, the jury still had plenty to do. In the battle for the World and European Championship titles in the Vaurien and RS Aero classes, the fight for points was fierce right up to the very end. Meanwhile, the RS 100, 200 and 400 classes had to stay out on the course a little longer or head further out onto the Baltic Sea. On the original course off the Mecklenburg coast, the wind was so unpredictable that race director Ines Roßley took advantage of a course that had become available to set it up afresh and send her RS classes out onto the course.
Overall race director Anderl Denecke was very pleased with the day: “Everything went really well today. We had a few problems with Ines on the course, but it’s great that everyone is so flexible and willing to go along with things to get the races done.”
Five championship classes were able to bid farewell to Travemünde after the compact day of racing and celebrate their prize-giving ceremonies. For the Vauriens, this was already their second World Championship following the 2018 event in Lübeck Bay, and just like eight years ago, everyone was satisfied once again: “The World Championship was an all-round success; we managed ten races, all in good wind. You can’t do better than that – even the lay day was perfectly timed, so we didn’t have to go out in the storm,” said International Class President Peter Lakshmanan. The fact that the Italian team of Olmo Cerri and Gioia Bertolani topped the standings came as no surprise to him: “The clear favourites won, and in impressive style. With seven wins from the ten races, there’s no doubting their superiority.” The Dortmund native himself had to settle for 14th place, letting his brother Martin pass him in the final race: “We didn’t have a good day today, and Martin sailed well. I’m genuinely happy for him.”
There was pure joy amongst the Italian winning team. “We were lucky with the wind and had a wide range of different conditions. As far as we’re concerned, though, it could easily have been even windier. This is our first time in Travemünde and we love it here. The regatta was superbly organised. We’ve never experienced anything quite like it. Only the festival could have gone on a bit longer in the evenings. As Italians, we eat late, and by then most places were already closed,” said Olmo Cerri. On Friday evening, the entire Italian team will be celebrating the victory of the duo from Tuscany. “We’ll be giving it our all, just like we did at the regatta,” Cerri announced with a laugh. He’s delighted that, after numerous attempts, they’ve finally clinched the World Championship title. In second place were the Spanish former world champions Pablo Cabello Vieitez and Isabel Caballo Canas, ahead of the French pair François-Xavier Drogou and Caroline Guilloux.
One boat class, four disciplines, up to eight sub-groups and 189 competitors: in the RS Aero class, an awards ceremony was held for the XXL category as part of Travemünde Week. This boat class, which a few years ago had ambitions of becoming an Olympic discipline, offers sailors of various ages, weights and skill levels a chance to compete thanks to its four sail sizes. The European Championship titles were contested in the Aero 5, 6, 7 and 9 categories. In addition, the youngsters were also able to clinch the Junior World Championship titles.
However, this required a great deal of hard work from all the athletes. Over the five days of the championships, the race committee led by Lorenz Buchler (Berliner YC) sent the fleets out for a total of 14 races. At the end of the event, four nations from three continents were able to celebrate their overall victories.
The new European champion in the Aero 5 class was Britain’s Jonathan Bailey, who – unlike his closest rival, Chloe George – managed to maintain consistency throughout the series and ultimately triumphed convincingly over his compatriot and Jorgen Kuivonen. The best junior, and thus U22 world champion, was Teddy Dunn, also from Great Britain. In the women’s U22 classification, however, a different national flag flew at the top. Here, the Estonian Jessika Jöesaar claimed victory.
At the top of the overall Aero 6 standings was the Australian Rhett Gowans. Despite a false start disqualification during the series, he prevailed over the Ukrainian Sofia Naumenko, who nevertheless celebrated the European Championship title ahead of Andrew Frost and Sam Blaker (Great Britain). The women’s U22 class was won by Aria Miller from Canada; there was no all-male junior class.
“It was a fantastic regatta with lots of races and a wide variety of conditions, from light to strong winds. I’m glad we came to Travemünde with the whole family and I’m actually a bit surprised myself at how well it went for me. It was only my second regatta in the RS Aero 6 class,” says Andrew Mack from the USA, who won the Masters class. His daughter Lauren took silver in the women’s U22 class. His wife Jamie finished the European Championships in the top third of the RS Aero 5 class.
Sweden’s Aron Wärnberg was impressively dominant in the Aero 7 class. In the 14 races, he crossed the line as the winner ten times, added four second-place finishes to his tally and thus held a commanding 20-point lead over Jack Miller and Noah Rees (Great Britain) in the overall European Championship standings. Britain’s Sam Williams claimed the U22 World Championship title (there was no women’s classification in this category). “It was good sailing in Travemünde, much like in Kiel, where I’ve sailed in the Ilca class several times before. It was fun to compete in the RS Aero class again. I usually sail almost exclusively in the Ilca 7 these days, but this year the timing worked out,” said Wärnberg.
There was a Canadian victory in the Aero 9 class courtesy of Baabii’O Flower, who is no stranger to large sails, as he occasionally sails the former Olympic Finn class. His performance was so dominant that he was able to sail back to shore after just twelve of the 14 races. By then, he had won every race. Once he had left the course, the runner-up overall, Erik Wahlberg (Sweden), was also able to add his name to the list of winners, thereby becoming European champion. Third place overall and second in the European Championship standings went to Chris Larr (Great Britain). There was no youth classification here.
The RS Feva class still has two days of the World Championships to go until Sunday. On Friday, the 135 crews were divided into the Gold, Silver and Bronze groups. The British duo Cassius Day and Harry O’Callaghan are sailing in a clear lead ahead of two teams from Estonia.
The results list for the Folkboats at their Gold Cup off Travemünde is a daily surprise. After two-time Gold Cup winner Ulf Kipcke, with Kathrin and Gero Martens (Kiel) in the bow, had made a cautious start to the series, he is finding his form more and more off Travemünde. Whilst he recorded two top results on Friday, the previous leader, Per Hovmark (Denmark), faltered. As a result, Kipcke took the lead ahead of Saturday’s final race. However, he is separated from Per Hovmark by just one point and from Per Buch (Denmark) by another.
In contrast to the Folkeboats, the RS 21 Euro Cup is characterised by consistency. After three further races on Friday, there were only minor changes at the top of the standings. Lukas Wosinsky from Poland continues to lead. Davide Albertini Petroni (Italy) has moved up to second place, whilst Melanie Höveler from Munich holds on to third. Four more races are scheduled for the next two days.
In the Dragon class, Lübeck-based helmswoman Tanja Jacobsohn is putting pressure on the leaders. On day two of the North German Championship, she worked her way up to second place overall with a sixth, a second and a win. In doing so, she overtook Benjamin Hub from Hamburg. However, she still has another Hamburg sailor ahead of her in Benjamin Morgen – and he’s leaving nothing to chance with four wins so far in the six races.
In the Formula 18 catamaran class, in the absence of the TW record winners, Helge and Christian Sach, the father-son duo Jesse and Sven Lindstädt are virtually unstoppable. The Norderstedt-based duo, who call Lübeck their home waters, have nothing but first and second places to their name. This puts them well ahead of the Finns Mikko and Kirsikka Räisänen and the Danes Jan Hedmann Jensen and Penelope Wyon.
