The Travemünde Week is coming to a close with a flurry of activity. While the Variantas with Frank Schönfeldt/Gerd Becker have already crowned their national champions, ten more classes will follow over the next two days on the triangular courses, awarding gold, silver and bronze medals in national and international championships as well as ranking regattas. In addition, the sea sailors will return to the action on Saturday with the middle-distance races.
In the Formula 18 category, Paul Kohlhoff and Tom Heinrich had a better start on the second day, but there is still room for improvement. Photo: Christian Beeck/TW
Meanwhile, one of the youngest competitors in the 136th Travemünde Week is enjoying an impressive winning streak. Fourteen-year-old Mila Weniger from the Zeulenroda dam in Vogtland has won all of her races so far in the German Nationals in the Open Skiff class. After seven consecutive first places without a single slip-up, she can almost rest easy without jeopardising her youth class title.
The German title holders in the Varianta class have already been decided, with Frank Schönfeldt and Gerd Becker enjoying unquestioned success throughout the series of nine races. Schönfeldt, a self-proclaimed sailor who has collected titles in the Pirat, Conger, J/24, H-Boat and Varianta classes over the past decades, has racked up eight victories. For Schönfeldt, this latest triumph is a belated birthday gift for his 70^(th) birthday, which he celebrated nine days ago. Olaf Bertallot and Jörg Klein from Hanover, and Arnd Ritter and Thomas Overkämping from Möhnesee, follow at a respectable distance on the podium.
Frank Schönfeldt (wearing a light blue shirt) and his crew member Gerd Becker secured a clear victory in the Variantas class. Photo: Christian Beeck/TW
There is still one day to go before the winners are decided in the other two classes on the Variantas course. A close race is expected in the Kielzugvögel final. Wolfgang Emrich and Klaus Ebbinghaus from Wörthsee had a strong day, taking a one-point lead over previous leaders Axel Fischer and Michael Schiermann from Gifhorn and a two-point lead over Manfred Brändle and Stefanie Gouverneur from Duisburg.
In contrast, Jens Olbrysch and Norbert Schmidt (Herrsching) are set to win Travemünde Week and the German championship in the Dyas class. After five races, the duo are clearly on course for their fifth title in this class. Although a maximum of three more races can be sailed, their pursuers, Stefan Kreiss and Sonja Diezler (Steinberg), and Arndt Fingerhut and Andreas Malcher (Edersee), will probably only be fighting for silver and bronze.
Jens Olbrysch and Norbert Schmidt have their boat and the competition under control at the German Dyas Championships. Photo: Christian Beeck/TW
With their victory in the Volksbank Trave Race on Thursday evening, Bernard Boime/Gilles Espinasse have really picked up speed for the 470 ranking regatta at Travemünde Week. The Frenchmen, who enjoy sailing in Germany and finished tenth in last year’s German Championships, followed up their success in the show race on the course in Lübeck Bay with two wins and a second place, taking the lead in the international field. The German starters are currently behind the podium, but still have a chance to change that on Saturday. Currently, the Swiss team of Frederik Huck/Gabriele Konrad hold the silver medal ahead of Helena Schiffke/Paul Hoppe (Austria).
There was no change in the top positions of the Olympic dinghies, even though the leading Dutchman Thies Bosch suffered his first slight setback with a second place in the fourth race. Ingo Hüter’s two results went up and down, finishing sixth and first. However, the day’s victory secures the Lübeck sailor a comfortable lead over his LSV club mate Arne Assmann.
Anders Joensson/Henrik Aulin from Sweden got off to the best start at the Seascape 18 German Open. Photo: Christian Beeck/TW
Fresh on the course The Seascape 18s have arrived in Travemünde for the German Open. The open German title race also attracted teams from Denmark and Sweden. This means that the teams flying the black, red and gold flag will have to work hard for the winner’s trophy. After the first day, Anders Joensson/Henrik Aulin from Sweden are in the lead ahead of Walter Wüllenweber/Martin Schmidt (Hamburg) and Jan Wilkens/Tobias Rieger (Hohen Wieschendorf).
Catamaran action is provided by the three Topcat classes on course Charlie and the Formula 18s, which are racing far out in the Bay of Lübeck. Sascha and Rene Treichel from Wolfsburg are close to winning the European Championship in K1, with their dominance becoming increasingly clear. They would have to fail to finish in the remaining two races on Saturday for the Austrians Mathias Equiluz/Susanne Wallner to overtake them. In the K2 competition, the situation is even clearer. Robert Zank/Tim Stiegler (Ammersee) can already pop the champagne corks for winning the international championship. With two races to go, they cannot be caught. There is more excitement in the solo K3 class. Paul Säger is only two points ahead of Christian Enzmann. However, third-placed Pole Jakub Drygas can no longer challenge for the title.
At the halfway point of the F18 series, the field is becoming more exciting. After TW record winners Helge and Christian Sach (Zarnekau) scored four victories on day one, they had to concede the best result of the day on Friday to the father-son team of Jesse and Sven Lindstädt. Both crews scored two victories each. However, with second and fourth places, Lindstädt moved slightly closer to the Sach brothers. Olympic bronze medallist Paul Kohlhoff and bowman Tom Heinrich got off to a better start. The two formed a spontaneous duo for Travemünde Week, having only trained together once before, but sailed a strong series on day two with 2, 5, 5, 2 to move up to eighth place.
Victory from nowhere and marzipan as an incentive
In the long-distance race around Fehmarn on the opening weekend, Lena Having and Eivind Bøymo-Malm from Sweden sailed confidently to victory in their Corby 33 ‘Mrs. Freckles’ Double Handed with a two-hour lead. For many, they were the surprise winners on the sea course, as this was their first time competing in Travemünde Week.
Swedes Lena Having and Eivind Bøymo-Malm are a well-coordinated team on their ‘Mrs. Freckles’. Photo: Christian Beeck/TW
However, Bøymo-Malm is not entirely unknown in Travemünde. Through a former colleague who was a sailmaker, the Gothenburg native had already been a guest at the Lübeck Yacht Club’s regatta training as a professional trainer. There he learned about Travemünde Week and told his sailing partner Lena Havberg about it at home. ‘Since we love new adventures and new places and enjoy meeting other sailors, we quickly decided to compete in Travemünde Week. And we have not been disappointed. It’s a great event, and the conditions and infrastructure in Passat Harbour are ideal,’ says 62-year-old Havberg.
After a brilliant start with victory in the long-distance race, things didn’t go so smoothly for the Swedish team in the up-and-down races. ‘It was tough on the course with the wind conditions with just the two of us. We were the only double-handed crew at the turning marks, compared to the yachts with full crews, so we were too slow. But we wanted to do at least one race and then decided to stop at a wind speed of 20 knots so as not to take any unnecessary risks,’ explains Havberg.
Another reason to take things a little easier on her Travemünde Week debut is the fact that this is Lena Havberg’s first regatta with a new knee joint in her left leg. ‘Because of the knee surgery, we didn’t start the season until the end of May this year, rather than in March as usual. The long-distance race at Travemünde Week was our first race in 2025. We’re happy to be here, and it’s good training,’ says Havberg.
However, the past few years have been all the more eventful for the team, with major sailing events and regatta successes. In 2023, the pair finished second on the podium at the ORC European Championships in Double Handed off Venice. The Swedish sailing duo took sixth place at the 2024 World Championships in Norway. Havberg and Boymo-Malm are also skipping this year’s World Championships in Italy due to the distance. However, the pair are already planning to take part in several major regattas and championships in 2026.
The Swedish duo’s Corby 33 proves to be a fast yacht on the sea route. Photo: Christian Beeck/TW
The Swedish team used to sail with a full crew. They have only been sailing as a duo for the past two years. Havberg and Bøymo-Malm know each other from Great Britain, where their boat ‘Mrs. Freckles’ comes from, and have been sailing together for just over ten years. They now live in Sweden again and sail for the Cape Crow Yacht Club on the island of Hönö in the archipelago off Gothenburg.
After Travemünde Week, they will head straight back to Gothenburg with a short stop to visit friends in Copenhagen. They used the days between the races in Travemünde to relax and do a little sightseeing in Lübeck. In addition to German beer and sausage, the Swedes were particularly impressed by the local marzipan.
‘Just because of the marzipan that the winners receive at Travemünde Week, we have to do well again in the middle-distance race on the final weekend,’ says Bøymo-Malm with a grin. After the convincing result in the long-distance race at the start of Travemünde Week, another marzipan win seems quite possible when the boats take to the course on Saturday and Sunday.
