Since Boris Herrmann brought solo offshore sailing to the attention of a wider German audience with his Vendée Globe circumnavigations, other German sailors have seen an opportunity to gain a foothold in this scene. Andreas Baden is one who may be able to achieve this as early as 2028.
The 37-year-old has the sailing expertise and technical knowledge necessary to sail around the world alone. Now, he just needs to secure the financial backing for the project. To this end, the Kiel native is doing everything he can, giving talks about the challenges he faces and making contacts in the hope that a sponsorship opportunity will arise to pave the way for him to compete in the 2028/29 Vendée Globe.
Andreas Baden was happy to come to Travemünde Week to talk about his ambitions at the TW Forum. He has fond memories of TW. In 2019, he became the German offshore sailing champion here with the ‘Intermezzo’ crew. This was an important milestone in his sailing career, which already includes several Atlantic crossings and successes in international regattas – albeit always in a team or duo.
However, the agricultural and environmental scientist, who trained in the energy industry and founded an electronics company, is driven to even greater extremes. He wants to sail solo around the world, ideally in the next Vendée Globe. This would see him celebrate his 40^(th) birthday at sea in 2028, perhaps even at Cape Horn.
There are currently good IMOCA yachts available for the race – tried and tested boats of the younger generation. This is why Andreas Baden is moving forward with his plans: if the necessary funds can be raised within the next six months, a campaign launch with good sporting prospects would be possible. The Kiel native will therefore spend a few more weeks in Germany expanding his network within the sailing community. The start of the Ocean Race Europe in Kiel would be a good place to do this. His expertise is certainly in demand. He will be providing expert commentary on the harbour races and the start on 10 August.
After that, he will return to France. If you want to succeed in this niche, you have to relocate to Lorient, Le Havre or Les Sables d’Olonne. This is where the major Atlantic regattas begin, including the Transat Café l’Or, which Andreas Baden will set sail on this autumn with Frenchman Fabrice Armedeo.
Travemünde Week is a driving force behind the higher number of participants
Red and white striped sails will dominate the scene at Priwall Beach until Saturday 26 July. This is the first time that the three Topcat classes have visited to crown their international champions. After the first day of racing, Mathias Equiluz, president of the International Topcat Class Association (ITCA), praised Travemünde Week highly. This is not only because of the sailing area. Equiluz hopes that the event will encourage more sailors to participate in regattas.
The Topcats are still battling light breezes, but the first races of the International Championships have already taken place. Photo: Christian Beeck/TW
Many sailing classes are now struggling with a shortage of young talent. Membership numbers have plummeted, particularly since the pandemic. This is also the case with the Topcats. Just 33 boats are registered in classes K1, K2 and K3 for Travemünde Week. ‘I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t get more people here and would have liked to see more,’ he said. But every class in Austria, Germany and Italy is facing the same problem. We are therefore focusing on different events, which is why we chose Travemünde Week — the active members said they wanted a supporting programme alongside the regatta,” says ITCA President Mathias Equiluz, who is from Austria and sails on Lake Neusiedl.
The 39-year-old has been the international class boss for two years and has set himself the goal of further revitalising the class. He is focusing on the youth sector and attractive sailing areas. ‘When it comes to regattas, it’s important to me that we have sailing areas where we can actually sail,’ he said. We chose Travemünde Week because the statistics showed that sailing was possible on eight out of ten race days. Furthermore, this event offers a unique combination of sailing and a festival. This came as a very positive surprise to me and is great for active participants, because otherwise you’re often alone on a lake with no one else around, like last year on Lake Garda on a peninsula where you couldn’t escape at all. Here, you can go to a different restaurant every day and there’s something for everyone in the supporting programme,” enthuses Equiluz.
In addition, the large beach on the Priwall is ideal for the Topcats, and perfect safety is guaranteed on the water. “The fact that we are also allowed to compete twice in the Trave Races is, of course, fantastic and absolutely not something you see every day,” says the ITCA president happily. After just a few days on site, he does not rule out the possibility that the class will continue to hold regattas at Travemünde Week in the future.
Mathias Equiluz, president of the International Topcat Class Association, was deeply impressed by Travemünde Week. Photo: Katrin Heidemann
The Austrian, who competes in the K1 class, was also enthusiastic about the organisation of the event. ‘Usually, as presidents, we have to organise everything in advance, such as the evening programme, the slipways, the regatta management and the safety boats. In Travemünde, however, the organiser takes care of everything. All our wishes have been fulfilled. That’s great. We also have Sebastian Mayer as co-race director, who knows the class and the sailing conditions very well,” says Equiluz.
The main event for the Topcats in Travemünde is the European Championship in the K1 class. At the same time, Travemünde Week counts towards the World Cup standings. ‘Last autumn, as an international class association, we launched the World Cup format and selected five European regattas that we specifically promote.’ One event takes place in each of the most important countries: Austria, Poland, and Italy (Gravedona on Lake Como). Germany has two events: the German Championship and the European Championship.
To make the events as attractive as possible to participants, prizes will be awarded to the top three finishers and a sailing kit will be raffled off among all participants in the final. We hope that such promotions will lead to higher participation numbers,” Equiluz explains.
The Vienna native sees an advantage of the Topcat fleet in that, thanks to its three classes (K1, K2 and K3), it is suitable for a wide range of ages and skill levels. As a one-design class, it is also more affordable than many others. He estimates that there are around 900 registered Topcat sailors across Europe. Equiluz hopes that Travemünde Week will inspire some of them to participate in future races: “We hope that people will be enthusiastic and share their experiences with others, encouraging them to join in too.”
You can see Topcats up close in racing mode today (22 July) and tomorrow (23 July) from 5 p.m. at the Trave Races. The top teams in the class will be sailing directly in front of the Trave promenade.
