"Large fields, best sailing conditions, great pictures - that was really great! The sport takes centre stage. And the beaming faces of Minister President Daniel Günther and Lord Mayor Ulf Kämpfer. We won all the races. It was great sailing at the Aalregatta, Welcomerace and the IDM Seesegeln. I'm beaming today, even though it's only day one and you shouldn't praise the day before the evening." This is how relaxed Kieler Woche organisation manager Dirk Ramhorst was after the first of nine days of sailing at the world's largest regatta series with a total of more than 350 starts. The tension of the previous days was clearly gone from Ramhorst's face at the start. In the first half of the event, the international dinghy sailors and sea sailors had to contend with beautiful, if sometimes gusty, winds of up to five and sometimes even six Beaufort between sunshine and a few rain showers.
At the start of the German ORC Championship with a total of 28 crews, the team led by race officers Eckart Reinke and Ralf Paulsen served the sailors a long course of 62 nautical miles for the large ORC I and II classes and around 45 nautical miles for the medium-sized and smaller boats. Characterised by a short cross and plenty of reach, the course was dominated by Michael Berghorn's Mills 45 "Halbtrocken 4.5", which not only reached the finish line first, but also won the championship ranking on the first evening ahead of the X-41 "Sportsfreund" with the European champions around Gordon Nickel and Ralf Lässig's XP-44 "Xenia". Jens Kuphal's crew on the co-favoured German champion "Intermezzo" will have to start their race to catch up from seventh place in the three races scheduled for Sunday. A "semi-dry" also took the lead in ORC III on Saturday: Knut Freudenberg and his team brought their First 36.7 across the finish line just three minutes after the Italia 9.98 "Immac Fram" with Kai Mares. Calculated, however, this meant a lead of just a few seconds. The Danish Italia 11.98 "Stony VIII" took third place. In ORC IV, Jan Schmidt's "Bostik Bad Boys" is the leader for the time being.
Meanwhile, a record attempt by the Danish "Rockwool" with professional helmsman and Ocean Race round-the-world sailor Nicolai Sehested narrowly failed. The red and white hunters missed the existing record, which the 70-foot trimaran "Musandam-Oman Sail" had set in 2014 with one hour, 47 minutes and 22 seconds, by five minutes on the route from Kiel to Eckernförde. The crew had made a mistake at a buoy and lost valuable time correcting it.
While the big boats were "away from home", the international dinghy sailors started the Kiel Week with a full programme. They also enjoyed fine winds, but they had their pitfalls with lots of twists and gusts. Kieler Woche record winners Wolfgang Hunger and Holger Jess made a solid start to the hunt for title number 23 for the 505 helmsman in second place overall, but were not yet satisfied themselves. "On good days, we would have come first in such tricky conditions," said Holger Jess self-critically, giving his helmsman and himself a boost in the sails. Kai Bertallot and Moritz Klingenberg from the Kieler Yacht-Club have taken the lead in the fast planing dinghy 505 after three races and the first of four days of racing.
Here to the results of all classes and championships of the 126th Kieler Woche.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
