36 first and second division teams started the new league season this weekend on Lake Starnberg. For the 144 sailors, however, the eagerly awaited first weekend in the south of Germany turned into a cold test. The teams were challenged by temperatures of just two degrees above zero. The Seglerhaus am Wannsee club coped best with the bitterly cold, wintry conditions and changeable winds. After a winless 2018 season, helmsman Jasper Wagner, Felix Bergmann, Elias Rothe and Max Salzwedel got off to a perfect start. The Berlin team defied the adverse conditions with seven victories in a total of 16 flights. With only 35 points in their account and a ten-point lead, they relegated the Chiemsee-Yacht-Club (45 points) with skipper Leopold Fricke, Moritz Fricke, Lorenz Huber and Simon Tripp to second place. The third place on the podium went to the Bavarian Yacht Club with Veit Hemmeter, Teresa Hemmeter, Leopold Lindner and Jan Nürnberger.
"It was tough. The cold, the hail, the storm - it really was three exhausting days, so stamina was required. Of course, we are all the more proud to be able to call ourselves winners of the first match day! We want to build on this at the next event in Constance," said helmsman Jasper Wagner after the successful race in Bavaria. The decision in the southern duel for second and third place between the Chiemsee crew and the team from the Bayerischer Yacht-Club was close, with a difference of just two points. "It was an exciting duel! We had relatively little training, but improved a lot over the days and ultimately gave it our all," said helmsman Leopold Fricke.
The top favourites, record winners and defending champions from Norddeutscher Regatta Verein with Florian Haufe at the helm had to settle for seventh place in the first showdown of the season. The German Touring Yacht Club, German champions in 2015 and 2016, messed up the season opener and will have to start their race to catch up from 17th place in the table in Constance, where the league season will continue from 17 to 19 May. The DTYC crew only managed to leave the Schlei-Segel-Club behind them on Lake Starnberg, which in 18th place also has the red lantern of the bottom of the new season table hanging in its rear.
The Blankeneser Segel-Club from Hamburg won the first league weekend of the second division. This was thanks to 505 world champion and veteran Claas Lehmann at the helm with Florian Dzsiesiaty, Justus Kellner and Valentin Zeller in the boat. In second place, the team from Hamburger Segel-Club completed the Hanseatic success story on this first sailing weekend for the second division teams. The only all-female crew around skipper Silke Basedow with Maren Hahlbrock, Luisa Krüger and Lea-Katharina Witt were delighted. Third place went to the Potsdamer Yacht-Club, just half a point ahead of Segler-Vereinigung Itzehoe.
Here to see the results of the 1st Bundesliga.
Here to see the results of the 2nd Bundesliga.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
