Regatta sailors know the situation: a race can be cancelled by the race committee in adverse wind conditions. If you are in the lead and already very close to the finish, it hurts twice as much. This happened twice to Tobias Schadewaldt and his crew from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein during this league weekend on Berlin's Wannsee. In the picture-book sailing area in front of the beautiful backdrop of the host club Seglerhaus am Wannsee (VSaW), the Hamburg team looked like the race winners twice before the race organisers ended the races prematurely. In the respective repechage races, the disappointed North Germans had to be satisfied with sixth place once and fourth place once. This meant an annoying theoretical difference of eight points, which they would have liked to have had in their account. But because the subjunctive mood with "would have" and "would" is worth nothing in sport, it was "only" enough for the Hamburg record champions to finish sixth in the final ranking in Berlin this weekend. Eight points behind OneKiel in the end showed what could have been possible with a little more fortune.
The broadcast from the league Sunday in Berlin
For the second time in a row after the successful season opener on home turf, the self-confident and strong starters from OneKiel with helmsman Magnus Simon, Max Schuberth, Philipp Sudbrack and Til Bleckner secured their first league victory. In doing so, the quartet followed the call of OneKiel's sports director Jochen Schümann, who said after his protégés' first success in Kiel a few weeks ago: "That was impressive! The intensive training that started three years ago is now paying off. The squad has always sailed with the same core of people from the youth league to the national league and has grown healthily. Now they just have to prove that they can do the same in areas other than their home waters and that their success wasn't just a flash in the pan."
This Sunday, Schümann was able to observe that OneKiel's league success was indeed not a flash in the pan. The three-time Olympic champion commented: "Magnus Simon's crew continues to sail confidently, quickly and mostly cleanly. The few mistakes were promptly penalised with a fifth and sixth place." You can read a detailed interview with Jochen Schümann on the OneKiel club's support concept and other topics in the current issue ofYACHT 19. OneKiel helmsman Magnus Simon himself said in Berlin: "Our goal for Berlin was the top five. Winning is great, of course, but we didn't necessarily expect it, as we definitely made a few mistakes compared to Kiel." The team touched the windward mark twice and also conceded a not uncontroversial penalty. Nevertheless, the overall performance was once again excellent.
In Berlin, race officer Robert Niemczewski and his VSaW team were able to complete almost two thirds of the 16 first division races that would normally be sailed, with three races each. After a total of ten flights, OneKiel, with a total of 24 points in the weekend account, had a two-point lead over Segel- und Motorboot Club Überlingen (SMCÜ) with helmsman Steffen Heßberger, Jan Fritze, Charlotta Fritz and Frederik Schaal. Third place in the capital was secured by the Chiemsee Yacht Club, six points behind the winners. In the standings, OneKiel, with two wins in a row, and SMCÜ, with two second places in a row, have already pulled away slightly from the chasing pack in second place. Norddeutscher Regatta Verein is in third place with ten points, level on points with Düsseldorfer Yacht-Club and Chiemsee Yacht Club.
Here to see the first division results for Berlin.
Here to the table of the 1st Bundesliga.
In the 2nd Bundesliga, the Joersfelder Segel-Club shone with helmsman Christoph Cornelius, Cynthia Sassenroth, Daniel Schwarze and Oliver Szymanski. After an impressive six wins in nine rounds, they won the Berlin summit meeting with just 18 points to their name and a seven-point lead over Akademischer Segler-Verein Warnemünde (25 points). The crew from Bodensee-Yacht-Club Überlingen (26 points) sailed into third place just ahead of the German eSailing club champions from Mühlenberger Segel-Club (27 points), who also won twice on the water this weekend, but also took three fourth and one sixth place in the doldrums. Bodensee-Yacht-Club Überlingen leads the second division table with four points ahead of Joersfelder and MSC (both 7 points) from Hamburg.
Here to see the second division results from Berlin.
Here to the table of the 2nd Bundesliga.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
