The 10th Bundesliga season is underway: Strong title defender under a new old flag

The Bundesliga has kicked off its tenth anniversary season with the first races on Hamburg's Outer Alster. The 36 clubs of the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga are in action this weekend at the host Hamburger Segel-Club. The first clash in the new league year got off to a promising start in the city on the Elbe on Friday. In sporting terms, the Elbe sailors from Mühlenberger Segel-Club (MSC) were able to showcase themselves brilliantly in the first few races on the Alster on Friday. They kicked off their season with first and second place, putting them at the top of the first league table after the first of three days of sailing. Remarkably, despite the withdrawal of champions OneKiel from the league, there is a defending champion in action this weekend: helmsman Magnus Simon, who lifted the championship trophy with OneKiel in 2021, has returned to his old home club. With him and the hungry and experienced MSC crew around the second helmsman and e-sailing maestro Till Krüger, who alternates with Simon, things could now go much higher after 13th place last year. If you would like to watch the league races live on Saturday and Sunday, you are welcome on the large jetty of the Hamburg Sailing Club, where you will be in the front row with the best view of the races of the identical J/70 keelboats.

In addition to exciting sailing sport, an unusual floating art exhibition can be seen on Saturday (21 May). From 4 p.m., Stefan Szczesny's league boats will set sail with strikingly painted sails. The internationally renowned artist has depicted the UN's 17 sustainability goals on 17 large sails. The UN's commitment to combating hunger and poverty, clean energy and meeting climate targets is shown on sails instead of posters. The Bundesliga races will be interrupted for the floating "cultural regatta", with the athletes sailing against each other in short show acts. "This event, which we are organising as the German Sailing League together with the Monheim Kulturwerke and Galerie Geuer und Geuer, is an excellent opportunity to use sailing as a platform for a better, fairer world," says Oliver Schwall. "Our cooperation with the 'Klar zur Wende' initiative, which campaigns for climate and resource protection and in particular for more sustainability in sport, also ties in with this."

Then it's back to league racing. A total of six league regattas are on the programme this year. It's all about the championship trophy, qualifying points for the Sailing Champions League, points for promotion and against relegation. As in previous years, the favourites include teams from large clubs such as the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV), the Berliner Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee (VSAW) and the Bayerischer Yacht-Club (BYC), as well as some smaller clubs with well-established crews. According to league co-founder and conductor Oliver Schwall, at least three other clubs have a real chance of winning the title in addition to the three top teams: "It is often the excellently coordinated teams from small clubs that are made up of a top team that has already been very successful in other boat classes and are confidently positioned at the top of the table."

League success has never been a foregone conclusion. Some of the established teams also realised this at the start. The record champions from NRV started the opening event in Hamburg in 13th place after their first three races, just as poorly as the highly rated Flensburger Segel-Club in 14th place, while Wassersport-Verein Hemelingen, which is usually regularly in the top five, even found itself in an unfamiliar 18th and last place after its first three Friday races. All the clubs have a dozen more rounds or even more to go this weekend to improve on this initial picture or - from the point of view of the leading teams - to defend it. The women's sailing quartet from the Hamburg Sailing Club will also be in the spotlight on this Hanseatic weekend. "I'm particularly pleased that the Hamburger Segel-Club, which is hosting the first league event of the season, is back in the 1st division," says Oliver Schwall, "with Silke Basedow, who has been standing up to the predominantly male competition in the league for ten years, the HSC team has one of the few female helmsmen in the league."

Anyone who wants to find out more about theLeague history, the clubs and the active players would like to learn more about theAnniversary report in the current issue of YACHT 11 which is now available at newsagents. Thereexclusive statistics an overview of all German sailing clubs that have competed in at least one first division season since the premiere year of 2013. We also show the exciting ups and downs of thePerennial favourite and reveal whichXL plans for the future.