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128th Kiel WeekUnstable winds slow down Olympic sailors: Jens Kuphal: "Those were great sailing days in Kiel"

128th Kiel Week: Unstable winds slow down Olympic sailors: Jens Kuphal: "Those were great sailing days in Kiel"Photo: ChristianBeeck.de/Kieler Woche
The Kiel Cup winner "Intermezzo" on the fjord
While the Olympic sailors remained inactive at the start of the second half of Kiel Week, the sea sailors brought the Kiel Cup to a close with sport and fun

A brief hiccup at half-time: The second Olympic half of the 128th Kiel Week got off to a slow start. The Olympic sailors were unable to start as planned on Wednesday in very light and fluctuating winds. After a long wait, all races in the eight Olympic disciplines were postponed until Thursday. Kieler Woche sports director Dirk Ramhorst said: "After the fantastic sailing the day before, it was a bit of a shame that the unstable winds on Wednesday did not allow more. For Thursday, however, we are expecting increasingly better winds and will then sail one more race per class." The weather forecasts are promising: the sixth day of the nine-day series could also start with light winds. However, these should increase throughout the day and develop into dream conditions with 15 knots of wind.

Beautiful fireworks impression by photographer Christian Beeck from the evening beforePhoto: ChristianBeeck.de/Kieler Woche Beautiful fireworks impression by photographer Christian Beeck from the evening before Waiting instead of sailing: Nacra 17 Olympic champion Santi Lange from Argentina used the time to meet friends and organisers. The picture shows Kieler Woche sports director Dirk Ramhorst (l.) and former Olympic participant Johannes Polgar, who still knows Lange from their Tornado days. Lange was delighted with the organisation of Kieler Woche and its performance and signalled his support for a possible comeback of Kieler Woche in the Olympic World Cup eventsPhoto: Dirk Ramhost/Kieler Woche Waiting instead of sailing: Nacra 17 Olympic champion Santi Lange from Argentina used the time to meet friends and organisers. The picture shows Kieler Woche sports director Dirk Ramhorst (l.) and former Olympic participant Johannes Polgar, who still knows Lange from their Tornado days. Lange was delighted with the organisation of Kieler Woche and its performance and signalled his support for a possible comeback of Kieler Woche in the Olympic World Cup events

Despite the balmy skies and the zero number for the Olympic sailors, the sea sailors were able to complete one race on Wednesday. That was enough to conclude the Kiel Cup series after six races over three days. Jens Kuphal's team from Berlin won on the Landmark 43 "Intermezzo". Kuphal said: "It was a great sailing day in Kiel, where we experienced all kinds of weather. We liked the flexible formats. Our key to success is certainly that we have been sailing with the same crew for three years." These include the members of Offshore Team Germany, skippered by Robert Stanjek from Berlin with Annie Lush and Phillip Kasüske, who will be starting the Ocean Race around the world in a Franco-German co-production with Frenchman Benjamin Dutreux in January, and Hamburg-based "boat whisperer" Max Gurgel. "These four professionals, the overall good team spirit on board and getting to know our boat better and better have brought us here," said Kuphal.

Knut Freudenberg's "Halbtrocken" won the Kiel Cup of Kiel Week 2022 in the ORC III/IV classification groupPhoto: ChristianBeeck.de/Kieler Woche Knut Freudenberg's "Halbtrocken" won the Kiel Cup of Kiel Week 2022 in the ORC III/IV classification group ORC world champion Michael Berghorn from Kieler Yacht-Club sailed to third place in the large group at the Kiel Cup with his "Halbtrocken 4.5" crewPhoto: ChristianBeeck.de/Kieler Woche ORC world champion Michael Berghorn from Kieler Yacht-Club sailed to third place in the large group at the Kiel Cup with his "Halbtrocken 4.5" crew
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A snapshot of the windy Monday of the Kiel Cup regatta, which tested its manageable but enthusiastic regatta field with a wide variety of wind conditions, but above all with varied formatsPhoto: ChristianBeeck.de/Kieler Woche A snapshot of the windy Monday of the Kiel Cup regatta, which tested its manageable but enthusiastic regatta field with a wide variety of wind conditions, but above all with varied formats

The crew of skipper Ralf Lässig on "Xenia" from the Wulsdorf water sports club sailed to second place in the large boats in the Kiel Cup. Third place went to Michael Berghorn's "Halbtrocken 4.5" from the Kieler Yacht-Club. In the smaller division, Knut Freudenberg's "Halbtrocken" from Segler-Vereinigung Flensburg won ahead of Torsten Bastiansen's "Xen" from Flensburg and Jochen-P. Kunze's "Sophus" from the Langballigau Yacht Club. "It was interesting and enjoyable," summarised Eckart Reinke, the overall manager of the Seebahn, "tomorrow we will be travelling with the new Doublehand format from Kiel with an overnight stay in Schleimünde and back to Kiel on Friday. We are all very excited. I think the sailors are too."

With cheerful Kiel Cup greetings from the race course: After the only race on the flat final day, which race officer Andreas "Herbert" Herbst managed to complete with perfect timing and a precision landing before the total calm, the keelboat sailors ended the series with a swimming competition. The participants remained silent about the winners. All that was heard was: "Now 23 more people have got their seahorse."Photo: Team Seebahn/Kieler Woche With cheerful Kiel Cup greetings from the race course: After the only race on the flat final day, which race officer Andreas "Herbert" Herbst managed to complete with perfect timing and a precision landing before the total calm, the keelboat sailors ended the series with a swimming competition. The participants remained silent about the winners. All that was heard was: "Now 23 more people have got their seahorse."
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