It's getting tight. Philipp Buhl and Adalbert Netzer are nine points short of a very rare feat. Race wins and a lot of luck would have to come together for Buhl on the final day of Kieler Woche to knock the Hungarians Szabolcs Maithenvi and Andreas Domokos, who have sailed outstandingly so far, off their Flying Dutchman throne and claim their second KiWo victory within a week.
The sore point for the Hungarians: in addition to six wins on the day, they also have an early start in their luggage and cannot afford any more total lapses if they want to fend off the attacks from Buhl and Netzer until the end of the world's biggest regatta series. It will be interesting to see whether Buhl, who was so successful in the Laser duel against Olympic starter Simon Grotelüschen and is currently in outstanding form, has an answer to this tactical challenge. Buhl says: "It's going to be very difficult for us, actually hardly doable, but they have already made an early start..."
Wolfgang Hunger is heading towards his anniversary record with even more confidence than before: the nine-time world champion, nicknamed "Woller", is about to win his 20th title in Kiel. Together with Julien Kleiner, the former champion has an almost unassailable lead with just 13 points after nine races one day before the end of Kiel Week.
Surprisingly, Tobias Schadewaldt and his co-sailor Martin Schöler have now moved up to second place in their foray into the 505 class. The Olympic starter and Kiel Week winner in the 49er has already claimed two race victories in the challenging 505er and outshone many an established 505er team in his "change from everyday Olympic life". But even Schadewaldt can hardly prevent Wolfgang Hunger's record-breaking festival.
In the Star boat, Johannes Polgar and Markus Koy were able to achieve enviable results today, picking up a race win as a string. They have no other results to their name than a series of nine ones. The team from Hamburg, who lost to Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen in the national Olympic qualification, dominated the weak Star boat field off Kiel at will. In the Hobie 16 on Sunday, two mixed teams will be battling it out for the Kieler Woche victory in the style of the new mixed discipline at the Olympic Games: Detlef Mohr and Karen Wichardt are just ahead of Knud Jansen and Anke Delius.
Boat with a view
Frank Schönfeldt's successful family crew suffered a nasty setback. At the start of the last race on Saturday, a 40-knot boat hit the jib, which was already flapping violently, so unhappily that a window in the sail broke out with a loud bang. "We were suddenly missing a square metre of sail and had to give up," said Schönfeldt, "how unpleasant that we then had to go to North for repairs as Clown Sails sailmakers. Our sailmaker Thorsten Sperl then fixed it on a North sewing machine..." Nevertheless, Schönfeldt is satisfied with the performance so far and second place, eleven points behind Kai Mares: "We have made great progress in sail design for the J24 and are absolutely on the right track."
Jochen Schümann's "All4One" won the Senate Prize for Big Boats in ORC I on Saturday. However, the TP 52 was not steered by Schümann, but by 470 Olympic participant Ferdinand Gerz from Munich on his trip to the lake. TV star Kai Pflaume was also on board. In ORC II, Martin Lutz's "Lutzifer" from Kiel won after a calculated time and in ORC III and IV, the highly talented Hamburg helmsman Max Gurgel and his junior crew from the Hamburg Sailing Club added another success to their recent victories in the German Sailing Championships.
