Strong winds and rough seas challenged the participants in the International German Sailing Championship at the start of the week. Race director Stefan Kunstmann took advantage of the challenging conditions on Monday and had three races sailed instead of the planned two, as lighter winds are forecast for the coming days. "The weather forecasts for the next two days are not exactly rosy, so we are happy about every race that we have in the classification," said Kunstmann. In order to avoid the significantly decreasing winds, the first start for Tuesday was brought forward to 10 am.
The crew of the GP 42 "Silva Neo" used the three races on Monday to storm to the top. Dennis Gehrlein's team from the Kieler Yacht-Club leads the largest class, ORC I, but only by 0.8 points ahead of Axel Seehafer's Soto 40 "Sportsfreund". In the field of the seven "big ones", the women's crew skippered by Kirsten Harmstorf on "Tutima" is still in fourth place behind the Dutch "Tonnere de Breskens".
In the middle class ORC II, Hamburg skipper Max Gurgel and his crew on the XP-44 "X-Day" defended their lead ahead of Kalle Dehler's "Sporthotel" and Peter Beck Mikkelsen's "Arxes-Tolina BM Yachting". The leading three boats are separated by just 2.3 points. Gurgel reported on the intensive race on the fjord: "It was teamwork par excellence in very challenging conditions. It was important for us that we had 'BM Yachting' behind us at the end." When he said this, Gurgel did not yet know that the results computer had calculated the Flensburg First 40 with Peter Beck Mikkelsen at exactly the same time.
Jascha Bach and his crew on the Italia 9.98 "Douwe Broekens" kept a flawless record in the endurance test off Kiel. In the ORC III/IV classification group, Knut Freundenberg's First 36.7 "Halbtrocken" from Bad Laer made the comeback of the day. The crew of eight moved up to second place with 3rd, 2nd and 2nd place. Henning Tebbe's X-332 Sport "Patent3" slipped back to third place after a less successful day at the regatta (4, 4, 9).
The first Kiel Week winners come from Hamburg
The first Kieler Woche winners of the 122nd edition of the world's largest regatta come from Hamburg: helmsman Tobias Feuerherdt and his crew secured the title in the J24 class early on Monday. Record winner Wolfgang Hunger from Strande and his cox Julien Kleiner, on the other hand, will have to fight for second place on the final day of racing for the international classes if they want to challenge Britain's Andy Smith and Tim Needham for victory and secure Hunger's 22nd title. "The British are organising the World Championships in their own country this year and are therefore already in good shape," said Hunger. He added with a fighting spirit: "But there's still something in it!"
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
