Philipp Buhl casually and quietly rolled into the media centre in Schilksee on his scooter for the final press conference of Kiel Week. A friendly smile on his face, the calmness itself. Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke had already taken their seats. The laser sailor and the fast 49er FX women gave the German national sailing team two victories at the end of the Olympic half of Kiel Week and were the centre of attention for the media and fans on Wednesday.
Including Heiko Kröger's early 2.4mR triumph the day before, the DSV fleet achieved second place in the nations' ranking at the 119th Kiel Week with three victories and a second place by the 49er crew Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel behind Great Britain (3 victories, 2 second places) and ahead of the surprisingly strong Austrians (1 victory, 3 third places). Starters from 13 countries shared the 27 Kiel Week medals. Although not all the fields were filled with world champions, Sailing Team Germany had to assert itself against some very strong competition.
This was especially true for Philipp Buhl, who was up against none other than Laser legend Robert Scheidt from Brazil, a handful of other strong helmsmen and a total of 91 dinghies. They were unable to stop him after his mixed start to the season on the fjord. The Allgäu native defended the title he won in 2012 in the style of a champion, celebrating a commanding start-to-finish victory in the final medal race, consistently exploiting his strong wind skills and relegating the favourite and double Olympic champion Robert Scheidt to second place. It was the hoped-for liberating blow.
Buhl himself, however, did not want to cheer so loudly about his victory. The 23-year-old sports soldier, who like the majority of Olympic sailors had repeatedly criticised the new regatta format in Kiel and described it as "crass with a high luck factor", preferred to pay his respects to the five-time Olympic medal winner Robert Scheidt: "Beating him in this way doesn't feel so good. He dominated the series, was the better of the two of us over twelve races. I only beat him in the last race." But that was enough for Buhl. The new format, which is intended to offer spectators more excitement right to the end with a disproportionate weighting of the medal races, makes it possible. This is opposed by the sailors, who favour more balanced formats because this is the only way to determine the best in all conditions.
Peter Ramcke nevertheless drew a positive half-time balance in his first year as head of organisation for Kiel Week: "The many great pictures speak for themselves. We were lucky with the weather and were able to complete the programme according to plan." Regarding the format dispute, Ramcke said: "The conflict between the endeavour to offer spectators exciting sport right to the end and fair sport for the sailors has not yet been resolved. The discussion will continue. This year there will be worldwide trials and discussions, next year it will be consolidated."
Laser legend Robert Scheidt, one of the most successful Olympic participants in Brazil's sporting history, said of Germany's greatest hope for the 2016 Olympic regatta: "Philipp is extremely talented, very fit and good in stronger winds. He belongs to the young generation that has taken the Laser game to a new level."
Tina Lutz from Bergen and Susann Beucke from Strande won their first Kiel Week title. The Bavarian-North German duo mastered the stormy capsize thriller in the new Olympic women's discipline 49er FX the best and benefited from their defensive tactics in three spectacular short medal races, while their competitors flew through the air and capsized in rows. This was especially true for the Berliners Victoria Jurczok and Annika Lorenz, who were tied on points with Lutz/Beucke as the front runners in the three short medal races. As lightweights in winds between 18 and 23 knots, they went for a swim in the Baltic Sea more than they would have liked and in the end could not be satisfied with their place after a strong week.
The 49er sailors Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel from Berlin ended the Kiel Week with mixed feelings. They had started their three medal races with a chance of winning the title, but had thoroughly messed up the start. Erik Heil said: "There was a lot of wind out there and we had a crash right at the start, which was the worst case scenario. The situation was 100 per cent our own fault. We also apologise to our team-mates Justus Schmidt and Max Böhme for that. After that we capsized. We would have liked to have won the Kieler Woche after our third place last year. But now it's become a step-by-step plan: Bronze last year, silver this year and hopefully gold next year."
The 119th Kieler Woche will continue on Thursday with the races of the large yachts on the sea course and the international classes. Philipp Buhl will then compete again, starting with Adalbert Netzer in the Flying Dutchman and would like to fly to one of the rare double victories at Kiel Week. Perhaps he will come to the press conference smiling quietly once again. In any case, in the Flying Dutchman he no longer has to torment himself with the extreme Olympic formats.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
