It's days like these that make Kieler Woche participants happy, because the world's biggest regatta week showed its best side at the start of the 125th anniversary edition and generated a lot of enthusiasm among the active participants and helpers. "We were able to start the classes with a slight delay," said Head of Organisation Dirk Ramhorst, "at first we still had the battle between the two wind systems, but then the thermals prevailed against the gradient and stabilised more and more. So we were able to send the classes onto the courses in an easterly breeze. Super sailable conditions developed. It was a perfect day, everyone was happy."
This was especially true for Kiel Week record winners Wolfgang Hunger and Holger Jess. Helmsman Hunger started his hunt for his 22nd title in almost ideal fashion. The 58-year-old orthopaedic surgeon and seven-time world champion in the 470 and 505 sailed to two victories and a third place in his home waters on his own doorstep in Strande alongside his coxswain Jess from Eckerförde. The three-time Olympian thus took the lead straight away, which he intends to defend over the next three days of the regatta. His strongest rivals include the Danish FD Olympic champion Jörgen Bojsen-Möller and his brother Jacob, who are in second place.
The Swedish Olympic starboat champion Freddy Lööf has taken the lead at the European Championships for OK dinghies held during Kieler Woche. While in Lööf's absence his Star boat rival Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Bruno Prada were crowned Star boat world champions off Sardinia on Saturday, Lööf prefers to fight for European Championship gold in the OK dinghy off Kiel. Co-favourite Jan Kurfeld from Wismar opened the European OK dinghy championships in Kiel on Saturday with a brilliant win, but fell back to second place after finishing 10th in the second race.
In the one-man keelboat class 2.4mR, which is open to sailors with and without disabilities, top favourite and Paralympics winner Heiko Kröger came out on top with three race wins. Like Kröger, Iver Ahlmann also kept a clean slate with three race wins in the Musto Skiff. In the prelude to the Nord Stream Race, for which former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder will give the starting signal on the Kiel Inner Fjord on Sunday, the German team led by skipper Sven-Erik Horsch put in a good performance on Saturday, finishing second behind Sweden after three races.
Almost a dozen Moth and Wazp sailors made for spectacular scenes. Frithjof Schwerdt (Hamburg), a former Musto skiff world champion, has now switched to the Moth class and is foiling across the fjord for Kieler Woche. However, he still has to get used to the new boat: "The switch from a standardised class to a construction class is huge. You have to work a lot on the boat to be and stay fast." Schwerdt is in seventh place after three races, with the Swiss Adriano Petrino in the lead ahead of Max Lutz from Kiel and Sven Kloppenburg (Ratzeburg).
