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Dear Readers,

Why do I not regret selling my boat in the middle of the season? Well, it's quite simple: apart from the fact that I wanted to get rid of my ageing foiling Moth for good reason, I probably wouldn't have gone sailing a single time in the summer anyway. And that's not because I didn't have the time or was permanently ill, but solely because of the weather. Who isn't currently asking themselves: "Is there anything else coming or is that it?"

According to the German Weather Service (DWD), we experienced an extremely dry and hot June - but I still had my boat. And even better: the wind conditions on Lake Ratzeburg were excellent. But with the sale and the first days of July, summer seems to have said goodbye early. The DWD's precipitation statistics impressively show how rainy the past few weeks have been, especially in north-west Germany: In some regions, an increase of over 250 per cent compared to normal values was recorded.

In addition to the long period of rain, as a transient landlubber I have also been bothered by the persistently unstable strong winds of late. More than once, pedalling wildly on my bike, I had the feeling of being hit in the face by the sudden onset of rain with the pressure of a steam jet without even moving. The final push to write this text was given to me today by the completely exasperated picture editor. "He was on holiday first, wasn't he?" I immediately thought.

Yes - which is precisely why his mood was so miserable, as it turned out after a brief exchange of words. The summer holiday with his father and children on their own dinghy cruiser had literally fallen through. They were only able to sail on the Wadden Sea for two days out of seven, and his stories didn't sound like much fun either. "Gusts of 7 Beaufort with a forecast of 3 to 4; paddling to the anchorage with small children in 'horizontal rain'," he grumbled. I sympathised, but secretly it was starting to feel really good to have spent every free minute of the sailing summer in the dark workshop to get the new Moth flying as quickly as possible. Looking back, I had the time of my life - at least after arriving at the boat shed soaking wet from head to toe. The anticipation of my new Moth, which I'm putting together myself (more on this soon here on yacht.de), didn't dry out my clothes, but at least it warmed my heart a little. It's not a permanent state of affairs without a boat.

However, even I have little room for gallows humour in the current situation - at the latest when I think about becoming a victim of these weather extremes myself next year and no longer being able to laugh up my sleeve. Instead of rain floods, there could of course be extreme drought again - like a year ago. Back then, the exact opposite scenario to the current situation played out here in Germany: Record drought in June, July and August. With 817 hours of sunshine, it was the sunniest summer since weather records began, surpassing even the record summer of 2003.

It's no longer a secret that the weather is getting more extreme, I know. But in its current form, it's really frightening for me. Because at the same time as I'm looking out of the window into the pouring rain for days on end at work, the world is going up in flames elsewhere. The Hawaiian island of Maui has been ablaze since the middle of this week, with forest fires already claiming over 50 lives. And Europe was not spared, especially in the dry month of June. These lists and comparisons could go on forever. The list of natural disasters this year alone seems endless. But back to sailing.

After all, climate change could soon have devastating consequences here too, or is it perhaps already doing so? After all, the effects are not only being felt in the classic storm and disaster areas around the world. After all, the weather is globally interconnected and also takes place on our doorstep and on our local waters. As the atmosphere heats up, it contains more energy, which makes stronger storms possible. In addition, warmer air can absorb more water, resulting in more precipitation. The warming of the oceans also allows more water to evaporate, resulting in more rain over land. All of these are already well-researched mechanisms and long-lasting periods of rain and strong winds in particular are therefore a demonstrable consequence of climate change.

The number of reports of maritime emergencies on the North Sea and Baltic Sea here on yacht.de has increased in recent weeks in parallel with such weather conditions. Not infrequently with personal injury, often with enormous material damage.

• One dead sailor recovered, another missing
• Mast breakage: Family from Hesse reports "Pan-Pan" in the Kiel Fjord
• Sea rescuers rescue two sailing yachts from dangerous surf

However, it would be risky to establish a clear link between climate-related weather extremes and the increasing number of fatal maritime emergencies. In my view, this thesis is certainly plausible, but there are too many other factors that could also be the reason for the observed development. It is therefore not possible to compile statistics on this, at least not so simply and in the short term.

It is significant, however, that the sea rescuers decided 20 years ago, based on an IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report, to have the 46-metre-long rescue cruiser "Hermann Marwede" built and stationed on Heligoland. The aim was to respond to the warnings of prolonged periods of strong winds with the most powerful of all cruisers to date before it was too late. A good decision - the "Hermann Marwede" has since been on over 600 missions. But how long can we continue to fight the symptoms of a sick planet with more and more effort?

Max Gasser,

YACHT Volunteer Digital

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