100 years of the North Sea Week: With the Sundowner to Heligoland: "Fantastic conditions" to kick off the North Sea Week

"Xenia", "Pax" and "Static Electric" are the names of the first winning boats of the anniversary edition of the Nordseewonnewoche. A total of 23 crews opened the 87th North Sea Week in its 100th year with the sundowner race from Cuxhaven to Helgoland from Friday to Saturday. After plenty of sailing fun, they crossed the finish line by midnight. Race director Albert Schweizer accompanied the fleet with Toni Gerken on his "Beast" and was able to experience the dream start live: "It was divine, what a great evening regatta it was! It was worthy of 100 years of the North Sea Week, the weather was a dream, wonderfully sunny. The participants had fantastic conditions and a great pushing current. The race went quickly and swiftly, everyone was there by midnight. I am totally happy, the sailors are very satisfied. This is the reward for the efforts of the entire North Sea Week team. Our team will continue this morning with the garden behind the dune. Many other starters are arriving today with the other feeders from Cuxhaven, Wilhelmshaven, Hallig Hooge and also from Bremerhaven. They set off between six and seven o'clock and have similarly good conditions."

Meanwhile, the night sailors are already recovering on Heligoland. They opened the "Early Bird" series with the Sundowner Regatta and scored their first points. In ORCi 1, Steffen Müller's Brenta 60 "Almost Nothing" (3:12:50) and Michael Berghorn's "Halbtrocken 4.5" (3:15:33) were the fastest boats, separated by just 2 minutes and 43 seconds at the finish. In terms of calculated time, however, Ralf Lässig's XP-44 "Xenia" took the lead in the large division ahead of the Swan 48 "BigEasy III" and Michael Berghorn's Mills 45 Custom. In ORCi 2, Klaus-Uwe Stryi's crew on the IMX 40 "Pax" beat Alf Henryk Wulf's X-41 "Stardust" and Dirk Clasen's H 39 "Gingko" according to the calculated time. In the ORCi 3 and 4 group, the X36s "Static Electric" with Heiko Päsler's team is the first frontrunner ahead of the Sun Fast 3600 "Löwe von Bremen" with helmsman Vincent Vahland and Jürgen Klinghardt's X-332 "Patent4". Click here for the results of the Sundowner race (please click!).

The mood among the sailors was great right from the start in Heligoland harbour and in the marquee. In the boot Düsseldorf Race Village, the first arrivals talked about their race during the night and enjoyed their early arrival on the North Sea island. The unanimous opinion: this regatta start to the Whitsun festival under sail is a dream.