The Dane Anton Hansen travelled for almost 49 hours before crossing the finish line in Svendborgsund in his Optima 101 on Sunday afternoon - less than eight minutes before reaching the time limit. He is celebrated on Facebook, with one user writing: "This is the spirit of the Silverrudder."
This year, the largest single-handed event in the world once again attracted sailors of all kinds from more than ten countries, first-time participants as well as record-hunting top performers. One of the latter category is the aforementioned Dane Jan Andersen. With his self-built tri "Black Marlin", he secured the Line Honours and victory in the large multihull class for the sixth time. "The conditions were perfect for me. I was able to get the maximum out of the boat most of the time." Despite being four hours ahead of the next competitor in his class, this was not enough to break his record from 2021. Back then, all the best times had been significantly beaten and Andersen had taken four hours less, i.e. just 14 hours, to cover the 134 nautical miles.
12th Silverrudder: Participants full of praise
This year, as last year, new records were thwarted in all other classes by the rather light to medium wind conditions. In addition, different weather windows as well as the different currents around the island were extremely challenging to sail and therefore the strategically decisive factors.
Nevertheless, according to many participants, it was the best Silverrudder in the event's success story, said event director Steen Lundager. "The weather was consistently good and there were no major incidents." Lundager only had to lament the weak winds on Sunday, which made it impossible for some sailors to reach the finish line in the scheduled time, as well as a mast breakage. 379 sailors started, 234 reached the finish line. This was because the first participants had already been eliminated at the start in the narrow Svendborgsund. They had run aground, were unable to free themselves under their own power and had to abandon the race.
Defending champion Gurgel: "I would have liked to have seen the duel"
Jan Hansen, one of the top favourites for one of the most exciting designs at the Silverrudder, was also affected. After finishing fifth last year with electronic problems, he now wanted to attack the top of the 30-foot class with his Aeolos P30. An exciting duel between the AP30 and the Dehler 30 od was expected - but the second Aeolos also ran aground before the start. "I know the feeling of being stuck there, you wouldn't wish that on anyone," said Max Gurgel, who was able to defend the title with his Dehler 30 od "Playharder" in the end. "I would have liked to have seen the duel, I think it would have been pretty tough."
But even without the duel, it didn't look like a win for him at first, Gurgel was not in a podium position for long stretches and had to fight hard. The rather weak aft winds are not the best for his 2.8 tonne "Playharder" ex shipyard. "I had a hangover north of Funen, it wasn't fun anymore," recalls the successful ORC sailor. Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt, who had beaten him in a thrilling duel at the Silverrudder 2021 and has been the record holder in the class ever since, gave him advice and mental support over the phone. "For him, it was a matter close to his heart that the Dehler should definitely win again. He really encouraged me and gave me valuable tips."
Gurgel then caught a good entry into the Little Belt and started the race to catch up. With a counter-current and somewhat stronger winds of up to 14 knots, the German overtook one after the other on the upwind courses that were better for him. In the end, he even managed to leave Patrik Heinrichs behind with his much lighter Esse 8.50 "Jynx too". However, the victory was still a long way from being wrapped up. The darkness demanded the utmost attention in order to avoid ending up in the doldrums or missing a gust of wind. "I then kept a relatively close guard and parried every tack. It was very intense," says Gurgel.
Three times exclusively Germany on the podium at Silverrudder 2023
However, this paid off at the finish. "Playharder" crossed the finish line on Saturday morning as the first yacht in the 30-foot class with a lead of around 15 minutes. The skipper describes the feeling after the successful end of the chase as "really very relieving". "I was afraid the whole time that something would go wrong. A lot of mess can always happen in Svendborgsund." This is the third victory for a Dehler 30 od at the Silverrudder. There was also praise for this from Karl Dehler: "A good series. Max knows the boat so well by now, he is close to the optimum in all conditions and courses."
From a German perspective, the world's largest single-handed regatta was a great success this year, and not only for this reason. In three of the seven classes, only German sailors finished on the podium. In the smallest "Mini" class, it was Mattis Franken who dominated the field on his Melges 24 "Freya". He was followed by Rolf Schmidt (Mader "CUL Masten") ahead of Hendrik Kohrs (Mini Proto "Mr Brightside").
Behind Max Gurgel and Patrik Heinrichs in the 30-footer category was Franz Schollmayer on his Corsa30 "Firlefanz", just ten minutes behind. In the large keelboats, the eventual winner Peter Thyen put in a similar race to catch up to Gurgel. The Santa Cruz 37 "SoniC" first made up some important metres in the Little Belt, then took the lead with Wolfram Heibeck's Open 40 "Black Maggy" and eventually overtook him at the cross. Thyen and Heibeck were followed by Stefan Knabe, who won the chasing duel.
