134th Travemünde Week: Championships sailed out - "The most difficult wind conditions for years"

• Dress rehearsal for the sea sailors: long distance in heavy rain
• Space engineers become J/22 world champions
• Sach brothers become Masters world champions off Travemünde
• Junior World Championship 49er/49er FX: Barth/Kohlhoff win U21 silver medal
• Three world championships: Outlook for the next Travemünde Week

With four World Championships, one European Championship and four German titles, the Travemünde Week was clearly one of the highlights of the 2023 German regatta calendar. The sailing festival came to an end yesterday with a huge fireworks display.

Although the targeted visitor mark of 500,000 guests was narrowly missed, the organisers were nevertheless satisfied with the 134th edition of the traditional event. The same applies to the sailing side, despite the very unstable conditions. "We had the most difficult wind conditions for years, which made for extremely long days and pushed everyone involved to their limits," said Jens Kath, Sporting Director of Travemünde Week. Despite everything, 314 of the 378 planned races were completed.

Sailing was also made accessible to spectators with the Trave Races (show races in front of the "Passat"), the new format of the Lübeck Sailing Champion and the Volksbank Rotspon Cup. "You can't find this anywhere else," says Kath, "the aim must be to expand this." He therefore remains committed to a real title fight in the Trave. "We will tackle this again in 2024."

134th Travemünde Week: Dress rehearsal for the sailors

• 121 yachts from 13 nations on course for the World Championship summit off Kiel

The ORC World Championship starts in Kiel on 6 August, so for some crews the German Championships as well as the long and medium distances during Travemünde Week were a well-placed final test before the season's highlight. Parts of these, including the final of the Sailing Champions League, were already sailed in the first half of the week:

• German champions determined, junior crew stopped by mast breakage

The In contrast, the 8th German ORC Championship Double Handed lasted until Sunday, with victory secured by the couple Andreas and Birthe Grasteit (Lübeck Yacht Club) with their X-332 "Grace". The battle for the title was extremely close in the small field. "Today the difference was just under two minutes, yesterday after more than eight hours of sailing it was only two seconds," said the skipper. Uwe Kleinvogel and Michael Haupt (Rostock Yacht Club) were left behind with the J/88 "Nemo".

Long distance in heavy rain

The crew led by Moritz Moltmann (Segler-Verein Trave) on the M34 "Dojo" completed the long distance fastest in the ORC classification. After the start on Thursday evening, the winners returned to Travemünde twelve hours and 60 nautical miles later in the morning rain. The conditions were challenging for the sailors: "It rained heavily at night, there was little wind and it was uncomfortable. But perhaps that's part of the adventure of a long-distance journey," says Moltmann. "We had a good atmosphere on board and sailed with a spontaneous watch system, where everyone could take a break when they needed it. So everyone got two hours' sleep." The "Dojo" not only secured the line honours, but also came top in the ORC yacht group. The Mini 6.50 "Traverna" of Olav Arne Nehls (Kieler Yacht-Club/Lübecker Yacht-Club) won the Yardstick classification.

After the long-distance race, the sea sailors had another tough piece of work ahead of them on Saturday: with the medium-distance regatta, race director Jan Fischer sent both the two-person crews and the fully crewed yachts on a 40 and 45 nautical mile course through the Bay of Lübeck. Frank Haßler's "Fru Hansen" (SV Heiligenhafen) secured overall victory in the ORC middle distance classification. The crew of Lutz Pouplier (SV Herrenwyk) with the "Tsunami" was the measure of all things in the yardstick yachts. He took the lead in both medium-distance races and was therefore also the clear winner of the overall standings.

Space engineers become J/22 world champions

There was also plenty on offer on the triangular courses throughout the Travemünde week with championships and international teams. These included the J/22 World Championship, which was won by a multinational crew with incredible dominance. Seven victories and two second places were ultimately the result - a lead of 21 points over the silver medallist. The crew composition was also unusual: skipper Jean-Michel Lautier is French, trimmer Giuseppe D'Aquino is Italian and foreshipman Denis Neves is Portuguese. The boat name "Fraporita" is also derived from the national abbreviations. But that's not all. "We all sail under the Dutch flag," explained Lautier. The trio live there and all work as engineers for the European Space Agency ESA. Germany was also successful at its home World Championships, albeit a little behind: silver went to Jürgen Eiermann's crew (Hansa-Segel-Kameradschaft Rhein-Neckar) and bronze to Wolf Jeschonnek (Cöpenicker Segler-Verein).

Meanwhile, the European title in the O dinghies remained in Germany. 61-year-old Harry Voss prevailed against 64 competitors from three nations after a total of six races. "The European Championship title is my greatest success to date. A championship title is always something special," said the Steinhude native from the Schaumburg-Lippischer Seglerverein. The other two podium places were also occupied by Germans. Frank Hänsgen (Brandenburger Seglerverein Quenzsee) and Alexander Kulik (Eisenbahner Segel Verein Kirchmöser 1928) were delighted with silver and bronze.

Sach brothers become Masters world champions off Travemünde

Two ranking list regattas were also decided on Saturday as part of the Travemünde Week. Sisters Silja and Jonna Braun from the Baltic Sailing Association won the Corsair category. Michael Hotho and Marcus Hahn (Segler-Verein Großenheidorn) secured gold in the Kielzugvogel.

On Friday, new title winners from Australia, Sweden and France were crowned in the Formula 18 catamarans and the 49er and 49er FX Junior World Championships. Germany secured two medals, at least in the U21 category, as well as a Masters World Championship title. They were sailed by none other than the Sach brothers, aged 66 and 64. In the overall classification, the record winners of the Travemünde Week were the best German crew in ninth place. The races were dominated by the Swedes Emil Järudd and Rasmus Rosengren, followed by two Australian teams in second and third place.

For Järudd, the Formula 18 World Championship was just a "nice extra regatta". The 25-year-old normally sails with Hanna Jonsson in the Nacra 17 and is now aiming for his second start at the Olympics next year after 2021 with a new partner. However, he took Rasmus Rosengren on board for the Travemünde Week and immediately sailed to the title. They had led the field since the first day of the final series and then extended their lead. On the last day, the fleet waited in vain for sailable wind, so that the attack of the pursuers failed to materialise. "We had hoped for a good result, but the title exceeded our expectations," says Järudd.

134th Travemünde Week: Barth/Kohlhoff win World Championship silver

French women Manon Peyre and Clara-Sofia Stamminger de Moura were also overwhelmed by their own success, securing the Junior World Championship title in the 49er FX. "It's incredible, we still can't believe it," said the successful helmswoman Peyre about the biggest success of her young career.

Illy Wureit and Yuval Barnoon from Israel and the Italians Sofia Giunchiglia and Giulia Schio also made it onto the podium. With Anna Barth/Emma Kohlhoff and Sophie Steinlein/Max Körner in sixth and seventh place, Germany has two teams in the top ten of the overall U23 rankings. This also means U21 silver for the women from Kiel, with Katharina Schwachhofer and Elena Stoltze from Württembergischer Yacht-Club following another German crew in third place in this age group.

Three world championships at the Travemünde Week next year

Despite the light wind conditions, the juniors in the 49er class even managed two races at the end of the World Championships. However, nothing changed in the top two positions on the final day: gold went to Jack Ferguson and Jack Hildebrand (Australia) ahead of Richard Schultheis and Youenn Bertin (Malta), bronze to Marius Westerlind and Olle Aronsson from Sweden, who stormed onto the podium in fourth and sixth place. Valentin Müller and Moritz Fiebig were the best Germans, slipping down one place to finish fifth.

In addition to the final of the Sailing Champions League at the start of this year's Travemünde Week, the second match day of the German Sailing League also took place on the second weekend. With eight wins in 13 races, Tobias Schadewaldt and the record champions from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein demonstrated their strength on the second league weekend of the season and took the lead in the standings.

• All weather - the NRV wins the second league weekend

The outlook for the upcoming 135th Travemünde Week already offers plenty of reason to look forward to championships: Three world championships (Javelin, Flying Junior and International Canoe) and the German Star Boat Championship are on the starting line. The dragons have also organised one of their top global events, the Grand Prix, in Travemünde. For sporting director Jens Kath, the German Youth Championships for Optis and Teens are also a highlight. "We are expecting more than 250 boats in the Optimists alone and have signalled to the association that there are no boat restrictions. Everyone can come." The 135th Travemünde Week will take place from 19 to 28 July 2024.

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