8th MidsummerSail: The longest Baltic Sea regatta - emergency right at the start
Lars Bolle
· 22.06.2023
The eighth edition of the increasingly popular MidsummerSail is underway. On Wednesday, 63 yachts set off on the 900 nautical mile long Baltic Sea route from Wismar to Töre in Sweden. The Agora direct MidsummerSail traditionally runs from the southernmost to the northernmost point of the Baltic Sea. Here, family crews, sailing enthusiasts and even ambitious regatta sailors can realise their dream of sailing the full length of the Baltic Sea.
With 63 starters, the 8th edition once again saw a record number of participants, albeit only by three boats. At first it looked like the numbers would be higher, the list of participants, which is limited to 100 yachts, was full. "That's normal, we've seen that in previous years," says initiator Robert Nowatzki. "We had almost 180 interested parties around Christmas 2022, which is always the time when the season plans are made. Then some people are confronted with the real world in spring." Nowatzki sailed the 900-nautical-mile route with two friends on a Hallberg-Rassy 24 in 2016 and came up with the idea for the race.
Medical emergency at the MidsummerSail
There was a medical emergency on board Wolfram Heibeck's 40-foot monohull "Black Maggy" in the first few hours after the start. He had won the 2021 race.
This is what happened
Hendrik Busemann, who formed the crew of the "Black Maggy" together with the owner Wolfram Heibeck, described the incident to YACHT today as follows: "We had put in a great surf between Warnemünde and Darßer Ort at 15 to 16 knots, so I was steering. Then we were able to drop off a bit towards Sassnitz and I wanted to lie down for two hours. I had eaten a few more almonds. After a few minutes, I had the feeling that I still had an almond crumb in my throat, and my nose got stuffy at the same time. That's when I went back upstairs."
Wolfram Heibeck told YACHT how he experienced it: "We had sailed really strongly up to that point and had a 10.5 nautical mile lead over the runner-up. When Hendrik came back up after ten minutes with breathing difficulties, he was completely swollen and had a moon face." Heibeck called Bremen Rescue (124 124) on his mobile phone. "I asked for medical advice, which is what happened, Bremen Rescue and the DGzRS get 100 points for that, it was super professional."
A rescue cruiser and a helicopter were dispatched. It was 2.00 am. The original plan was to abseil two paramedics and an emergency doctor onto "Black Maggy", but this was abandoned due to the ship's movements. The rescuers were roped down to the rescue cruiser and taken from there to the "Black Maggy" by rubber dinghy.
"Everything went smoothly," says Heibeck, "we were already in the lee of Arkona and there was hardly any swell."
"The emergency doctor decided immediately that I had to go to hospital," says Busemann. At first they wanted to pull me up into the helicopter, but then decided to take me onto the rescue cruiser and hand me over to the helicopter on land because the time difference wasn't that great." Busemann was flown to the Helios Clinic in Stralsund, he is doing well again and is due to be discharged tomorrow. It is not yet known whether the tonsils were the cause of the allergic reaction. He had not previously had any allergies.
Heibeck concludes: "I don't know yet whether we will resume the race. I've slept first and now I'm going to get myself some breakfast."
Fighting without giving up
The Waarschip 570 "Fille de Joie" is already well behind the field as it scrapes close to the German coast. It is steered by 83-year-old Klaus Osterholz - single-handed. Osterholz also had a narrow early start. "But we categorised it as minor," says Nowatzki, "because Osterholz had problems with his sails and the tiller pilot." He returned to the harbour and started again later, then anchored for a while. "He's a tough guy, he wants to give it another go, he won't give up," says Nowatzki.
IRC rating for the first time
After 150 nautical miles sailed, Jan Wiechmann's 40-foot one-off "Wet one" was in the lead. The boat is a stroke of luck for Nowatzki. "It has an IRC measurement certificate, so for the first time we have the opportunity to check the calculated times." This could form the basis for calculating placings in the future. At the moment, the classification is based on finish times.
Unclear weather outlook
While the start was still characterised by beautiful sailing weather, it could become more difficult today and towards the weekend with larger lulls, as an area of high pressure is dominating the weather, according to meteorologist Sebastian Wache. However, a low pressure system could prevail on Sunday and bring more wind.
The video of the start
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