Double Rundt 2020: Caribbean conditions at the Double Rundt

The Langballigau yacht club organised a regatta last weekend, and more than 50 boats took part: The "Corona Edition" of the Double Rundt provided its participants with Caribbean temperatures, varied and sometimes challenging wind and calm conditions and plenty of sailing fun. The race began at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning with a cross in front of Langballigau harbour. A colourful fleet of very different boats had gathered at the starting line: Typical family yachts were there as well as unusual designs à la Open 40 "Black Maggy" with a canting keel or even ambitious Olympic teams such as Max Gurgel and Lena Weißkichel on Rasmus Töpsch's L 30 "Sharifa". They were joined by the high-bred Dragonfly 800 of Lars Kaempfe from Flensborg Yacht Club and another Tri Corsair 28 of X-332 convert Ulrich Jäger. Co-initiator Jochen Kunze had motivated eight X-332 boats to start.

In moderate winds of around eight to twelve knots, they set off on the course with its two courses of different lengths. The regatta organisers had not planned a short coffee run, but rather a challenging nine to twelve-hour sailing event: once out into the western Baltic Sea, past the Kalkgrund lighthouse and with waves against it in the direction of buoy 2 across the Schleimünde approach and back. The current conditions and a powerful wave with only moderate pressure in the sails made for an exciting first cross. Some committed teams were able to tack the following "chute" with a wave height of one to one and a half metres under spinnaker, while others preferred to rely on safety under simple sails. Under these circumstances, it was clear that the field would quickly split up.

For some of the crews, the race turned into a "pot-boiler off Sonderburg", as "Sharifa" helmsman Max Gurgel from the Hamburg Sailing Club reported with a smile. A storm front from the direction of Flensburg, heavy wind turbulence and a lull lasting several hours (for the slower boats) mixed up the fleet over the course of the race, but did not put any of the crews in serious trouble. Despite the shortened course for the slower boats, not all starters reached the finish line off Langballigau within the time limit. The persevering crew of the Lord Helmsman "Harlekin" was hit particularly hard, having to sail to the finish line with only one minute over the limit and without scoring. Some people wanted to stop the clock. The "internal" victory in the X-332 group was secured by Bernd Dreier's "Xalty".

With a sailed time of 10 hours, 16 minutes and 15 seconds (calculated: 10:22.58), Stefan Voss' "OM" from the organising yacht club Langballigau won the race in the ORC Club. Thorsten Thelen's Seaquest 36 "Circus" reached the finish line a good 19 minutes earlier, but was around three minutes behind the winner in terms of calculated time. Third place in the ORC Club was secured by the Langballigau club mates on the Crest 910 "Fru Antje" ahead of Knut Freudenberg's First 36.7 "Halbtrocken" from the Flensburg Sailing Association. Click here to go to all results "The regatta was a lot of fun," Max Gurgel attested to the dedicated organisers. He himself sailed to seventh place with Lena Weißkichel and the "Sharifa" - despite a strong start and a good race, that was as good as it got for the L30 and her crew, who are less fond of cruising.