Last year, like almost all major sailing events, Warnemünde Week had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year, the comeback was successful despite the challenging conditions. The 83rd Warnemünde Week came to an end on Sunday after a nine-day sailing festival with the last titles being awarded. Despite a limited number of participants, around 900 athletes from 50 nations competed in 500 boats in the dream area off Warnemünde. Twelve boat classes were challenged. Sports Director Peter Ramcke, who has been organising Warnemünde Week for six years, raved about the "fantastic number of entries" for this 83rd edition and said: "Despite the difficult conditions due to the coronavirus restrictions and the reconstruction of the central pier, we have delivered an outstanding Warnemünde Week."
On the final day, the organisers and participants of the sailing week, which was held for the first time in 1926, were rewarded for their commitment and passion with glorious weather. "Today we had great wind and sun once again," said race director Carola Volkmann. A whole series of successes by the best German sailors contributed to the "happy ending". Max Billerbeck (WSV Kollmar) celebrated winning the Vice European Championship in the Contender behind the Dane Jesper Armbrust. Julia Büsselberg (Berlin) prevailed against 76 competitors in the Laser Radial.
The German championship in the 505s was won by the three-time world champions Wolfgang Hunger/Holger Jess (Strande/Eckernförde) so confidently that they did not have to compete in the final race. One or two competitors half their age wondered when they would finally be able to beat the long-standing favourites. The 60-year-old helmsman and his 58-year-old coxswain had concentrated on preparing for the championship and remain the measure of all things in the fast and demanding planing dinghy. "We were at the start with a new hull shape and would actually have liked to have had even more wind," said Holger Jess. "We have been training intensively for the last five weeks. Our target competition this year is Kiel Week in September."
Svenja Thoroe and Karsten Bredt from Steinhuder Meer are the old and new German Pirate Champions. The German Open J/70 was won by Michael Grau from Hamburg and his crew.
Michael Höfgen from the Kiel Yacht Club and Eckart "Ecki" Kaller from Lake Constance won the two-handed sailing championship as a successful north-south team. The duo took the title in the Rund Bornholm event and were the most successful double-handed crew with the JPK 10.30 "Lightworks" both in terms of time sailed (1 day, 23 hours, 56 minutes, 6 seconds) and calculated time (2 days, 19 minutes, 58 seconds). Rasmus Töpsch (Yacht-Club Strande) and Max Gurgel (Hamburger Segel-Club) came second on the JPK 10.10 "Sharifa" ahead of Andreas Linke and Johannes Stricker on the First 305 "Okidoki".
Holger Streckenbach's TP 52 "Imagine" was the fastest yacht overall on the 270 nautical mile light wind long-distance round Bornholm. However, Michael Berghorn's Mills 45 Custom "Halbtrocken 4.5" won the ORC classification based on calculated time. "It was a tough race, but it was worth it to always change sails consistently, even if it's not so pleasant at night," reported crew member Linus Döpp after the award ceremony. Thomas Reinecke's "Edelweiss" sailed to third place in ORC
The Dehler 30 od class formed a separate classification group in the starting field of the Rund-Bornholm participants. Six boats took to the starting line. Minitransat ace Morten Bogacki (Düsseldorfer Yacht-Club) and Felix Köster (Kieler Yacht-Club) had the best answers to the course challenges and won the test of strength ahead of the crew of skipper Lena Weißkichel (Segler-Verein Großenheidorn) and Thomas Schurig's team from Yachtclub Strelasund.
The podium at the First/Seascape 18 European Championship remained almost entirely in Slovenian hands: Blaz Kmetec and Jure Jerkovič prevailed against their compatriots Dejan Presen and Matija Jezersek. Third place went to the Austrians Angelika Strak and Martin Pöll ahead of Jure and Urband Jerman - also from Slovenia. The best German team were Wolfgang Gutacker and Hajo Hensel from the Rostock Yacht Club. All results of the Warnemünde Week can be found here (please click!).
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
