The IDM of the sea sailors ended at the halfway point of the 130th Travemünde Week with the cancellation of the middle distance planned at the end, but with beaming winners in the three classes. In ORC I + II, Jens Kuphal's crew on the Landmark 43 "Intermezzo" improved once again after third place at the Maior Regatta and second place at Kieler Woche to take the first championship title in the large boats. "We've made a big leap this season," said the delighted owner. Kuphal cited the improved performance on the downwind sections and his well-rehearsed team, which includes tactician Robert Stanjek from Berlin and mainsail trimmer Max Gurgel from Hamburg, as the basis for this success. This was Gurgel's fifth ORC championship title. Axel Seehafer's X-41 "Sportsfreund", which has been superior so far this season, and Michael Berghorn's X-41 "Halbtrocken 4.0" came second and third behind the new German champions and their Berlin-based owner Kuphal.
Kai Mares' team on the Italia 9.98 "Immac Fram" triumphed in the middle ORC III class with a spotless record: after the long-distance victory at the start, the team led by their helmsman from the Kieler Yacht-Club also made it four times in a row in the shorter races. Mares himself had not expected this success to be so clear-cut: "At Kiel Week it was much closer with our training colleagues from the 'OneSpirit'. Obviously our training work is well timed for the peak." Like Kuphal's "Intermezzo" and many other IDM boats, the "Immac Fram" is now heading for the European Sailing Championships, which will be held in Sweden in August. Second and third place in ORC III went to the two-time German champions on the "Halbtrocken" of Knut Freudenberg from Flensburg and the "Patent 4" of Lübeck local hero Jürgen Klinghardt with skipper Henning Tebbe.
The pride of the "Nemo" crew in their victory in the smallest class ORC IV was not diminished by the fact that no official championship classification could be made in view of the fact that only six boats took part. "It's a shame that it wasn't enough for an official championship classification," said "Nemo" owner Uwe Kleinvogel, "but we are very proud that we are the best of those who took part." As a tactician, the helmsman from the Rostock Yacht Club had brought Lutz Stengel on board, the man who sailed to the World Championship title in the 505 with his co-sailor Holger Jess in 2018.
The IDM participants in Travemünde were particularly pleased that all the boats were moored together at jetty G in the Passathafen harbour. "This promoted team spirit and dialogue between the teams enormously," said Max Gurgel and others. "Strengthening the sense of community is one of the major concerns of the RVS," said "Sportsfreund" trimmer Bendix Hügelmann. The second chairman of the Regatta Association for Sea Sailing attested: "We experienced a high atmospheric density on land and predominantly good sport on the water." The race committee and especially the participants in ORC I + II did not always agree on the type of scoring - keyword "Constructed Course" (like Performance Curve Scoring) versus "Performance Curve / Windward-Leeward". The short, but with sometimes more than 40 knots of wind, heavy thunderstorm front that hit the fleet during the long distance - albeit forecast - will certainly remain unforgotten.
Here to see the results of the IDM Seesegeln 2019.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
