Round Denmark Race inshore 2021: "A fantastic adventure"

The premiere of the new Round Denmark Race inshore 2021 is over. Only 24 of the 62 boats that started managed to cross the finish line in the time limit of the stubbornly flat race. Only a good third of the starters were able to finish the long distance. The first to suffer on Sunday were the Dehler 30 od "Calle" with Jan Heinze and Peter Sorowka, the FF 110 "Titan" with Matthias Jetschke and Jörg Müller and the JPK 38 "Belle" with Tom Gosch and Andreas Willim. After almost six days at sea, the trio fought for every metre and missed the limit by just a few minutes. Nevertheless, Jan Heinze said at the finish line: "It was a fantastic adventure."

The big winner on the 650-nautical-mile long-distance race this year was Jan Hansen. With his modified Figaro 2 "The Beast", the Danish soloist not only secured the "Line Honours" for the first boat to cross the finish line, but also won the overall single-handed classification. The decision in his favour was made in the Little Belt when Hansen was the first to discover the newly emerging wind in the leading group, sailed radically and briefly even backwards against the rising breeze and was thus able to build up a good lead, which he did not relinquish until the finish.

The solo sailors had more luck with the wind at this premiere of the Baltic Sea Rally to and from Aarhus than the two-handed teams and crews that were only sent out on the course two days later, who suffered extremely from the persistently flat conditions in the Baltic Sea over long stretches. Martin Görges J/110 "Honky Dory" was one of those who made it to the finish line in the last hour before the permitted sailing time expired. The ambitious family crew of four men, including Görge's 22-year-old son Rasmus as the confident young navigator, and one woman in the person of 49erFX Olympic ninth-placed Anika Lorenz, thoroughly enjoyed the race. Görge said: "Sailing a regatta of this magnitude is something very special - like a Fastnet Race without having to travel to England. I'm really glad we did it." This also applied to the entire "Rafale" crew on the fast former Elliott 52 SS "Outsider". Owner Henry de Bokay, skipper Philipp Kadelbach and the crew first paid tribute to the successful single-handed sailors before celebrating their own line honours in the crew classification. De Bokay said: "It was exactly the race we wanted as a new team. For me, as a Frenchman, it was a wonderful opportunity to discover Denmark. I'm not a northerner. These light nights are really magical."

The organisers around initiator and organiser Morten Brandt Rasmussen thanked all participants on Sunday for their commitment and promised a second edition for 2022, which will also incorporate the lessons learned from this premiere. Morten Brandt Rasmussen said: "Thank you all for coming to Aarhus and taking part in this great new event. And thank you for drumming it up so loud and fun on social media by sharing our joy, excitement and experiences from the Garmin Round Denmark route."

The dedicated organisers want to analyse and improve the teething troubles of the premiere, such as the fact that the soloists and crews started too far apart with two days of air, the 44/8-hour rest rule for the single-handed sailors, which still needs to be refined, and the possible but missed course shortening to avoid the excessively high cancellation rate. "We have learnt a lot," says Brandt Rasmussen, "and all of this will be incorporated into the next edition of the Garmin Round Denmark Race 2022."

You can read a detailed report on the race with comments from the participants, background information and pictures by photographer Peter Brøgger in YACHT 15 from 14 July.