Tonči Stipanović has twice won silver in the Laser at the Olympic Games: the Croatian world-class sailor from Split narrowly missed out on Olympic victory in 2016 and 2021. Now the 36-year-old top sailor from Split is also very successful in the Star boat. Together with Tudor Bilic, Stipanović won the European Starboat Championship in the waters of the host Royal Danish Yacht Club Skovshoved. After a mediocre start, the duo improved enormously over six races with 14th and eleventh place: the Croatians followed this up with four wins on the day and a third place. With a one-point lead over the American helmsman Jack Jennings with Pedro Trouche, this was enough to win the open European Championship. Hubert Merkelbach from Überlingen and cox Kilian Weise sailed to bronze in third place. They had more in mind during the series with predominantly nice, medium winds of around ten to 15 knots and were even in the lead at one point. But then the mast broke ...
In the third of the six races, the rig on Merkelbach's star boat "Lara", sail number GER 8446, suddenly snapped at the first windward mark, even though the backstays were clear. The accident did not happen at the classic breaking point on the spreaders, but about a metre below. What the crew then followed up with was a masterstroke of its own: within an hour, they raced into the harbour, replaced the rig and made it back on course a quarter of an hour before the start of the fourth race. "We took off all the shrouds on the way into the harbour, then threw the halyards and the rig with sails into the hall. The spare mast was still in its packaging, without spreaders. We grabbed an old training sail and went out again without making any major adjustments to the mast. It all took just under an hour in total. We knew the whole time that a second missed race would have cost us the series," says Kilian Weise about the successful lightning action.
Helmsman Merkelbach from Bodensee-Yacht-Club Überlingen remembers the comeback after the hectic rig change: "We didn't have much to lose and were in a good mood to attack." The German team responded to its misfortune with two second places in a row. Only ninth place in the final cost them the title that had been within their grasp. "I sail so well with Kilian, I would have loved him to win the title," said Merkelbach after the award ceremony. He himself was already European champion in 2014. Last year, Merkelbach/Weise were already European runners-up. Their joint title reckoning now remains open until the next opportunity, which comes with the 2023 European Championships in Cannes. Merkelbach and Weise also want to attack again at the Starboat World Championships in Marblehead in the USA. The 100th anniversary of the Starboat World Championships will be celebrated there in September.
Jørgen Schönherr and Markus Koy sailed to eighth place. Two other German teams made it into the top ten at the European Championships in Denmark: Jan Borbet from the Munich Yacht Club sailed to ninth place with Jesper Spehr from the Malente-Gremsmühlen Sailing Association. Daniel Fritz from the Chiemsee Yacht Club and Alberto Ambrosini achieved tenth place in the European Championship field of 51 star boats from ten countries. Click here for the final results (please click!).
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
