Stormy 4th Baltic 500 ahead: "Please fasten your seatbelts!": Attack on the Baltic 500 records

The fourth edition of the young two-handed classic Baltic 500 starts on 26 May in Strander Bucht. The more than 40 registered crews will find out what it will be like right at the start. "We are already expecting 25 to 30 knots of wind in the starting phase," says head of organisation Cord Hall from Yacht Club Strande. The rest of the challenging 500 nautical mile race for two-person teams is also expected to have little wind favour. The top teams are already rubbing their hands together, and Cord Hall's forecast suggests a very fast race: "The 'Red' crew with Mathias Müller von Blumencron and Martin Buck could pulverise their own course record." In 2019, the Class 40 "Red" with Mathias Müller von Blumencron and Martin Buck completed the course with the same crew in 2 days, 12 hours, 29 minutes and 44 seconds. Now the route - which is expected to be completed in a clockwise direction - could be completed more than half a day faster. Cord Hall's prediction: "Fasten your seatbelts, charge your GoPro batteries and enjoy a wild Baltic Sea ride."

Good seamanship and strong wind skills will be required during the race. Cord Hall, who is organising the event with co-founder Rasmus Töpsch, race director Jan Czekala and the team from Yacht Club Strande, says: "I'm happy to repeat myself: the Kattegat is no kindergarten. Especially not this year." His event team is in high spirits ahead of the start of the race: "We can finally go ahead with our programme as originally planned. Without coronavirus restrictions, without uncertainties, without having to think about whether we might have one foot in a grey area again. But with good interaction with the participants and a nice meal after the race." The teams will have to work hard to achieve this this year.

The Baltic 500 fleet is expecting the most wind on Friday with gusts up to 37 knots. "The leading boats will already be round Læsø by then and heading south again. The fastest will probably be back in the early hours of Saturday morning," says Cord Hall. Exciting duels are also expected in the field: for example between Jonas Hallberg's crew on the "Hinden" and Michael Höfgen with Max Gurgel on the "Lightworks" - both are sailing a JPK 10.30 and want to be among the leaders. "The two of them are going to give each other a hard time," says Cord Hall with a grin.

"There's this new YACHT Speed Challenge ..."

Quite a few sailors also have their sights set on the new YACHT Speed Challenge, which grandmaster Wolle Heibeck heralded with his "Black Maggy" in a double feature with YACHT editor-in-chief Jochen Rieker. Now the hunt for top speed records is fuelling Germany's regatta sailors all over the country. Max Gurgel said before the start of the Baltic 500: "There is this new YACHT Speed Challenge that could be cracked. I haven't sailed our boat in these conditions yet, so I'm excited to see what we can do. The camera is ready and the 'Hinden' will certainly have something to say about it. And there are a number of other good boats. Let's take a look." The Dehler 30-od authority Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt and Niclas Aretz on the "Powerplay" can certainly be counted on in the battle for the top places and new records. Click here to go to the regatta homepage (please click!).