Swan OneDesign Worlds 2021: German double victory at Swan World Championships: "Hatari" ahead of "Earlybird"
On Sunday, the intense sailing autumn off Saint-Tropez came to an end with the thrilling final of the Swan OneDesign Worlds. After two spectacularly beautiful regatta weeks for the participants and fans of the two-part Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, the Swan World Championship in the area of the coastal town on the French Riviera, which is not only popular with regatta crews, served up another concentrated load of top-class sport. The Swan Summit was hosted by the Société Nautique Saint-Tropez. World titles were contested in the four standardised classes Swan 36, Swan 42, Swan 45 and Swan 50.
Once again, the German boats demonstrated their dominance in the Swan 50. Marcus Brennecke's crew on "Hatari" (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Bayerischer Yacht-Club) defended the world championship crown they had already won in 2020 with a three-point lead over the team led by "Earlybird" owner Hendrik Brandis (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein). The GER crews relegated Leonardo Ferragamo's "Cuordileone" to third place on the podium. Sönke Meier-Swatzki's "Niramo" sailed to sixth place in the top-ranked field of 16 swans from ten nations, which was peppered with professionals. In many ways, it was the largest fleet at this world championship. In the Swan 45 classification, Klaus Diederich's crew on "Fever" took world championship bronze.
The duel between "Earlybird" and "Hatari", on which Marcus Brennecke's son Carl Philipp Brennecke also sailed, remained gripping until the fifth and final race. "It was really challenging," said "Hatari" tactician Markus Wieser. "The bay is so difficult, so unpredictable. We sailed badly the day before. That made it really tight in the final. But then we got off to a good start and were able to keep them at bay. It wasn't easy because the class is getting stronger and stronger. More and more good people are coming in, it gets more difficult every time."
However, second place in the final race was enough to secure victory for the twelve-strong "Hatari" team, which includes owner Brennecke, his son and Markus Wieser as well as three other German sailors, Felix Kaiser, Nikolaus Beulke and Michael Müller. "It doesn't get much better than this," said a delighted Markus Wieser and the team, "almost exactly a year after our last World Championship victory, we were able to defend the title." The Italians Michele Ivaldi, Cesare Bozzetti and Jaro Furlani, the Dutchman Dirk de Ridder, the Austrian Gerd Habermüller and the New Zealander Ross Halcrow also contributed to this success.
On the "Earlybird", owner Hendrik Brandis was narrowly beaten by none other than the current all-rounder of sailing: Laser Olympic champion, America's Cup winner, Moth World Champion and SailGP dominator Tom Slingsby from Australia helped to make the "Earlybird" fast. German sailors Arnd Howar, Julian Hampe, Jens Lafrenz and Marco Schümann sailed to the vice world championship title alongside other international professionals. On Sunday evening, the teams of the "Hatari" and the "Earlybird" celebrated the race week together. Hendrik Brandis, whom the sailors wished a happy 58th birthday from midnight, was invited to the event. Click here for all the results of the Swan OneDesign Worlds 2021 (please click!).
