The finale of the 4th Baltic 500: The Baltic Sea endurance test: Only a third of the fleet makes it through

Half of the almost 50 boats originally registered for the 4th edition of the Baltic 500 marathon had already cancelled their sails before the start of the race due to the stormy forecast. 26 daring crews started the race anyway. After two precautionary tasks immediately after the start, 24 participants remained. It now appears that just half of them will make it to the finish.

The first storm tamers returned home after the Father's Day start on Saturday evening: Tim Behrendt and Andreas Buchheim on the fast and robust JPK 11.80 "Frida" secured the line honours for the first ship to cross the finish line after 2 days, 7 hours, 54 minutes and 23 seconds. Just over two hours later, the smaller JPK 10.30 sister "Hinden" with Jonas Hallberg and Till Barth and a sailing time of 2 days, 10 hours, 3 minutes and 27 seconds raced to the finish on Saturday evening. The top trio of this memorable Baltic 500 edition was completed just over an hour later by Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt and Niclas Aretz on the even smaller Dehler 30 od "Powerplay". Their sailing time: 2 days, 11 hours, 13 minutes and 31 seconds.

"A Baltic 800 would also be perfectly okay"

The fastest teams enjoyed the wild ride through the Kattegat and the Danish islands despite all the challenges. Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt was delighted with the outcome: "Everything is in one piece. The A5 was broken, but we were able to get it up and running again with on-board equipment. All in all, it went downright spookily well. The atmosphere, food, weather, boat - everything was great." With a broad grin, the skipper, who was the only one to choose the passage through Fehmarnsund on the final approach to the finish, added: "A Baltic 800 would also be perfectly fine ..."

Other crews were far less fortunate when it came to their sailing wardrobe. The sailmakers in the north have a lot of work to do. For example, the "Lightworks" crew Michael Höfgen and Max Gurgel. The team on the JPK 10.30 was badly battered by the strong winds. The damage: A6 torn to shreds, a tear in A5, tears in G3 and G2 and a broken kicker mercilessly tested the ambitious duo. As they were planning to take part in the Doublehanded World Championship in Sweden, Höfgen and Gurgel did not finish their race to avoid risking further breakage. The crew statement, including cheers for the JPK 10.30 competition on the "Hinden": "As we would like to go to the Doublehanded World Championship, we decided not to risk any more breakage. It's been a great race so far. Top speed 21.4 knots. Good luck, Jonas - go for it."

After a stormy day, the boats at the back of the fleet, which had shrunk to twelve boats, experienced an upside-down world: those who were still struggling for their happy ending on Sunday afternoon were suddenly threatened with a total calm. "The major construction site is probably somewhere in Eckernförde Bay until the finish," said organisation manager Cord Hall, "so there won't be any wind for a while before it probably picks up again in the early evening." Nevertheless, the time limit should not be a problem, as it only expires on 30 May at 4 pm.

Sonja and Hanne Jansch (Club der Kreuzer- Abteilung/Mühlenberger Segel-Club) are also among the proud arrivals this challenging year. The mother-daughter team has sailed every Baltic 500 edition so far with their Sea Quest 36 "Si No Fos". Sailing under sail number 7941, the experienced 68-year-old skipper Sonja and her co-skipper Hanne (37) crossed the finish line early on Sunday morning at just after five o'clock.

Here are some nice impressions of the Line Honours winner "Frida". The clip with the title "Kattegat Love" shows the racy sailing pleasure of this Baltic 500 edition (please click!). The organisers intend to publish the results for the 4th Baltic 500 on the homepage by Sunday evening (29 May). Click here for the latest results (please click!).