The last battle of the German ORC crews: Furious World Championship finale with breakages, retirements and successes

The last day of the Alexela ORC World Championship off Tallinn had it all once again. As so often on the days before, the wind blew a handful of knots more than forecast in the Estonian area off Tallinn on Saturday - resulting in a crisp 20 knots and sometimes significantly more in gusts. The day of the decision was characterised by strong winds, and some of the favourites did indeed lose out. First and foremost the crew on Tilmar Hansen's TP 52 "Outsider", who had started the last two races in the lead, but were pushed into second place by their rivals on Michael Berghorn's "Halbtrocken 4.5". A difficult manoeuvre at the first leeward buoy of the last and decisive race and the gennaker landing under the bow meant the end for the "outsiders" in the final sprint. Skipper Bo Teichmann and his team were able to cancel the nine points they had collected for this, but with 13 points they were still three points short of the world championship winners on the Mills 45 Custom "Halbtrocken 4.5" (10 points).

For Michael Berghorn and his crew, the duel for victory with the "Outsider" team remained exciting until the very end: "The evening before, we were still level on points. And that was still the case today after the first race - equal on points again. We had good speed on the downwinds today, the manoeuvres all worked. We just realised that it didn't work out for the others at the leeward mark and they didn't go on the foils. So the last lap of the race became a lap of honour for us. Everyone in the team is very happy. We are nine amateurs and three professionals, while the 'Outsider' is sailed exclusively by professionals. The victory is therefore surprising and very nice for us. Beating a TP 52 is not that easy."

Michael Berghorn and his team would have liked to have seen a few more participants than in the other classes. However, the "Halbtrocken 4.5" owner had nothing but praise for the hosts: "We experienced fair and enjoyable sailing here, the organisers went to a lot of trouble." The next regattas on the programme for Michael Berghorn's team, as for most of the other World Championship participants, are Kiel Week at the beginning of September and the German Championship in Olpenitz.

The Finnish GP 42 "Mercedes-Benz EQ Power" took third place in World Championship Group A of the largest yachts ahead of the 16-year-old Swan 45 of Jan Opländer from Dortmund, which has been optimised for this World Championship. His tactician and navigator Tim Kröger said: "In today's conditions, which were sometimes hairy and above all gusty, such a solid Swan is a good boat. It also pulls through when the going gets tough." With fourth and second place, the "Katima" team was able to overtake Holger Streckenbach's TP 52 "Imagine", which did not finish the seventh race and was unable to start the eighth race. "We contested the last downwind in winds of up to 28 knots only under genoa, as our direct opponents were no longer in the race," Kröger reported on the final race.

World Championship bronze for "sports fan"

The final in the middle World Championship Group B, in which the two best German crews started outside the top three, but definitely with podium ambitions, was also thrilling. The hopes only materialised for one of the two crews: The crew on the X-41 "Sportsfreund" with skipper Gordon Nickel took advantage of the challenging conditions, played to their strengths in the stronger winds and still jumped to third place on the podium. Mainsail trimmer Bertil Balser said: "It was tough out there today. Nothing was given to you. Our instructions beforehand were clear: don't break anything, sail safely and do our thing calmly and relaxed. Our boat is an absolute upwind machine in 15 knots of wind and more. We are happy with the result, more than happy. None of us would have thought that. It was a similarly spontaneous participation in the World Championship for us as it was at the German Championship last year. It was the first regatta of the year for two thirds of the crew. We got on the boat without any training, sailed off and got better every day. We may not have always sailed in the same team, but we've known each other for 15 years. Everyone knows what they're doing and we talk to each other a lot."

Jens Kuphal's team on the modified Landmark 43 "Intermezzo" was narrowly beaten in the battle for a place on the World Championship podium. With 35 points in their World Championship account, they were nine points off third place after eight races. The World Championship title went to Catalin Trandafir's core Spanish crew on the Grand Soleil 44 P "Essentia44" flying the Romanian flag, ahead of Aivar Tuulberg's Estonian Club Swan 42 "Katariina II". In the smallest World Championship Group C with a record participation of 62 boats, the team on the Estonian J-112E "Matilda 4" from Juss Ojala came out on top. There were no German boats at the start. Instead, the race officer was the experienced Eckart Reinke, who managed the huge field perfectly with his team.

Click here for the final results (please click!).