The Vegvisir Race 2021 has started: 388 regatta sailors responded to the call of the adventure sailing rally
If that's not a declaration of love for the Danish single and double-handed regattas, the area and the organisers of the Vegvisir Race around initiator Morten Brandt Rasmussen: 388 sailors from eleven countries had gathered in the Danish port of Nyborg on the Great Belt by the morning of the start day on 2 September to take part in the attractive sailing rally and celebrate their sport together. Among the last to arrive at 6 a.m. were Minitransat participant Jan Heinze and his co-skipper Peter Sorowka on his Mini650 "Colibri". However, the sailors from Hamburg and Wedel would like to be among the first at the end of the 225 nautical miles, which is a longer distance for their division.
"Like Round Denmark, our motto is 'inch by inch'. We want to fight for victory in our class. If there really is a good wind of around 20 knots tonight, maybe even up to 28 knots, then that's ideal for a Mini," says Heinze. Unlike last time at Round Denmark, the participants are expecting a brisk ride through the first night on Friday according to the weather forecasts. This applies at least to those sailing the longer course anti-clockwise. The shorter course, on the other hand, will take participants clockwise to and from Nybord on Friday, where a water sports festival will be celebrated alongside the young sailing classic.
The organisers are deliberately targeting their participants with courses of varying lengths and complexity, allowing them to determine their own personal challenge - with less or more experience. For single-handed sailors, who only start on 3 September, the challenge is still 75 nautical miles long. In any case, the programme includes close inshore duels and some challenging offshore passages in the Baltic Sea for all starters. "The combination is still the DNA of the Vegvisir Race," says Morten Brandt Rasmussen, "all courses include night navigation, the discovery of beautiful coastlines and real adventure sailing."
Among the starters is another well-known Mini duo: Austrian Lisa Berger and Dane Claus Pedersen will be racing in the medium category with the Mini "Grand Danois": "We're ready," said Berger, who plans and trains for the Minitransat in the long term and is regularly in action with Austrian Minitransat starter Christian Kargl, shortly before the start of the regatta, "the conditions look tricky, but we can expect a nice and fast ride on Friday night. We can hardly wait."
In addition to many ambitious mini-sailors, the Vegvisir Race has attracted single-handed and double-handed crews from a wide variety of boat sectors to Nyborg. This includes Hans Holzenkamp, who is taking part in the race for the first time this year with an Ultimate 20. Holzenkamp, who brought his boat over 1200 kilometres overland to Denmark, told the U20 class association: "My U20 has only known the fresh water of Lake Ammer and Lake Como so far. But I'm also a fan of the Baltic Sea, I regularly sail there with chartered boats and have often wondered how the U20 would perform on the Baltic Sea. In conversations with my former work colleague and valued skipper Andreas Brachwitz, the desire arose to sail a long-distance regatta together on the Baltic Sea. So it was a no-brainer to combine the two and enter my U20 for the Vegvisir Race Doublehand."
The Vegvisier Race is sailed in the Small, Mini, Medium, XL and Multihull divisions. Minis, X-Yachts, Seascapes, Bavarias, Dehlers, Waarschips, many well-known shipyard names and more classics as well as one-offs will be taking part. Anyone interested in boats could hardly experience a wider range of models in just one place, where the participants are expected back from Saturday for the weekend festival and winners' party and will once again offer an impressive overall picture. Click here for tracking.
