Warnemünde Week 2022: First winners have been announced

Warnemünde Week 2022 was officially opened on Saturday. After a number of regattas started on the same day, the Rund Bornholm long-distance regatta also got underway on Monday in perfect conditions. The aim is to cover 280 nautical miles of open sea - the first ships were already back yesterday.

The Volvo Ocean Racer "SEB-OSPA" crossed the finish line in Warnemünde at around 8.15 pm. A reception committee was already waiting for the boat there, and the obligatory crate of Rostocker Pils was presented to the First Ship Home while still on the water.

Unsurprisingly, the team only needed 1 day, 7 hours, 55 minutes and 4 seconds - in 2019, it was even 7 hours faster, setting the course record. Just twelve minutes later, another ocean racer reached the finish line: the legendary "Illbruck", which was the first and only German ship to win the race around the world in 2001/02.

A total of 21 teams competed in the two different measurement systems ORC and Yardstick. One boat had to abandon the race because its mast broke during the night from Monday to Tuesday. According to the Berlin-based owner Robert Jatkowski, there were no further injuries apart from minor cuts to the hands of one crew member.

"We sailed into the night under spinnaker, with a wind force of around four. Then there were two gusts of around 21 knots and the spinnaker kept falling in. When pressure came back into the cloth, a block in the backstay broke, causing the mast to fold forwards," he says, describing the critical situation. The remaining teams are expected back in Warnemünde by tomorrow, when the award ceremony can also take place.

For the Pirates, that has long since been settled. After the first two days, the reigning European champions Frieder Billerbeck and Julius Raithe still had a narrow lead, but on the final day of the ranking regatta they were able to demonstrate all their skills once again. "The best thing was that we had the Warnemünde wave today that we came here for," said Julius Raithel. Two races won ultimately increased the gap to the runners-up, Ines and Thomas Heldt from Teterow, to six points. Andreas and Martin Ebel from Güstrow came third.

The 505er Europa Cup Warnemünde also came to a successful end after seven races. Jørgen and Jacob Bojsen-Møller secured victory ahead of the Rostock local heroes Lutz Stengel and Frank Feller. The Danes led the field of 39 crews from day one on Saturday to the end on Tuesday. Their consistently good performance was only interrupted on the second day by damage to the rig when the brothers' forestay broke while they were in the lead in the second race of the day. On the last day, the Warnemünde sailing area was once again perfect.

Jørgen Bojsen-Møller couldn't stop raving: "It was one of the best sailing days we've ever had! It was just great!" The Olympic gold and silver medallist continued: "You couldn't have better conditions anywhere than here in Warnemünde today. We had fresh wind, great waves and sun."

The Corsair class completed a total of ten races over four days. The overall victory was clearly secured by the crew Dirk Braun/Jürgen Kruck, who had not relinquished the lead since the second day. Ralf Mahnke and Stefan Seibert moved up from fourth to second place on the final day, twelve points behind the winners. The Austrians Peter Tschada and Carsten Fischbach finished the regatta in third place.

The H-Boat World Championship is already underway, and the IDM Sailing Championship is another upcoming highlight alongside the Ilca Europa Cup. The 84th Warnemünde Week runs until 10 July and has a lot to offer on land as well as the upcoming races.