Once again, this year's edition of the North Sea Week presented itself from its best side in summery weather conditions. The 125 yachts in the North Sea Week classification completed their races from Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven by the afternoon in light easterly winds and cloudless skies.
7 June: Light winds at the start
From Cuxhaven alone, more than 70 ships set off for Helgoland from 8.00 am. Accompanied by the water protection vessel "Neuwerk" from the Cuxhaven Water and Shipping Authority, among others, the fastest yachts took around 2.5 hours to cover the 20 nautical mile course, which was shortened due to the light wind conditions. The "Static Electric" (Heiko Päsler, Cuxhaven) won the IMS classification and the "Dasindwir" (Christa Sylvester, Hamburg) won the ORC classification.
Christian Plump (Bremen), owner of the brand new "Hanseatic Lloyd" of type Rodman 42, said afterwards: "Super sailing in great weather. We always enjoy coming to the North Sea Week. Sailing in the current area in the Elbe estuary and off Helgoland places special demands on tactics and navigation. We also gain important experience with our new boat here and are right in the middle of the optimisation phase." The "Hanseatic Lloyd" won the Cuxhaven-Helgoland classification in the IMS 1 class and thus achieved third place in the overall IMS classification.
The 45 participants in the Hamburg-Cuxhaven feeder regatta crossed the finish line on Friday. Florian Jungblut's "Stalker" (Hamburg) won the IMS yacht group and Dieter Christiansen's "Röde Orm" (Jork) won the ORC classification.
Results of the opening races
Race 1, Hamburg-Cuxhaven (45 yachts)
IMS 1-4 (across all groups)
1st Stalker, Florian Jungblut / Hamburg
2nd X-Play, Jens Nickel / Cuxhaven
3rd Remmi Demmi, Ever Remmers / Altländer Yacht Club
ORC 1-4 (across all groups)
1. Röde Orm, Dieter Christiansen / Jork
2nd Dasindwir, Christa Sylvester / Hamburg
3rd Tamam, Peter Zösch / Hamburg
Race 2, Cuxhaven-Helgoland (55 yachts)
IMS (across all groups)
1. Static Electric, Heiko Päsler / Cuxhaven
2nd Pax, Klaus-Uwe Stryi / Hamburg
3. Hanseatic Lloyd, Christian Plump / Bremen
ORC (across all groups)
1. Dasindwir, Christa Sylvester / Hamburg
2nd Max, Thomas Spiegel / Flensburg
3rd Strolch, Michael Langhans
Race 3, Bremerhaven-Helgoland (38 yachts)
IMS 1-4 (across all groups)
1st Xenia, Günter Osmers / Bremerhaven
2nd Elephant, Berend Beilken / Bremen
3rd Honk, Harald Müller / Bremerhaven
ORC 1-4 (across all groups)
1st Dwarsgat, Rolf Lässig / Wulsdorf
2nd Kerkyra, Claus Meyer / Bremerhaven
3rd Lelewan, Karsten Schumacher / Bremen
IMS Sprinta
1st Seestadt Bremerhaven, Nick Friedrich / Bermen
2nd Die Eins, Michael Haacke / Bremen
3rd Blue Fashion, Marc Plugowsky / Aumund
8 June: The classic with a stormy end: the Rund Helgoland fleet narrowly escapes the storm
With predominantly light to medium winds from easterly directions at the beginning, the sailors of the North Sea Week experienced an intensive regatta day on Whitsunday off Helgoland.
Despite a long night in the marquee at the big harbour party the night before, the sailors were fresh and on time at the starting line. DJ Hauke Hastig got the sailing community going until 3.00 am. The result was a completely danced-out marquee floor. The additional supporting programme with a screen showing pictures of the day's regatta action, provided by Computer & Competence GmbH as sponsor of this year's event, as well as chicken wings, was very well received by all the guests. "From sailors for sailors" was the motto of the experienced event team led by Lennart Klemp.
For the participants, the Whitsun sailing programme began punctually with the first start at 9.30 am between Helgoland and the dune for the classic Rund Helgoland race. Race director Stefan Lehnert wisely shortened the route for the smallest boats on the course in the first group of starters: thunderstorms with heavy squalls were forecast for the sea area around Helgoland in the afternoon.
The "Unique" (ex "Rubin", Dr Bernd Kriegel, Kiel) and the "Hexe" (Norbert Plambeck, Cuxhaven) were well ahead in a thrilling finish: the crew of the "Hexe", which was almost ten boat lengths behind, managed to attack the "Unique" on the windward side of the anchored ships and catch it on the finish line with a half boat length advantage. "A little masterpiece at the end," said a visibly satisfied Norbert Plambeck, despite missing out on victory by 24 seconds according to the calculated time. "We had already lost touch in the meantime. All the better for this finish. A perfect day at sea with fair conditions and glorious weather."
As the skipper of the fastest sailed yacht, Plambeck had a lot to talk about, because just half an hour later the first squall swept over Heligoland accompanied by a 180° wind shift and heavy rain. Race director Stefan Lehnert reported at the same time on the race course of "hailstones the size of chicken eggs and wind speeds of up to 45 knots. And all this in smooth water - a natural spectacle of a special kind." Some of the smaller yachts were badly battered shortly before the finish and some of them crossed the line drifting without sails. There was no damage to people or material.
Race 5, Round Helgoland
IMS 1 (large track, 33 nautical miles)
1st Unique, Dr Bernd Kriegel / Kiel
2nd Hexe, Norbert Plambeck / Cuxhaven
3rd Xenia, Günter Osmers / Bremerhaven
IMS 2 (large track, 33 nautical miles)
1st Elephant, Behrend Beilken / Bremen
2. Pax, Klaus-Uwe Stryi / Hamburg
3rd Static Electric, Heiko Päsler / Cuxhaven
IMS 3 (small course, 25 nautical miles)
1st Akka, Peter Klingmüller, Bremen
2nd Frechdax, Bernd Jürgens / Olga
3rd Honk, Harald Müller / Bremerhaven
IMS 4 (small course, 25 nautical miles)
1st Stalker, Florian Jungblut / Hamburg
2nd Roxanne, Thomas Holze, Bremen
3rd Planless, Jan Böhm / Lower Elbe
ORC 1 (large course, 33 nautical miles)
1st Kerkyra, Claus Meyer / Bremerhaven
2nd Symphony Sylt, Reinhold Riel / Hamburg
ORC 2 (large course, 33 nautical miles)
1st Reläxx, Klasu Meyer / Wulsdorf
2nd Pyleia, Matthias Bröker / Bremen
ORC 3 (small course, 25 nautical miles)
1st Sunbird, Norbert Drucker / Bremen
ORC 4 (small course, 25 nautical miles)
1st Strolch, Michael Langhans / Otterndorf
2nd Ree, Bernhard Ihnken / Horumersiel
3rd Tschaika, Theo Kruse / Horumersiel
IMS Sprinta (single class)
1. the one, Michael Haacke / Bermen
2. blue fashion
3. half-dry, Michael Bughorn / Amrum
X99 (standard class)
1st Maxx, Sönke Würtz / Helgoland
2nd Roxy, Kai Neumann / Hamburg
9 June: Strong winds, Helgoland Eight develops into a race in perfect weather conditions
Strong winds, gusting up to 30 knots (7 Beaufort), caused start delays on Heligoland and a restrained readiness to start on the part of the sailors.
The traditional "Helgoländer Acht" race only gathered just under forty yachts at the starting line. Many participants in the Helgoland-Edinburgh long-distance regatta scheduled for the afternoon preferred to forego the course race around Helgoland and take their time to prepare for the upcoming 400 nautical miles to Scotland. It was simply too windy for some of the registered crews.
Race director Stefan Lehnert reported from the start and finish ship, the German Navy's "Bad Rappenau" minesweeper: "The crews who decided to take part in the race today had a fantastic day on the water. Constant winds from south-westerly directions with an average wind force of 5-6 and bright blue skies made sailing a great pleasure. It was a pity that we couldn't persuade more yachts to take part in the race today." The race committee decided to organise the race as a large triangular course to the south-east under the protection of the dune, which benefited the handling of the yachts. "The sailing was technically very good and all crews showed excellent seamanship," said Stefan Lehnert after the race.
The winner was the "Hanseatic Lloyd" of Christian Plump (Bremen), which benefited from the abandonment of the "Inschallah VI" (Volker Andreae, Hamburg). One crew member was slightly injured and required brief outpatient treatment on Heligoland.
The hanseboot regatta party on the eve of the last day of North Sea Week was once again a complete success. DJ Lars Wiechert knew how to turn the marquee on the Helgoland harbour apron into a witches' cauldron. Haro Helms, head of organisation for this year's event, summarised: "We are delighted that the evening events are so well attended by the sailors and other visitors to Heligoland - real highlights that have become an integral part of our event programme." In conclusion, Helms summarised the sporting part of the event as follows: "A typical North Sea week that offered the full spectrum of weather and sailing in the tidal current. Heligoland is a great sailing area that demands a lot of seamanship and tactical finesse from the regatta participants."
The start of the approximately 400 nautical mile Helgoland-Edinburgh race took place punctually at 4.00 pm. The first of the 19 participating yachts are expected to arrive in the Scottish metropolis on Wednesday afternoon. The favourite is Norbert Plambeck's "Hexe" (Cuxhaven).
Results Race 6, Helgoland Eight
IMS 1
1st Hanseatic Lloyd, Christian Plump / Bremen
2nd X-Play, Jens Nickel / Cuxhaven
3rd Business Wings / Olaf Kaspryk, Karlsruhe
IMS 2
1st Sextett, Joachim Karsch / Bremerhaven
2nd Juventa, Ullrich Holstermann, Kiel
3rd Tecumseh, Willi Bruno, Cologne
IMS 3 + 4
1st Honk, Harald Müller / Bremerhaven
No other yachts in this classification group crossed the finish line
IMS Sprinta
1st Die Eins, Michael Haacke / Bremen
no other yachts of this classification group crossed the finish line
ORC 1 + 2
1st D & H, Heiko Lange / Bremerhaven
No other yachts in this classification group crossed the finish line
ORC 3 + 4
1st X° Nord, Franz Gensigk, Lübeck
2. Delphin, Markus Balke, Solingen
3. Paula, Dr Volker Pahnke, Hamburg
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
