Doldrums and fog dominated the last days of the North Sea Week on Heligoland and also the start of the traditional final regatta to Edinburgh. But then things took a turn for the worst.
A marginal low over Iceland caused a storm; house-high waves and bitter cold maltreated the crews. Yachts left in droves or turned back to seek shelter from the weather. YACHT author Matthias Beilken suffered on board the Frers 51 "Magic" and describes how the remaining sailors agonised their way to the finish. In any case, in the end the distance seemed much longer than just 350 miles and the duration of the ordeal much longer than three and a half days.
And then our reporter reports how a ship that was already on the list of dropouts still turned up. Constantin Claviez had delivered a feat of seamanship with his "Charisma". He was the only one to sail radically northwards in front of the depression in order to avoid it. He arrived much later than the first four - but at least he got there.
You can read the details of this memorable race in the new YACHT.
