Bundesliga: Hamburg duel comes to a head - NRV win in Kiel, MSC remains table leader
Tatjana Pokorny
· 01.09.2024
Only five points separate the first division leaders from Mühlenberger Segel-Club (10 points) from their pursuers from Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (15 points) after four of six regattas this season. MSC and NRV also proved this weekend in Kiel that both clubs are at the top for good reasons. They finished the fourth summit meeting of the twelfth premier league season in the north as the top teams - only in reverse order: the NRV won ahead of the MSC. Third place in Kiel among the 18 first division teams went to the Segel- und Motorboot-Club Überlingen (SMCÜ) from Lake Constance.
Bundesliga premiere for 470 ace Malte Winkel
The tie-break was decided by the higher number of better individual results in favour of the Hamburg Alster team. The NRV crew had six race wins in the final tally, while the MSC "only" had five. This meant that the NRV crew, which competed in Kiel for the first time with 470 ace Malte Winkel at the helm, had a very narrow lead over the Mühlenberger Segel-Club.
"It was fantastic sailing and a really great event where I met a lot of sailors again," said world-class 470 helmsman Malte Winkel. He continued: "I really enjoy short races, where tactics are particularly important. I'm delighted that it went so well straight away."
Despite the NRV victory, the MSC, which was so narrowly beaten, defended the lead it had already taken at the start of the season after the first two thirds of the season. "We beat NRV on the water in a direct comparison," said MSC helmsman Max Augustin. Augustin is not the only one with his eyes on the continuation of the bow-to-bow race with the rivals from Hamburg and said: "The duel on the water between NRV and MSC will continue in Starnberg on the next match day."
Blankeneser Segel-Club is a candidate for promotion
While the crews had to contend with light winds on the first of the three race days, the wind picked up to six to eight knots on Saturday. Bright sunshine and perfect sailing conditions prevailed throughout the weekend. "It was pure stadium sailing," reports league manager Anke Nowak enthusiastically. "We always had around 500 spectators along the keel line every day. Thanks to the perfect wind direction, the start was directly in front of the jetty, where the crews changed through for their stint on the water. The atmosphere was great."
The Blankeneser Segel-Club (BSC), one of Hamburg's renowned clubs from the Elbe, also won the 2nd Bundesliga. Helmsman Lukas Feuerherdt, German champion in the Laser 2015, competed with Morten Räcke, Jonathan Wille and 17-year-old Jonathan Feindt for the Blankenesers, whose clubhouse is located in the neighbourhood of the Mühlenberger Segel-Club. The crew improved from race to race.
"We didn't have the opportunity to train together and prepared ourselves mentally for the challenge," says Lukas Feuerherdt. "We are now level on points with Westfälischer Yacht-Club Delecke at the top of the 2nd league table and want to make it to the top this year." Third place in Kiel went to the second division team from Potsdamer Yacht-Club (PYC). The Berlin club Klub am Rupenhorn (KAR) is in third place in the table.
The Bundesliga season finale takes place in the south
The league fleet of J/70 boats is now leaving the Schleswig-Holstein state capital and will be brought to Lake Starnberg by the "southern clubs". The league weekend would be supported by the city of Kiel. The fifth summit of the Sailing Bundesliga, which is still in its twelfth season since its premiere in 2013, will take place in Starnberg from 13 to 15 September 2024. The host will be the Munich Yacht Club. The league final will also take place in Starnberg this year from 17 to 19 October at the Bayerischer Yacht-Club.
