Bundesliga: Home win on the Alster – NRV ahead of Bayern and their neighbours on the Elbe

Plenty of patience and strong nerves were two keys to victory on the fourth weekend of the 14th Bundesliga season. The Alster hosts and the eight-time record winner from the North German Regatta Club They started the Hamburg Summit as favourites – and came out on top in a programme that had been shortened to ten matches per Bundesliga club instead of 15. No further matches were played on Sunday.

Tobi Schadewaldt’s NRV quartet remain successful even under pressure

​During this long sailing weekend in the heart of the Hanseatic city, the winds – far from matching the magnificent summer scenery of the Outer Alster – proved extremely challenging. As early as Friday, the 18 first-division teams had to be very patient, as the light conditions meant only two races per crew were possible. On Saturday, by stark contrast, the programme on the water lasted more than nine hours. The morning got underway in initially very light winds of around five or six knots. Later, with the sky over Hamburg ranging from sky-blue to cloud-grey and the Alster a deep blue, winds of up to ten knots were on offer. It was not until 7.15 pm that the day’s sailing came to an end.

With four race wins and six second-place finishes, helmsman Tobias Schadewaldt, Johann Kohlhoff, Florian Thoelen and Luisa Krüger scored just 16 points. They thus came out on top against Kristian Lenkmann, Philip Hall, Oda Hausmann and Ludwig Geisweid from the Bavarian Yacht Club (20 points) and Jacob Ahlers, Laura Bo Voss, Matteo Wolgast and Leonie Bergmann from the Mühlenberg Sailing Club on the Elbe. Click here for the crew list featuring all the sailors taking part this weekend.

​““That was the most consistent run we’ve ever sailed – nothing but first and second places, in truly challenging conditions with shifting winds adding to the difficulty,” said helmsman Tobias Schadewaldt, who is regarded as the most successful helmsman in the history of the NRV League. The former skiff sailor finished eleventh with Hannes Baumann at the Olympic regatta off Weymouth in 2012. SailGP stars Nathan Outteridge with Iain Jensen and Peter Burling with Blair Tuke won gold and silver at the time.

Driven by the competition to achieve top form in the Bundesliga

Tobi Schadewaldt said on Sunday at his home club: “I’m really pleased that we managed to pull this off so convincingly. The Bavarian Yacht Club had a really strong run and kept us under pressure right to the end: despite our really good results, we were only one point ahead of them going into the final race and couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. I hadn’t expected it to turn out like that – and I think that’s what drove us to this top performance.”

The home victory saw them extend their lead in the league table: with just two events remaining, the NRV tops the first division table, ten points clear of the Joersfelder Segel-Club (21 points, 12th place in Hamburg) and the MSC (22 points). Tobias Schadewaldt said: “This means we’ve extended our lead in the championship to over ten points – a huge step. Now we need to switch off, refocus and go on the attack from the off in Berlin to ultimately clinch the championship trophy.” It would be their ninth title should the Jäger fail to hold off the Hamburg side.

Whilst the second-division teams had a break this weekend for the NRV event, both leagues will resume the season from 18 to 20 September on the Wannsee. The event will be hosted by the Potsdam Yacht Club. The Bundesliga final will also take place on Lake Wannsee, but from 15 to 17 October at the Seglerhaus am Wannsee sailing club, where the season will conclude exactly six months after the official launch on 17 April is coming to an end. Click here for this weekend’s results from Hamburg. Above the table, you can then click on the ‘Season’ button, which takes you to the current standings in the German Club Championship.

Which teams are at risk of being relegated from the Bundesliga?

Looking at the table, it is striking that, after four out of six events, three Hamburg clubs are in the top six. The Blankeneser Segel-Club is in sixth place with 30 points, having finished eighth on the Alster. Bringing up the rear ahead of the final third of the season is the Seglervereinigung Itzehoe. In 16th and 17th places, the Entdecker und Seefahrer Fördervereinigung and the Segler-Vereinigung-Wuppertal are locked in a neck-and-neck battle against relegation, both on 55 points.