Bundesliga: Starting signal for the twelfth season - 36 teams at the league opener on the Wannsee
Tatjana Pokorny
· 18.04.2024
The Bundesliga is challenging its first division teams with six regatta summits this season. The second division teams will be tested five times. All 36 teams will kick things off this coming long weekend in Berlin: from 19 April, the German Sailing League will enter its twelfth season. This opens up the hunt for the seven-time record winners from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, who will have to make do without their top helmsman from previous successful years. Tobi Schadewaldt is taking a break as a new father.
Hamburg and Berlin with a large Bundesliga line-up
In Berlin, Julia Kühn will be sailing for the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein. She has an ambitious crew in the boat with Johann Kohlhoff, Ferdinand Pfung and Miklas Schaper. Later in the season, Leon Passlack and Mats Schönebeck will also take over the league helm for the NRV. A total of seven league clubs are based in Hamburg this season. In addition to the first division clubs NRV and the Mühlenberger Segel-Club (MSC), there are five second division clubs: the Hamburger Segel-Club (HSC), the Blankeneser Segel-Club (BSC), the Entdecker- und Seefahrer Fördervereinigung (EnSFr), the Bucerius Law School team and the Akademischer Segelverein Hamburg (ASV).
The host organisation VSaW is also sending a female helmswoman into the opening races with Frederike Westphalen. Her crew is all-female with Anna Krömke, Julia Vitek and Sophie and Sissi Wensel. With four first division teams (VSaW, Joersfelder Segel-Club, Seglervereinigung 1903 Berlin, Berliner Yacht-Club) and two second division teams (Klub am Rupenhorn, Potsdamer Yacht-Club), the Berliners are demonstrating their league strength. Looking at the crew lists of both leagues, it is noticeable that some well-known names are missing - an indication of the generational change taking place in the German leagues.
Click here for the crew lists of first and second division teams at the Bundesliga opener on the Wannsee.
After the first summit in the capital, all 36 club teams will continue in Warnemünde (12 to 14 July), hosted by the Academic Sailing Club Warnemünde. From 26 to 28 July, only the first division teams will be racing in Kiel. It should be exciting on the water and on land, as 28 July is also the opening day of the Olympic regatta in France. The men and women in the iQFoil windsurfing fleets as well as the skiff sailors in the 49er and 49er FX will be challenged there at the start in the Bay of Marseille. Quite a few league sailors will be keeping an eye on the Olympic events while competing for league points themselves.
The first division teams will remain in Kiel for the third league weekend from 30 August to 1 September, with the second division teams joining them. Both leagues will continue from 13 to 15 September at the Munich Yacht Club on Lake Starnberg. The first and second division teams will also remain here for their finals, but then from 17 to 19 October under the direction of the Bavarian Yacht Club. The two "double events" in the north and south are intended to avoid too many long transport routes and save effort and costs.
Young talent problems bring opportunities for successors
While the league teams have been preparing for the new season over the past few months, there have been changes to the participants in both leagues. While some clubs gave up their league membership, others were happy about the resulting chances of moving up. "Some clubs are having problems with young talent, so they have given up their starting place," says league organiser Oliver Schwall. "As a result, there have been shifts, from which the Konstanzer Yacht-Club and the Akademischer Segel-Club Warnemünde in particular have benefited, as they can remain in the upper house of the league."
In addition to ASV Hamburg, the Cospudener Yachtclub Markkleeberg near Leipzig also benefits from the withdrawal of qualified teams. Together with the inclusive sailing club "Wir sind Wir", two clubs from Saxony have qualified for the 2nd Sailing Bundesliga. The Bat Sailing Team from Hamburg was delighted. Marvin Hamm, Mieke Klein, David Koch and Jan Mense are competing for the Wir sind Wir - Inclusion in Sailing club. For the first time in the league's history, a team of players with and without disabilities will be competing for success and making a strong statement in favour of inclusive sailing in this ambitious joint project between the inclusion campaigners from Wir sind Wir and the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein.
First inclusion team ahead of second league start
The Bat Sailing Team was formed as a result of a sailing workshop for blind and visually impaired people in Hamburg in September 2020. Visually impaired David Koch, a long-time competitive goalball athlete, was part of the team. Koch was enthusiastic after the workshop, saying: "I enjoyed sailing and wanted it to be more than just a one-off event. That's why I asked: 'What else can you sail with it? That's how we came up with the regatta theme," explains the Hamburg native. Many training sessions, Kieler Woche events and further intensive preparatory meetings later, the Bat Sailing Team is now facing the eagerly awaited league premiere.
Physiotherapist David Koch will be working for the Bat Sailing Team on the forecastle. The 35-year-old has a visual impairment in which the retina becomes detached. This form of macular degeneration severely restricts his central field of vision, meaning that he can see virtually nothing in the centre, only a little in the periphery. "I stood on a sailing boat for the first time in September 2020 and actively started sailing the J/70 and preparing for regattas in 2021," said Koch, looking back on his journey in sailing before the league premiere.
A look back at the 2023 league final - the live broadcast in the replay:
