The Berlin Yacht Club won the first showdown of the first division teams in Strander Bucht at the start of the Bundesliga season. With an impressive ten race wins in 16 heats, the capital city club sailed to victory off Kiel, mastering the offshore winds on Friday, the test of patience on Saturday in the initially light breeze and the fresh pressure on Sunday best of all.
Philipp Bruhns, Valentin Gebhardt, Laurenz Kahl and Philip Raabe thus got off to a dream start to the 13th season of the German Sailing League in Berlin, kissed by plenty of spring sunshine. Trimmer Philip Raabe said after the final: "The conditions were great today, probably the best sailing day of the whole season with super wind. We got better from day to day and only took first places in the four races today."
Berlin's opening success in league opener in the north
Seven points behind the Berliners, the seven-time record champions from the Norddeutscher Regatta Vereine were also in a class of their own in second place with 33 points on their Kiel account. Mats Schöneberg, Moritz Gießelmann, Henrik Peters and Ferdinand Pfund showed at the reunion of the league sailors after the long winter break that the Hamburg sailors from the Alster will be a force to be reckoned with again this season.
A further twelve points behind them, the defending champions from Mühlenberger Segel-Club took third place on the podium with 45 points, one point ahead of Segel und Motorboot Club Überlingen. Til Krüger, Laura Bo Voss, Max Wentzel and Matteo Wolgast were in action for the reigning club champions from Hamburger Elbe.
The Joersfelder Segel-Club was the second Berlin club to make it into the top five out of 18 first division teams, with Christoph Cornelius, Jannik Gabriel, Daniel Schwarze and Elisa Zöphel making the J/70 league boats fast. Click here for the results of the first division teams at their opening event in Schleswig-Holstein's Sailing City.
NRW club wins second league season opener
In the second division, the Bocholter Yacht Club from North Rhine-Westphalia won the first league weekend ahead of the Württemberg Yacht Club and the Lübeck Yacht Club. Thorsten Willemsen from Bochholter Yacht-Club said: "It was a great event overall, brilliant weather and always windy. After the first few races we found our rhythm, the boat speed was right and then we were just good at it."
Many clubs are gaining their first league experience in the 2nd German Sailing League this season. Here's how they fared the second league results of Kiel here.
Many clubs have now founded their own fan clubs that actively support their teams and cheer them on at every match day." Anke Nowak
Sailing Bundesliga Managing Director Anke Nowak says: "With the sailing club Hansa Münster, the Hessian clubs Frankfurter Yachtclub and Segelclub Rheingau as well as the Cospunder Yachtclub Markkleeberg from near Leipzig, we have also firmly anchored the league in Central Germany. This means that almost every federal state is represented."
The Bundesliga stays in Kiel
The pictures from three eventful days of the league off Kiel-Schilksee show that it was a great start to the new season, which has five more matches on the programme. After the first highlight at the Kiel-Schilksee Olympic Centre, the championship series of the German sailing clubs will continue in just under two weeks from 23 to 25 May on the Kiel Inner Fjord. The sailing camp will then play host to the third consecutive event in Kiel from 7 to 9 June. Click here for an overview of events for the new season.
