Kiel Week: Into the night in the silver band, Heiko Kröger chases title 15

Others go out to celebrate on Friday evening, but the Kieler Woche sailors have started their IDM finals. The Silver Riband is where the offshore and double-handed medals of the International German Championship are at stake. The starting signal for the night race around Langeland was given at 7.05 pm.

The IDM final of the sea sailors is underway

In the offshore classification, Jens Kuphal's XR41 "eXciter" started into the Silver Ribbon in ORC A&B with victory in the eel regatta behind her. In ORC C&D, Torsten Bastiansen's "Sydbank" won the first of the two longer races that lead to the IDM Offshore title and the medals in the overall standings.

The two-handed crews are battling it out for the IDM podium places after two completed Coastal Races in the Silver Band. Bernd Dreier and Jan Assmann on the X-332 took the lead on Friday evening of Kiel Week. While the sea sailors were just getting started, the dinghies and catamaran sailors had long since mastered their daily programme. Former Paralympics winner Heiko Kröger from Ammersbek was one of the best German starters in the sun-cloud mix.

The 14-time Kieler Woche winner is chasing title number 15. After a total of six races in the one-person keelboat class 2.4mR, Kröger confidently led the field on Friday evening. However, 59-year-old Heiko Kröger would still be nine titles short of the Kieler Woche record held by Wolfgang Hunger, who won 24 times on the fjord before "his" 505 was withdrawn from the programme. Anyone who knows Kröger, however, knows that he would not be unthinkable to have such staying power.

"It's going quite well for the first time," commented Heiko Kröger on his overall lead on Friday with a wink, as he hadn't even sat in the familiar 2.4mR before Kieler Woche, but had trained on the OK dinghy. "The shroud tension wasn't right, and once I mixed up the windward mark with the downwind mark," reported Kröger. Nevertheless, he extended his lead over runner-up Christoph Trömer (Homeburg) to four points. Norway's Frank Huth followed a further three points behind. Click here for all Kiel Week results and the intermediate results.

Foiling for the Olympics: France vs. Great Britain

In the Nacra 17, Great Britain's John Gimson/Anna Burnet were replaced as leaders by France's Tim Mourniac and Aloise Retournaz. In third place after nine races was Brin Liddell/Rhiannan Brown, one of the four young Australian catamaran teams with whom two-time Olympic silver medallist Darren Bundock is currently touring Europe for the most important European regattas.

The four crews were formed after an intensive selection process and are training and growing together for the Olympic challenges of the future. The focus of the KielerWoche.TV live broadcast on Friday was the open ILCA-6 class, which held three races in two groups directly in front of the Schilksee pier and offered the audience first-class images. Hungary ahead of Thailand and India at the halfway stage with Benedek Héder ahead of Weka Bhanubandh and Nethra Kumanan.

Christoph Homeier had a dream day in the Contender. With two wins on the day, the man from Bremen pushed the strong international competition into second place. The Dane Jesper Armbrust was five points behind him in the evening. He was followed by Mark Bulka from Australia. "That was really fun, it doesn't get any better than that," enthused Homeier, not only about his performance but also about the conditions, without yet reaching for the gold star. "If Kiel Week ends on the podium at all, that would be a successful dress rehearsal for the World Championships on Lake Garda at the end of July."

Kieler Woche: König/Schäfers in front of a furious Hungary

After a very bumpy start on Thursday, serial winners Scabolcs Majthenyi/András Domokos from Hungary won all three FD races on Friday of Kieler Woche, but were penalised in the last race. Kilian König and Kai Schäfers (Hanover) defended the top position. Niklas Edler (Sweden) held on to first place in the OK dinghies, just ahead of Baabii'O Flower from Canada. André Budzien from Schwerin will be in third place on Saturday.

In the 420, Moritz Borowiak and Noel Jonas Theiner (Schwerin) appear to be heading for a superior Kiel Week victory despite an early start disqualification right at the start. Poland's Aleksandra Wiśniowska/Mateusz Budzisk were already 17 points behind in second place. The experienced Dane Sten Mohr and his crew also made an early start in the last race of the day in the J/70, but remained the leaders ahead of the teams of compatriot Peter Buhl and Lukas Feuerherdt from Hamburg. In the J/24, Stefan Karsunke and his crew led with "Schwere Jungs".

Replay with the Kieler Woche TV - the live broadcast, which can also be followed on the big screen in the Sailing Centre in the Kiel-Schilksee Olympic Centre and also in Kiel city centre: