Kiel Week: Marathon sailing on the fjord - national sailors move forward

Midsummer temperatures, gentle and shifty winds: light wind skills were also required on day two of the 131st Kieler Woche at the world's largest sailing series. In the women's skiff 49erFX, Olympic sixth-placed Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille (Mühlenberger Segel-Club) took the lead after five races, just ahead of Katharina Schwachhofer/Elena Stoltze (Württembergischer Yacht-Club) and Sophie Steinlein/Catherine Bartelheimer (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein).

The king and the crown princes at Ilca 7

The GER women's trio kept the strong Brits Freya Black/Saskia Tidey in fourth place and other top international crews at bay. In the Ilca 7, 2020 World Champion Philipp Buhl (Sonthofen) moved up to eighth place in his Kiel Week comeback following a long break from competition since the Olympic Games.

The 35-year-old helmsman only returned to active competition a few weeks ago at the YES regatta in Kiel. After finishing second and third on the first Sunday of Kieler Woche, Buhl said in the evening after an eight-hour marathon on the water, in which many races for the qualifying groups were started but also cancelled again: "I didn't expect to be particularly good in light wind conditions at the moment. They're not necessarily my favourite conditions, but I had a pretty good overview and I'm definitely satisfied."

The leader of the German Ilca 7 sailors, who has won four medals at Laser and later Ilca 7 World Championships since 2013 and crowned his achievements with World Championship gold in Melbourne in 2020, feels at home in the German training group with Ole Schweckendiek from Kiel, club mate Julian Hoffmann, Justin Barth from the Berlin Yacht Club and other up-and-coming helmsmen. Buhl said at the Kiel-Schilksee Olympic Centre: "This is a really cool group with lots of fun, motivation and talent. Everyone has their own strengths. If we add all these strengths together, then we'll go a long way."

Kiel Week: "A competition like no other"

Ahead of Germany's most successful Ilca-7 sailor after four races in the largest field of Olympic sailors with 148 boats was 20-year-old up-and-comer Ole Schweckendiek from the Kiel Yacht Club in fourth place. Schweckendiek was not entirely satisfied with his 4th and 26th places, but was able to laugh and cheerfully announced his Sunday evening programme: "Now back to the gym, then eat, sleep and tomorrow we continue." Ole Schweckendiek is regarded as one of the talented "crown princes" of three-time Olympian Philipp Buhl. Click here for all results and intermediate results of the Kieler Woche.

In the men's skiff 49er on Sunday, Jakob Meggendorfer/Andreas Spranger (Bayerischer Yacht-Club), who finished eleventh at the Olympics, moved up to fourth place behind the local heroes from Kiel, Simon Heindl and Conrad Jacobs. Andreas Spranger said: "Kiel Week is a competition like no other. We want to be among the front runners here."

The German iQFOiL aces will also be battling it out on the eastern shore of the Kiel Fjord. The iQFOiL Senior Games Kiel will be held there with the second Kiel Week quarter in Stein. After a total of five races, Fabian Wolf from the NRV Olympic Team was in second place, four points behind the Polish leader Tomasz Romanowski. Sophia Meyer from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club will continue the women's series on Monday in third place. The results of the Olympic iQFOiL windsurfers are listed here by the international class association.

Kieler Woche: Sailors compete for IDM title

The IDM is an important step in the preparation for the World Championships in Tallinn in August. All the more reason for Jens Kuphal, skipper of the German XR41 "eXciter", to be beaming after the eel regatta. At the start in Kiel's inner fjord, he still had to line up behind the XR41 "Formula X" of Danish professional Jesper Radich. Over the course of the 27.5 nautical miles, however, he and his crew sailed to a lead of two and a half minutes after four and a half hours on the water.

"Robert did a very good job. The lead changed hands several times on the track, but we were able to pull away at the end," said Jens Kuphal, who was delighted with the successful Kiel Week opener. XR41 rival Jesper Radich went in search of the lost seconds on the course after the end of the race. He even got into the water and submerged the hull of his yacht. And he apparently found what he was looking for.

The Danes set the pace in the up-and-down races on Sunday. The "Formula X" (2, 1, 1, 2) took first place in the rankings ahead of the Kuphal crew (1, 3, 2, 9) and the "Dixie" (5, 6, 3, 1). The second Danish XR41 crew, skippered by Erik Stannow, took over the boat fresh from the Kieler Woche and has so far performed brilliantly on its regatta "maiden voyage" after a total of four races in third place.

"Formula X" and "Sydbank" in front after four races

Jürgen Klinghardt from Lübeck, owner of the "patent 4", can only follow Kiel Week from afar. An almost 30-year-old foot injury caught up with him during the North Sea Week and he is currently undergoing orthopaedic treatment. He has handed over the skipper duties for the IDM in Group C+D to Oliver Voss from Kiel.

And he replaced the boss very well. In the eel regatta, the "patent 4" was only narrowly beaten by Torsten Bastiansen's "Sydbank" from Flensburg. In the up-and-downs, she slipped slightly to fourth place after a total of four races. In Group C+D, Torsten Bastiansen's "Sydbank" (Flensborg Yacht Club) was ahead of two Swedish boats after four races: Patrik Forsgren's "Garmin Team Pro4u" and Johan Lindell's "Firefly". Click here for the results.