Kieler Woche: Waiting for the wind - races in the skiffs and on the racecourse

At 2.41 pm, the team led by regatta organiser Fabian Bach had the courage to send the Olympic women's 49er FX class to the Hotel course near the harbour. And was rewarded with three races, after which three German crews lead the overall standings. While all other dinghy classes took a break, the 49er gold fleet also got to race at least twice. The German-French duo Richard Schultheis/Youenn Bertin are the front runners under the Maltese flag.

The skiff women dominate

On the water, the day turned into a celebration for the German skiff women. After nine races over the three days, a quartet in black and red and gold is now at the top of the rankings. Katharina Schwachhofer/Elena Stoltze had the best day, utilising their experience from their home on Lake Constance in the light breeze. "Today it was crucial to sail freely, pay attention to speed and make few manoeuvres," said foresailor Stoltze, and her helmswoman added to the recipe for success: "Stay calm, keep an overview and concentrate on yourself!" This worked brilliantly for the duo from Württemberg with two wins and a second place.

They jumped into second place behind Marie Hofmann/Jill Paland, who followed up their strong second day at Kieler Woche with a solid third. This was enough for the combination from Düsseldorf and Hamburg to clearly maintain their lead, as the previous runners-up, Norway's Pia Dahl Andersen/Nora Edland, suffered an early start disqualification and slipped to fifth place overall. They also had to let the other German teams Anna Barth/Emma Kohlhoff (Kiel) and Charlotte Henkel/Carolina Horlbeck (Hamburg/Lübeck) pass them.

For the men's 49er, the wind was still sufficient for two races. The third race was cancelled halfway through due to a lack of sailable breeze. The day brought some upsets for the teams - with flops and early start disqualifications. As a result, the Danes Frederik Rask/Jakob Precht Jensen took the gold medal for the time being and ceded the lead to Schultheis/Bertin. Third place remains in Polish hands, although Adam Glogowski/Maciej Krusiec took over this position from their compatriots Tytus Butowski/Borys Podumis, who were knocked back to seventh place.

X99 Gold Cup launched

On the sea course, the X99 crews started their Gold Cup, the unofficial world championship, and the Kiel Cup for seagoing ORC yachts was also able to complete the first two races after a long wait at sea. The Danish starters were particularly successful. In the X99 Gold Cup, the Danish crew led by Thomas Nielsen from Svendborg took the lead after day one. The strongest team in ORC Group A+B are the compatriots of Eric Stannow's "Dixi 4" (Helsingør) with two victories. The counterpart in Group C+D is Jürgen Klinghardt's (Lübeck) "Patent 4", which also celebrated two first places.

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