Laser vice world champion Philipp Buhl and RS:X sailor Toni Wilhelm were the first German starters to race in the Olympic test regatta before Rio den Janeiro on Saturday. The series did not start as planned for either of them. While the Olympic fourth-placed Wilhelm from the Württemberg Yacht Club was still able to hold his own in the first third of his field of 28 starters in twelfth place overall after three races, Germany's number one hopeful found himself in 20th place in the field of 38 Laser helmsmen from just as many countries on the evening of the opening day.
Philipp Buhl from the Alpsee-Immenstadt sailing club, who "hasn't really fallen in love with the area yet", quickly realised what was wrong with him at the start: "I slept through the starts a bit." Buhl didn't mean that literally. It was much more a case of setting off much earlier in the strong current (between 20 and 40 metres per minute). If you don't do this, you will quickly be penalised with a gap of ten or twenty metres. While the Sonthofen native was able to overtake ten boats on the second cross alone in his first race of the day and finished 14th, he only managed 24th in the second race.
"My position was too centred in relation to the rest of the field. I wanted to get some of the advantage." But the competition on the outer lanes to Buhl's right and left had secured them. First and foremost the British world champion Nick Thompson, who won the second race after finishing 16th in the first. After the first day, Pavlos Kontides from Cyprus and the nine-time Brazilian world champion Robert Scheidt, who is still searching for form at the World Championships, are tied on points at the head of the field and will be looking to capitalise on his home advantage in Rio's complex current area. On Sunday, the Laser sailors will switch to the "Copacabana" outer course, where less current but more wind and waves are expected. Buhl is looking forward to it: "I still believe that I can sail right at the front."
There were no German starters in the other two disciplines of the day: Olympic silver medallist and favourite Marit Bouwmeester from the Netherlands took the lead in the women's Laser Radial. Hei Man Chan from Hong Kong is in the lead in the women's RS:X surfing. On Sunday, all other disciplines will also start the last big dress rehearsal before the Olympic regatta in a year's time. In addition to Philipp Buhl and Toni Wilhelm, the 470 European champions Ferdinand Gerz/Oliver Szymanski (Segler-Verein Wörthsee/Joersfelder Segel-Club), the 49er European champions Erik Heil/Thomas Plößel (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) and the 49er women's sailors Tina L. L., who will be competing for the national sailing team from Sunday, the 49er sailors Tina Lutz (Chiemsee Yacht Club) and Susann Beucke (Hannoverscher Yacht-Club) as well as the 470 crew Annika Bochmann and Marlene Steinherr from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club and the Nacra 17 mixed crew Paul Kohlhoff/Carolina Werner from the Kieler Yacht-Club. A total of 339 sailors from 52 nations will be competing in all ten Olympic sailing disciplines on Sunday.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
