Dramatic scenes unfolded on Thursday at the Spanish Trofeo Princesa Sofía in the final of the Olympic qualifiers for the two best German 49er teams. After both GER crews only achieved average results in races 8 and 9, the mast on the new "Pussy Galore" of the 49er European champions Justus Schmidt and Max Boehme broke.
The accompanying coaches and support staff reacted immediately and worked feverishly to find a replacement boat, which was then very generously made available to the crew from the Kiel Yacht Club by Britons James Peters and Fynn Sterritt. Kiel club mates Tim Fischer and Fabian Graf had also wanted to help, but were travelling on a different course and therefore too far away to hand over their boat to Schmidt/Boehme in time for the next race. Nevertheless, Fischer/Graf cancelled their own race and raced to the "scene of the accident". Schmidt/Boehme had already taken over the British boat there. So Fischer/Graf handed over their boat to the British crew - an unprecedented action.
Schmidt/Boehme finished the first race with the British hire boat in eighth place (which was not noticed when they crossed the finish line and was counted as DNS because they were in the British boat) and the second in 13th place. The parties involved had to answer to the jury late in the afternoon for the swap.
Regardless of the outcome of the jury hearing, it remains a dark day from the Kiel team's perspective, as their rivals in the battle for the Rio ticket are in first place in the regatta after twelve races, scoring impressive points with two daily victories on Thursday and thus recommending themselves for the 49er ticket to Rio de Janeiro. "That's a big board," said coach Thomas Rein, paying tribute to the performance of Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel as he prepared for the jury hearing with his more unfortunate protégés.
Heil/Plößel coach Frithjof Kleen said after the races: "Erik and Thomas are in a very good mood. They really turned up the heat today and gave everyone a real treat after capsizing in the first race." Schmidt/Boehme have a maximum of four races and the medal race left to do the impossible on Thursday and realise it on Friday and Saturday. However, their chances of doing so have shrunk dramatically.
With "shredder" to the top of the world
Things did not go according to plan for Audi Sailing Team Germany in the other classes either. In the Nacra 17, Paul Kohlhoff and Carolina Werner's centreboard got too deep into the hull - presumably due to the knots being too small - and damaged the catamaran so badly that the team from Kiel had to give up and were unable to finish the regatta due to the necessary repairs. "Our centreboard damaged the inside of the boat. A hole has to be drilled into it from the outside and then laminated from the inside. This is a lengthy process," explained Carolina Werner.
While the Kiel team struggled with their fate, Jan Hauke Erichsen and Lea Spitzmann from Flensburg sailed their catamaran named "Schredder" to sixth place with strong third and sixth places, while Kohlhoff/Werner fell to 15th place and can only watch the final races.
Toni Wilhelm is in fourth place among the RS:X surfers after four of six regatta days. Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke are fourth in the women's 49erFX, Victoria Jurczok and Anika Lorenz are fifth. This means that Jurczok/Lorenz are still sailing safely on course for Rio, but must not afford any huge slip-ups or material breakages on the last two days of the regatta.
The second day of racing went entirely according to plan for Germany's Sailor of the Year 2015. 2.4mR helmsman Heiko Kröger has set the picture in the results list straight again to his liking, taking the lead of the field with 1st and 3rd place. Team-mate Lasse Klötzing slipped back to fifth place after a successful start.
Editorial addition, 9.45 pm: After several jury decisions, the 49er classification changed once again late on Thursday evening: Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel were then in third place (46 points), Justus Schmidt and Max Boehme in 8th place (79 points). This means that the two teams are now separated by 33 points instead of 41 ahead of the four scheduled races on Friday and the medal race.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
