91st North Sea Week: Pantaenius Round Skagen - the royal race is underway

The 15 crews taking part in the International German Offshore Sailing Championship and the 15 active North Sea Week teams knew beforehand that the start to the Pantaenius Rund Skagen race would be slow. Nevertheless, the forecasts for the rest of the long-distance race gave rise to hopes of a new best time. However, these have now dwindled because the fastest boats had to contend with too much light wind in the first 20 hours.

The record chances? Not impossible, but unlikely." Robin Zinkmann

Robin Zinkmann, navigator on the leading "Rafale", said at the western entrance to the Limfjord on a northerly course along the Danish west coast on Tuesday lunchtime: "Unfortunately, as expected, it was pretty flat. In some places we've only had three to four knots of wind since this morning. In the meantime we are through and sailing again. But the record will be tight this year."

Click here for the live tracking of the Pantaenius Rund Skagen race.

The flickers of hope for a new best time were only glowing minimally on Tuesday afternoon, even though the second half of the race will allow the pacemakers to set a completely different pace. Robin Zinkmann said on Tuesday afternoon: "The second part of the race is very fast in the routings. It will be difficult to get much out of it. The current ETA is 11 o'clock, but I reckon that could be pushed back a few more hours if at some point we're no longer sailing the boat at 100% in 30 knots of wind."

Pantaenius Round Skagen Race: Germany's largest offshore regatta

The Zinkmann forecast is based on approaching stormy conditions. The winds recently freshened up quickly. The "Rarotonga" crew led by Chirstoph Mählmann also experienced the changes intensively up to this point. Early Tuesday morning, the skipper reported from the sea: "We're travelling at 7.5 knots under heavy spinnaker. Then again at 2.6 knots under light spinnaker. We've passed the Horns Rev and are continuing to fight our way in the direction from which the storm is expected to come today."

Many sailors in the Pantaenius Rund Skagen race found the storm forecasts difficult to imagine in the flat start. "But the weather forecast is serious and has been confirmed by several independent organisations and sources," Christoph Mählmann was not the only one to know. A clip of the start of the long haul partner Pantaenius had published before the launch.

The record in the 510 nautical mile Pantaenius Round Skagen Race is now 26 years old. It was set shortly after the turn of the millennium by Dr Klaus Murmann's 67-foot Baltic "Uca". The crew, led by their helmsman Walter Meier-Kothe, had raced across the challenging course in a sensational 43 hours and 46 minutes. The conditions were ideal at the time and the crew sailed strongly. Since then, the best performance has stood like an XXXL hurdle that nobody can overcome.

"Uca" helmsman Walter Meier-Kothe: "Proud to still be defending this record"

In terms of its course, the Royal Race of the North Sea Week is one of the most challenging and at the same time most beautiful long-distance races in the sailing world. Its versatility is due to the change of area: the race begins in the North Sea, runs through the Skagerrak and ends in the Baltic Sea. Held every two years, the grand finale of the North Sea Week, in which both the IDM champion sailors and "normal" North Sea Week teams started this year, tests its challengers in the Pantaenius Round Skagen Race in all disciplines of sailing.

Two years ago, Henri de Bokay's Elliot 52 "Rafale" took the line honours in the Pantaenius Rund Skagen race. But even then, the fabulous time of the "Uca", which had galloped across the North Sea, Baltic Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat in 2626 minutes over 510 nautical miles, remained untouched. Not without his typical mischievous smile, Walter Meier-Kothe had said"We are quite proud to still be defending this record. It's a shame that Klaus Murmann can no longer experience this."

Two years ago, it was a long cruise past Hanstholm that dashed all the record hopes of the "Rafale" crew. The "Uca" was the fastest in the passage 26 years ago. How it will turn out this time remains to be seen. For the IDM champion sailors, the double scored Pantaenius Rund Skagen race is also about titles and medals.

Pantaenius Rund Skagen race brings the IDM decisions

After the Sundowner at the start and the Capitell Cup Rund Helgoland on the Whitsun weekend (Click here for the IDM intermediate results), the long-distance result will decide the IDM placings. While the smaller boats were favoured in the first two light wind races with the rating factors 1.25 and 1.5, the crews on the larger boats should be able to exploit the advantages of their yachts in the current Pantaenius Rund Skagen race.

So it will remain exciting until the finishes on Wednesday. And that applies to all participants - IDM challengers and Nordseewoche crews. After all, they are all looking forward to some impressive times in the current Pantaenius Rund Skagen race until they reach the finish in Kiel.

The results of the North Sea Week at a glance.