91st North Sea Week: Sundowner "light" - first championship race at the finish line

Before the participants in the International German Offshore Championship were challenged, the other North Sea Week challengers had already completed their first race. The first winner of the 91st North Sea Week was the Tripp 40 "Amuse-Bouche" from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein. The crew around helmsman Jörg Zieron won the race in the Garmin Cup, sailed from Wedel to Cuxhaven in just over two hours and came out on top in ORC A against the X-41 "Dockenhuden" (Mühlenberger Segel-Club) with helmsman Maik Dünnfründ by just over a minute.

91st North Sea Week: first the Garmin Cup, then the master sailors

Earlier, the race organisers had shortened the course in just a hint of wind and set the finish line at roadstead six. 20 boats had started the race. The fastest ORC B boat - Michael Wunderlich's J-35 "Chosi 6" (Blankeneser Segel-CLub) - only took around five minutes longer than the "First Ship Home" in the A division. A quarter of an hour after "Chosi 6", Gerrit Rampendahl's J/80 "Azurra DH" (Segel-Verein Altona-Oevelgönne) was the first ORC C boat to cross the line. Click here for the Garmin Cup results at manage2sail.

One The International German Offshore Championship (IDM) has its own results page at manage2sail.The first and shortest of the three races, which will be held as part of the North Sea Week. Here too, the first and shortest of the three races, which are increasing in scope, demands and points scoring, has already been completed: The Sundowner was shortened by the race committee in the calm early summer winds just as understandingly as the Garmin Cup before it.

After the start on Friday evening at 8.05 pm, the 14 IDM teams initially made good progress before the wind increasingly died as the evening progressed. The tide was set at buoy Außenreede 3, after which the crews motored towards the Red Rock. The North Sea Week team and Cili con Carne awaited the North Sea sailors in the Alexseal Offshore Lounge.

IDM kick-off with pitfalls on the Elbe

In the light wind competition of the championship sailors - as experts and connoisseurs had predicted - the smaller boats had a somewhat more pleasant game. In the ORC classification, Michael Schlee's X-35 "Alexis" (Wassersportverein Wulsdorf) won ahead of Lars Hidde's MAT 1220 "Pure" from Blankeneser Segel-Club and the Swan 46 "Rarotonga" (Blankeneser Segel-Club) with helmsman Christoph Mählmann. The eleven-strong "Rarotonga" crew had parried the light wind challenge at the IDM opener remarkably well despite the beautiful but heavy Swan 46 with helpful knowledge of the current.

Baltic-500-ORC-Dominator Jonas Hallberg and his crew on the new JPK 10.50 "Hinden" finished well in fourth place. Jonas Hallberg reported: "The race was unspectacular, with a little more wind than expected. We were able to sail quite well. At first it was a cross. Then the wind slowly shifted to the south and got rougher and rougher. Then the course was shortened. We tried to follow the depth contours as best we could and stay in the current. We managed that reasonably well."

It was okay for the first time we sailed a regatta on the Elbe. The atmosphere was good. The weather too. It's nice and warm on Heligoland." Jonas Hallberg

The championship co-favourites on Henri de Bokay's Elliot 52 SS "Rafale" (Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) were the first to arrive in Helgoland harbour at around midnight. Calculated, the big boat came sixth in the short first doldrums. This meant that the crew, whose main focus this year is on chasing records in the Pantaenius Rund Skagen race, which is expected to be a pressure-filled one, got off with only half a black eye.

With the North Sea Week feeder services to Heligoland

"It was to be expected that the small boats would benefit more when there was little wind and pushing current," explained "Rafale" navigator Robin Zinkmann. He himself had already predicted a few days before the start like this. Skipper Katrina Westphal steered the Carkeek 47 "Störtebeker" from Hamburgischer Verein Seefahrt to eighth place in the shortened Sundowner. Daniel Baum's crew on the beautiful single "Elida" (Hamburger Segel-Club) will be attacking from eleventh position in the second IDM race - the Capitell-Cup Rund Helgoland.

The feeder races for all other participants also started on Saturday. Yachts from Bremerhaven, Hallig Hooge and Hooksiel as well as the participants in the Noblex Cup Cuxhaven-Helgoland sailed their courses to the island on the day before Whitsun. The current helped the crews along well in the morning, while the wind weakened again. The race committee is continuously monitoring the wind conditions.

It was already clear that the races W2 (Noblex Cup Cuxhaven - Helgoland) and W4 (Hooksiel - Helgoland) would be shortened and timed on the course. Helgoland awaits its sailors with glorious weather on this long Whitsun weekend. Those who have already reached the Red Rock will need nothing more than a T-shirt and shorts to explore the island or watch the rapidly growing North Sea Week fleet in the harbour. The boot Race Village is open and invites you to relax and enjoy the award ceremony and live music in the evening.

Capitell-Cup Round Heligoland: Slow-motion lap around the Red Rock ahead

After that, all eyes will be back on the water on Whit Sunday: on Whit Sunday, North Sea Week crews and master sailors will be challenged in the Capitell-Cup Rund Helgoland. Originally, the teams had hoped for a little more wind, but the big round the island could also become a game of sailing chess with doldrums. Robin Zinkmann said: "Recently it looked like around five knots of wind. The race is like a slightly bigger coastal race. You have to make sure you don't get stuck somewhere. And I hope that there will be clear announcements about the lobster closure areas."