The First Ship Home completed the course from Strande around Læsø and back in the 8th Baltic 500 in 2 days, 16 hours 38 minutes and 51 seconds: Mathias Müller von Blumencron, his American co-skipper Cole Brauer and the J/V 43 "Red 2" had thus the line hours on a very early Sunday morning. They finished just 23 minutes ahead of their J/V 43 sister "Vineta" with Wolf Scheder-Bieschin and Arnt Bruhns.
"We are super happy with the performance of our boats," said Mathias Müller von Blumencron on behalf of both teams. "It's great when you create a ship according to modern criteria and design it for rough courses, which then also goes fast in the wind, bone-shaking." The skipper is already familiar with the rumbling that has to be endured: "We often lose our Windex during such crossings. Now again."
I have to install a new Windex every time after such long crosses." Mathias Müller von Blumencron
The "Red 2" skipper is a Baltic 500 fan. He was the first challenger to sign up for the first edition in 2019. He was also the first to bring his Class40 "Red" with co-skipper Martin Buck into the race seven years ago. His assessment after his fourth appearance in the Baltic Sea Marathon: "It's such a great idea, such a great race! Cord Hall and Rasmus Töpsch do it so well with their team from the Yacht Club Strande."
The Baltic 500 as the first regatta of a lifetime
A good 32 hours after "Red 2", the 29th and last boat in the finisher fleet crossed the finish line at 10.39 a.m. on Monday. Yardstickers Fabian Cohrs and Lea Heitmann from the 1965 Finkenwerder Hamburg Sailing Club passed their two-handed test in the Baltic 500 with the First 34.7 "Svea". This is very remarkable because it was the first regatta of Lea Heitmann's life. She tackled it in XL format.
"Fabian asked me last year if we wanted to give it a go. We thought that if we could do it, then things would continue to go well afterwards," said the intrepid sailor from Hamburg with a smile. Commenting on the race, the newcomer to the regatta said: "The first few days up to Helsingør were great! I was still thinking: What's wrong with them all, it's so beautiful! Then came the gateway to Langeland. With fish feeding..." Fabian Cohrs added: "From Læsö to the Great Belt Bridge, it was all uphill all the way."
Morale was required." Fabian Cohrs
Fabian Cohrs and Lea Heitmann were accompanied on their 500 nautical mile marathon by a quote from Tim Kröger, as they recounted after the race. The two-time circumnavigator and America's Cup sailor from Hamburg also made his Baltic 500 debut with his sailing friend Stefan Voss on his Archambault A-35. At the skipper's briefing at the Yacht Club Strande, Kröger had the following to say the prospect of cold and the announced rough return journey, he realised aloud: "Let's see who's tough here."
"Our biggest opponent is ourselves"
Fabian Cohrs, who has also only been taking part in regattas for a few years and started his first Silverrudder last year but was unable to finish, said after the Baltic 500: "We stood nearby at the skipper's briefing and then took Tim's statement with us into the race." Before the start, the adventurous mixed crew had also made the acquaintance of Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink. The young professionals, who had just returned from Globe40, were a partner of the Baltic 500 with their team from Next Generation Yachting.
Before the start of the race, Burke and Fink handed out shackles to the participants in the harbour. Their tech team had already helped to patch the hole in the bow of the Dehler 30OD "Fritzi" in a night-time McGyver operation before the Baltic 500 start. This was so successful that Dominic Stahl and Felix Aue were able to finish the Baltic 500 in third place in the Dehler classification.
"Lennart asked us who our biggest rival was," Lea Heitmann later recalled. "I said: ourselves." Who can she recommend the Baltic 500 to after her first experience? She thinks for a moment and says: "You can't be a sceptic. You don't have to be, because you could stop the race at any time. There are harbours everywhere and it's not a disgrace. I could recommend it to anyone, but Tim is right: you have to be tough."
With this attitude, Lea Heitmann and Fabian Cohrs were among the lucky 58 women and men in 29 teams who finished the 8th Baltic 500. They all received a white finisher shirt that will remind them of their efforts.
Baltic 500: one race, many winners
This edition has many winners despite almost 40 per cent tasks: Of course the line honours fastest on "Red 2", the almost equally fast runners-up on the J/V 43 sister "Vineta" and many following duos. The overall ORC winner was a real Baltic 500 perennial favourite: Jonas Hallberg confidently took the grand prize with Jonas Hiller and the new JPK 10.50 "Hinden". Hallberg has competed in every edition since winning the premiere in 2019.
This year, the "double Jonas" on "Hinden" in the Baltic 500 had a nice duel with Tobias Brinkmann and Sönke Boy on the Pogo RC "Mariejo" over long stretches. Both had experienced the storm fronts near Læsø before the "Hinden" was able to pull away on the way back. At the finish, a good hour's lead in terms of time sailed turned into a two-hour lead in the ORC calculation. These two top ORC boats were followed by "Red 2" and "Vineta" in third and fourth place in the handicap classification.
Arno Böhnert and Christian Heerman with the First 36 "Salicornia", Eike Claas Carmincke and Leif Thorge with the MAT 1010 "Matchbox" and Matthias Schernikau with Urs Kohler on the Pure 49 "Gorre" sailed spiritedly and aggressively to ORC places five, six and seven. Flensburg skipper Stefan Voss drove the slim Archambault A-35 "Om" with Tim Kröger to ninth place in the ORC - which was worth second place in ORC 2 behind the MAT.
Marathon motivation with sausages from the gas barbecue
Kröger said after a sailed time of 3 days, 8 hours, 33 minutes and 32 seconds: "That was an intense and challenging race. It had all the facets that an offshore race should offer: from lots of wind to hardly any wind, everything was on offer. I really enjoyed competing in a race like this with a competent team."
Commenting on the potential of the Baltic 500, Kröger said: "It appeals to anyone who enjoys taking on challenges and sailing long distances at sea. You shouldn't go into it completely naive, because at the end of the day it is of course a competition. I hope that the very committed organisers and founders Cord Hall and Rasmus Töpsch get the word out internationally about what a cool race the Baltic 500 is!"
The majority of the participants feel the same way. In addition to their sailing skills, some also shone with a wealth of ideas. For example, Steffen Müller and Jens Langwasser on the Knierim 33 "Zephyr". The duo drove their smart daysailer around the course very quickly, catapulting themselves into the top five in the overall ORC rankings. The fact that the crew even managed to treat themselves twice during the race to sausages from the gas barbecue they had brought along was probably a unique achievement in this race.
The 'Zephyr' crew sailed really well, was the quintessence of small, uncomfortable and successful." Rasmus Töpsch
Also unforgettable the small homage, which Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt dedicated to the on-board heating of his Dehler 30OD long-term winner "Powerplay". He crossed the finish line a good half hour ahead of Luca Mayer and Luca Leidholdt on the class sister "Play Harder", once again best in class. York Ilgner and Andreas Sasse on "Mona Lisa" won the yardstick class ahead of the C&C 115 "Blue Chip" with Michael Ueberall and Lars Pfeiffer. However, some other crews were not granted the finish.
The Baltic 500: too "maxi" for the minis
For the two daring minis, the route was very long considering the time limit. Too long. On "Pogoline", the gennaker pole was also broken. The main halyard broke on the Solaris "Faju". The crew on the Shogun 50 "Fantastic 4" had to give up with rig damage.
The two Imoca sailors Andreas Baden and Szabolcs Weöres battled their way through on the Class40 "Cantaloop40" without power and engine, and were obligingly towed into the harbour at the end by the very understanding organisers. Others turned off when they realised that they had made a mess of their time management and were in danger of missing important appointments at the beginning of the week.
Mathias Müller von Blumencron is not the only one who sees a lot of future potential for the Baltic 500: "There were a lot of really experienced people taking part who race in the offshore scene like Timmy. International participation is also growing. Cole said that they know the race in the US offshore scene. It would be well deserved if everyone really promoted the Baltic 500."
Pure Yachts showed this short clip with nice impressions from the start during the Baltic 500:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
