Baltic 500: "Red 2" leads in the Baltic Sea marathon, seven tasks so far

The favourites were ahead after the first night: Mathias Müller von Blumencron's J/V 43 "Red 2" led the field in the 8th edition of the Bltic 500 on the morning of 15 May. With Boris Herrmann's co-skipper Cole Brauer on board, the Hamburg skipper decided in favour of the "Sweden call" when entering the Öresund, as did Wolf Scheder-Bieschin and Arnt Bruhns on the class sister "Vineta". Both crews had entered the Örseund between the small island of Saltholm and the Swedish west coast.

The tracking for the 8th Baltic 500 can be found here.

The other "big ones" at the front of the field made a different decision: the Shogun 50 "Fantastic 4", the Solaris 50 "Faju" and the Pure 49 "Gorre", which passed Santholm on its west coast. "Red 2" made the most of the division at the front, holding a five nautical mile lead over "Fantastic 4" with Peter Blovig and Jakob van Ohlen and a six nautical mile lead over "Vineta" 27 hours after the start.

With power and spirit from Cole Brauer: "Red 2" leads in the Baltic 500

The first night was "very relaxed" for the "Red 2" crew. Mathias Müller von Blumencron said: "We used the night to get some sleep for the second half of the race." The newly formed crew with Cole Brauer for the Baltic 500 is going very well. The skipper said: "The teamwork is great, Cole has so much experience and her power and spirit are impressive."

The "Red 2" owner is also pleased with the performance of the two fast J/V 43s so far: "It's great to see how our boats - 'Vineta' and 'Red 2' - are performing. After all, we are not naked racers. The second half will be tough, especially for the smaller boats." Mathias Müller von Blumencron commented on the first seven racing tasks at the start of day two of the Baltic 500: "We can well understand if you don't want to do this to yourself."

Long before the Öresund Passage, the medium-sized and smaller boats in the very diverse Baltic 500 field in particular had already lost out in the Fehmarnsund. "The Fehmarnsund was hell for the majority of the fleet. Only the front group managed to get out of the way," reported two-time circumnavigator Tim Kröger on his first Baltic 500 participation as co-skipper on Stefan Voss' Archambault A-35 "Om".

First finishes expected on Saturday afternoon

The following teams struggled along under gennaker in a light south-westerly wind, while a few nautical miles ahead of them the big ones galloped away in a south-easterly wind. However, Thursday's difficulties were a thing of the past by Friday. Many boats were able to consolidate their positions, even though the leaders had pulled away.

On Friday afternoon, Tim Kröger said: "This morning, after Klintholm near the chalk cliffs, we worked very hard on the routing and followed it. It didn't look so good at first, but then we were able to make good metres. The same was true again at Faxe-Bugt. But the journey is still a long one. We're now heading more or less 'straight line' into the Öresund because we've managed the turn well. Our routing currently predicts a finish for Sunday afternoon."

The race organisers expect the first boats to cross the finish line up to a day earlier. But even they still have a few hurdles ahead of them. Matthias Schernikau and Urs Kohler on the Pure 49 "Gorre", which was sailing in the top five, were looking forward to sunrise after the first night. Urs Kohler said early on Friday morning: "The sun is rising. And you can actually still see the others. We are still on it! We have 13 knots of wind and are already travelling at nine knots again."

Imoca sailors on a Class40: heavy play in light winds

Imoca sailors Andreas Baden and Scabolcs Weöres on the Class 40 "Cantaloop40" had a little more to contend with recently. Andreas Baden noted in a message from on board on Friday morning: "We are just off Copenhagen. We've had very light winds since last night, from one and a half to six knots, which is not the strength of this boat."

The Kieler explained this in more detail: "The Class40 was originally designed for downwind Atlantic racing, so the boats have a relatively wide (4.5m) hull with a flat underwater hull. This leads to a large water-wetted surface and therefore more resistance, especially in such light winds. The boat practically sticks to the water in the light wind. But the wind should pick up from midday today. Then we can play to the strengths of this design and hopefully make up the places we've lost since last night."

In the end, the "Cantaloop40" was in twelfth place, one place ahead of Stefan Voss' Archambault A-35 "Om" and one place behind the Knierim 33 "Zephyr" with Steffen Müller and Jens Langwasser. Places six to ten were taken by the Pogo RC "MarieJo" with Tobias Brinkmann and Sönke Boy, the new JPK 10.50 with Jonas Hallberg and Jonas Hiller, the First 36 "Salicornia" with Arno Böhnert and Christian Heermann, the Swedish XP-44 "Xar" with Rikard Roth and Lars Jörnvi and the Danish First 36 SE "The Beast" with Jan B. Hansen and Per Cederberg.

High power density in the Baltic 500

Arno Böhnert had already reported on the start shortly after the start of the Baltic 500: "The first challenge this year was that there was only one starting group with an upwind start. Almost 50 double-handed boats on just one line with a windward mark 0.5 nautical miles away - yes, it was going to be crowded! Very crowded! We had about half a metre between the boats. It all worked out well. It was actually a very nice start."

The sailing is very sporty, but also very fair." Arno Böhnert

Böhnert also saw the cold early on as the biggest challenge in the Baltic 500 this year. He said: "It's going to be bloody cold. That may sound funny. But you have to keep your concentration for days and get through it to get the last out of the boat and out of yourself. And that's what you have to do with the power density that's travelling here." Click here for the list of participants for the Baltic 500.

The experienced two-handed sailor Böhnert stated: "The Baltic 500 has developed in a crazy way. If you just look at how the field is organised. How many boats in this field have sailed the race several times or even started with new boats and are otherwise sailing at a very high double-handed level, then you can see that the event is to be taken really seriously in sporting terms."

In intensive Baltic 500 operation: all sails up

Early Friday afternoon, "Salicornia" co-skipper Arno Böhnert reported: "Things are going well. We've had quite a few sail changes. From our sail inventory we had the A 1.5, A 2, A 5 , J 0, J 1, the GS and the spinnaker staysail. We don't have much left that can still be hoisted. But I think the other two that we still have are still to come."

It's definitely an intense race. It's great fun! We have the best weather." Arno Böhnert

On land, the race committee and the organisers from Yacht Club Strande are keeping a close eye on their field. Rasmus Töpsch said after the first night: "The best quote so far was the message from the two Lucas (ed.: Luca Mayer and Luca Leidholdt on the Dehler 30OD "Play Harder"). They said that the rain fronts they experienced were a fever dream. All in all, the cold has certainly taken its toll. It's a shame that the second Mini is also out, but it's understandable. They didn't have enough pressure in the hut."

The statement refers to the fact that the time limit for the Baltic 500 expires at 12 noon on 18 May and the smallest boats in the field had little chance of completing the course within the given time frame. According to Baltic 500 co-founder Rasmus Töpsch, the "Hedda II" deserves a special mention. On the JPK 10.30, the mixed team of Juliane Hausmann (Spiekerooger Segelclub) and Jonathan Wille (Blankeneser Segel-Club) put up a good fight. Until Charlotte Schneider and Konrad Streit gave up on the class sister "Renterbank", according to Töpsch, "the two boats also put up a good fight".