Baltic 500: Rixgens and Reinke win - "Gaia" ahead of "Hinden" and "Lucky Five"

Former Mini-Transat skipper Lina Rixgens and her co-skipper Sverre Reinke have won the overall ORC classification in the seventh Baltic 500. The power duo crossed the finish line at 4.22 a.m. on the night of 1 June as the 14th boat from the Baltic long distance. This means that their small but fast Sun Fast 30 OD "Gaia" won the race for the calculated overall ORC victory.

Success in the Baltic 500 with new oars

The time sailed by the crew starting for the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club for the 500 nautical mile long distance was 2 days, 17 hours, 47 minutes and 23 seconds. This meant that the much smaller Sun Fast 30 OD finished around ten hours after the Line Honours winners Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink on their Class 40. In the handicap calculation, the performance of Lina Rixgens and Sverre Reinke resulted in a time of 2 days, 16 hours, 14 minutes and 14 seconds - the overall ORC victory!

In addition to the strong sailing performance, the replacement of the rudders on the Sun Fast 30 OD shortly before the race was an important key to "Gaia's" success. The shipyard had already addressed the issue of problematic rudders last year and gradually replaced the rudders on all Sun Fast 30 ODs. "That was a learning experience and was definitely worth it," says Lina Rixgens after the Baltic 500.

The new pair of rudders for "Gaia" arrived in the week before the Baltic 500 launch. Shipyard fitters had travelled to Wendtorf and helped the "Gaia" crew to a completely new sailing experience. With the old oars, the crews were often shooting into the wind at 15 knots, now they have the desired control over the boat.

Baltic 500: sporty and demanding

Lina Rixgens explained: "We've had the new oars for just a week now. They are bigger and, above all, longer. This means you are less likely to be levered out. Before, you had to be careful with every wave that it didn't knock you over. Now we've only sailed one real sun shot in the Baltic 500. With the old oars, it might have been 30 or more."

Like Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink the day before, Rixgens and Reinke were stopped by a lull on their way to the finish line in Strander Bucht. "We got hit really hard at the corner of Bülk. It was very patchy," reported Sverre Reinke. However, this last hurdle could not stop the "Gaia" crew on their way to overall success. "We are super happy! We were in the lead for most of the race, but not all the time. It was a cool and very varied, sporty and challenging race," summarised Lina Rixgens.

You had to shoot and step on the gas in between. That's what we did." Lina Rixgens

Apart from about five or six hours in total, Rixgens and Reinke steered "Gaia" by hand. "We had a lot of waves almost all the time. You're faster when you steer by hand. There were also some calmer winds in between, for example under Fehmarn or near Gedser. I think this race required the best all-rounders - in terms of boat and crew," said Lina Rixgens after the race.

It is clear from the results that the planing boats had a somewhat easier time in view of the frequent reaching conditions. "Basically, you have to say that the planing boats were at an advantage due to the many reaching sections. But the XP-44 'Xar' (Red.: 5th boat at the finish, 6th boat in ORC 1), for example, is not a planing boat. It was sailed very well by the crew and is proof that the boat was not the only decisive factor," said Sverre Reinke.

The "Gaia" crew is now preparing for the German Sailing Championships at Kieler Woche from 21 to 29 June and the Rolex Fastnet Race from 26 July as the highlight of the season. The German Sailing Association (DSV) has also entered the duo again for the Doublehanded World Championship in the autumn.

The best ORCs in the Baltic 500

The JPK 10.30 "Hinden" with Jonas Hallberg and Grant Greenall and the First 31.7 "Lucky Five" with Leif Petersen and Joshua Goller sailed to the other podium places in the calculated ORC Club overall standings. The JPK 10.30 "Renterbank" with Charlotte Schneider and Konrad Streit narrowly missed out on the podium in fourth place ahead of the fifth-placed First 36 "Salicornia" with Arno Böhnert and Christian Heermann. The first four boats also formed the top quartet in ORC 2.

The best ORC 1 boat in the Baltic 500 was "Salicornia". In their group, they relegated the Arcona 385 "Lightworks" with Michael Höfgen and Jasper Marwege and the Seaquest 36 "Circus" with Thorsten Thelen and Christian Knop to second and third place on the ORC 1 podium.

In the course of the Baltic 500, the Dehler 30OD four-way battle turned into a duel after two duos retired. Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt and Bjarne Lorenzen on "Powerplay" once again prevailed against Luca Mayer and Luca Leidholt on "Play harder". At the finish, the two teams were separated by just under two hours. All results are taken from the race tracking and have yet to be officially confirmed by the race organisers. They will then be published at the end of the race. at Mangae2Sail here to be found.

Baltic 500: The smallest is yet to come...

The Line Honours winners Melwin Fink and Lennart Burke, who had already celebrated on Saturday afternoon, did not place in the ORC classification. The Next Generation Boating Around the World team had entered the Baltic 500 without a measurement certificate. One boat was still at sea late on Sunday afternoon. The small First 27 SE "Gladys" is expected to be the last boat to cross the finish line off Strande on Monday night. Click here for their position and the results. The award ceremony is planned for Monday at 6 pm at the Yacht Club Strande.

The event has hopefully lived up to its reputation: tough, fun, achievable - just not for everyone." Rasmus Töpsch

The organising team from the Yacht Club Strande drew a positive balance on Sunday afternoon. Regatta director Cord Hall said: "There was a lot of fun, everyone seems to be happy." Rasmus Töpsch, who once devised the Baltic Sea long-distance race for ambitious double-handed teams together with Cord Hall, said: "The race was good from our point of view. The lull at the end was a pity. But all in all, we are satisfied."