Baltic 500: The small boat race - "Lucky Five" and "Play Harder" are the Baltic Sea winners

This weekend's 6th Baltic 500 required concentration, consistency and nerves of steel in a race of around 350 nautical miles to and from Strande, which was predominantly characterised by lighter winds. The course took the 40 participating double-handed crews around Zealand. Eleven teams abandoned the test of patience en route, while 29 different boats and their crews were able to complete the long distance. "The fleet crossed the finish line very compactly. Everyone was in within around seven hours. We've never had that before. It was a small boat race this year," reported Baltic 500 co-founder and race director Cord Hall from the organising Yacht Club Strande.

Night shift for the target passes

At 4 a.m. Cord Hall had handed over the job at the finish line to sailing friend and Baltic 500 team colleague Rasmus Töpsch to allow himself a quick two hours' sleep before devoting himself once again to the regatta, its participants and the results. The Class 40 "Red" with Paul Posch (Altonaer Segel-Club) and Finn Groetzner (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) finished as First Ship Home with a sailed time of 2 days, 12 hours, 55 minutes and 5 seconds. The Line Honours finished 19th in the ORC club ranking.

The smaller yachts shone according to the calculated time in the predominantly gentle winds. Leif Petersen and Joshua Goller from Neustädter Seglerverein won the overall ORC Club classification with their First 31.7 ahead of Jonas Hallberg (Kieler Yacht-Club) and Till Barth (Yacht Club Godewind) with their JPK 10.30 "Hinden", which is well known from the Baltic 500. Dirk Meiburg and Hanno Zimmermann from Segler-Verein Trave sailed to third place in ORC Club on the modified F & F 95 "Feinschliff".

In the single class Dehler 30 OD, the "double Luca" impressed: Luca Mayer and Luca Leidholdt drove their "Play Harder" over the 350 nautical mile course in the fastest time of their group in 2 days, 16 hours, 36 minutes and 52 seconds. In the ORC Club classification, this took them up to eighth place according to the calculated time. "The two of them were going strong the whole time. From the Great Belt Bridge at the latest, 'Play Harder' and 'tutto bene' were able to pull away from the rest of the Dehler field. On the stretch from Gedser towards Langeland, they also managed another good move," Cord Hall reported on the regatta at sea.

The youngest crew takes the Dehler class win

At 23 and 24 years old, Luca Mayer and Luca Leidholdt (Konstanzer Yachtclub/Kieler Yacht-Club) were once again the youngest team in this edition of the Baltic 500. Their performance curve is impressive: Luca Mayer had to retire in the first stormy Baltic 500 participation. Last year, the two Lucas sailed to fourth place, and now to class victory. "We don't always get enough sleep because we laugh and joke a lot during the handovers," says Luca Mayer, explaining one of the many motivating factors for his successful crew.

It was a hot thing to go over there with them" (Luca Mayer)

In sporting terms, Luca Mayer rates the double-handed race as a "cool challenge". The start in a standardised class such as the Dehler 30 OD also makes it a great race. The man from Constance, who lives in Kiel, continued: "We experienced everything from no wind to 18, 20 knots in some gusts. From Langeland we enjoyed a fast code passage to the northern tip of Zealand. Then came a hot number with the A5 from the northern tip to Sjællands Rev. We were travelling at 13, 14 knots. We then sailed longer with the 'Hinden', which had a slightly larger spinnaker at the top. However, they then stalled a few times. It was a hot thing to sail over there with them."

Luca Mayer, who, like his co-skipper Luca Leidholdt, also competes in regattas with larger teams, smiles and enthuses about the Dehler 30 OD: "It's such a great boat, it has all the cool things on board that you could wish for. Plus far too big a sail l..." The Lucas and their "Play Harder" narrowly managed to keep the "tutto bene", which was always coming on strong, at bay, crossing the finish line as the second Dehler 30 OD after 2 days, 17 hours, 23 minutes and 28 seconds. "They sailed a great race," said Luca Mayer, paying tribute to the competition. The Master's student of Business Informatics also gives top marks to the Baltic 500 as a regatta challenge: "This double-handed format is super cool!"

The Sun Fast 30 OD is an agile boat that starts quickly" (Lina Rixgens)

Lina Rixgens (Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) and Sverre Reinke (Turn- und Sportverein Schilksee von 1947) agreed with this judgement after crossing the finish line with their new Sun Fast 30 OD. Lina Rixgans said: "We are super happy with the Baltic 500 and with our boat. Overall, we are travelling fast, have good speed and have been able to gain good initial experience. Everything that is light and medium wind, reach and downwind, it just goes really well." Lina Rixgens commented on the race: "There wasn't that much light wind: half the time it was maybe under ten knots, but the other half there was a medium wind of twelve to a maximum of 20 knots. There was also a bit more wind."

Baltic 500: a beautiful course

Lina Rixgens described the new Sun Fast 30 OD as a "quite agile boat that starts really quickly". As a result, it can handle less sail area: "You can lean quickly and have to reduce accordingly. That's also the big difference to the Dehler 30, for example, simply because the waterline is so narrow. On the other hand, it also runs great in light winds."

Her crew enjoyed the race: "It was really nice, with lots of different conditions. It's always a varied course with a bit of open water, but also some tight spots. It was a good mix with good opponents with whom we had exciting matches. In the end, we had a nice neck-and-neck race to the finish with the 'Play Harder', which we won. Being ahead of all eight Dehlers, who started half an hour before us, was really cool for us to see."

The downside for Lina Rixgens and Sverre Reinke was just the result: "We're not at all happy with our placing. Especially because our boat now has a pretty good ORC measurement certificate, with a good APH value, with which we would actually have come second in ORC 2." However, according to Rixgens, the results were "calculated with triple numbers for Lightwind". And according to Rixgens, "we are extremely penalised and have now slipped to fifth place, which - in our opinion - reflects neither our boat nor our performance."

Organisers draw a positive conclusion

Lina Rixgens explains: "We are already used to this from ORC. That's why we've now also bought a One Design. We actually have the potential to compete in ORC with this boat. We will simply continue to test and utilise this in the coming regattas over the rest of the year. And then hopefully we'll also achieve good calculated results and not just sail them." The time sailed by "Gaia", which was the fifth boat in the fleet to cross the finish line: 2 days, 16 hours, 4 minutes and 29 seconds.

After 2 days, 19 hours, 38 minutes and 54 seconds, the "Mona Lisa" with York Ilgner (Segler-Vereinigung Malente-Gremsmühlen) and Andreas Sasse (Segel-Verein Altona-Oevelgönne) was the first boat in the small Yardstick group to cross the finish line. The organisers were pleased with the results on Sunday afternoon at the award ceremony at the Yacht Club Strande right next to the Kiel-Schilksee Olympic Centre. Cord Hall said: "The number of starters is consistently in the 40s, everything went well. The shortening to the course around Seeland was the right decision, the participants are happy."

Click here for the results of the 6th Baltic 500.