Blueribboncup: Fast to Aarhus, patient back - regatta fun between sailing hotspots
For Lina Rixgens and Sverre Reinke, it can go on like this. The mixed crew won both races in their group at the 25th Blueribboncup from Kiel to Aarhus and back and thus also won the German Best in Class. At the Blueribboncup, Lina Rixgens (Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) and Sverre Reinke (Turn- und Sportverein Schilksee von 1947) also completed their first 3,000 nautical miles with the new regatta boat in their new Sun Fast 30OD.
The Blueribbon Cup as World Cup training
As overall two-handed winners in the DH 2 division, the duo proved to be in top form heading into the Doublehanded Mixed World Championship off Lorient on 24 September. Lina Rixgens and Sverre Reinke were the only German duo nominated for this summit event by the German Sailing Association (DSV). They will be sailing on Sun Fast 30OD charter boats at the World Championships in France. This should play into the hands of the best German two-handed team in the small group of the Blueribbon Cup.
Lina Rixgens and Sverre Reinke came out on top in both halves of the regatta from Kiel to Aarhus and back. The 130 nautical mile race from Kiel to Aarhus was extremely close. After 17 hours, 4 minutes and 28 seconds of sailing time, the mixed team on "Gaia", with a calculated time of 21 hours, 39 minutes and 20 seconds, finished just 2 minutes and 7 seconds ahead of the fast J-88 "Nemo" with Uwe Kleinvogel and Vincenz Crone - that was close.
Third place on the course from Kiel to Aarhus went to Michael and Ruth Matzke on their Show 34 "Show". On the way back, Bernd Lenz and Tim Katscher took second place behind Rixgens/Reinke with the Sun Fast 3200 "Waverider". More small DH-2 boats did not make it.
"Salicornia" wins best in DH 1
In the DH 1 group of larger boats, Arno Böhnert from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and Christian Heermann from the Kieler Yacht-Club came out on top - also in both races - with the First 36 "Salicornia". From Kiel to Aarhus, they relegated Fritz and Julian Schaarschmidt on the XP-44 "Surprise" and Michael Höfgen with Jasper Marwege on the Arcona 385 "Lightworks" to second and third place. On the way back, the two runners-up swapped places, while the winner remained the same.
Four out of seven DH-1 starters and three out of five DH-2 boats on their way home did not have the patience to master the several-hour anchorage test before the finish line at Fredericia, which had already been brought forward anyway. They gave up. Not so Lina Rixgens, Sverre Reinke and the other podium crews and their chasers.
Blueribboncup organiser Eckhard von der Mosel compared the doldrums trap for the sailors to a shark tank that not everyone could get out of. "Who could get the anchor up and down the fastest was the challenge for hours. What's more, a dolphin was playing with our anchor chain the whole time," reported "Lynx" owner Peter Weichsel from Essen about the slow-motion finale.
Wonderful summer sailing, magnificent starry sky
Lina Rixgens talked about the final test of patience after things had previously gone "mega with our Code Zero, our miracle weapon": "At the end of the return race, we were only half a nautical mile away from the bridge where the timing was to take place. We knew it would take a long time. It was five hours! We anchored five times. We tried to get away four times, but it didn't work. Then finally..."
It went great for us." Lina Rixgens
Lina Rixgens and Sverre Reinke finished the Blueribboncup with more than just the good feeling of winners. "It was a beautiful race with mega weather," enthused Lina Rixgens. With little moonlight, but a magnificent starry sky, the outward race offered a fairly short course to Aarhus with initially ten to 15, later lighter five to eight knots of wind after the evening start. "We didn't sleep for the almost 15 hours of the outward race or the 17 hours back. You push yourself to the limit," said Lina Rixgens.
In action with a full crew
Alongside the two-handed teams, the larger crews were also challenged in the summer regatta in the Baltic Sea. In ORC I/II, Ralf Lässig's XP-44 "Xenia" won the first race after a calculated time ahead of Peter Weichsel's X-50 "Lynx" with helmsman Jussi Rissanen and Norbert Drücker's BM 53 "Sunbird". Walter Watermann's GP-42 "X-Day" came sixth, but won the second race in ORC I/II ahead of "Xenia" and "Lynx". "Maybe we were a bit lucky, we were the only ones who didn't have to anchor off Fredericia, but managed to get through by changing sails umpteen times," said Walter Watermann.
In addition to the victory in the return race, the "X-Day" crew won three other travelling prizes: the KYC Trophy for the best boat by ORC in the Aarhus - Kiel race, the R.T. Dixon Challenge Cup for the best boat by ORC overall and the 1957 Carl Grage Memorial Prize for the first boat to finish (the times sailed in the two races were added together). "First ship home" on course for Aarhus was Dr Gerhard Clausen's Maxi Dolphin 75 "Calypso" after just under 13 hours.
In ORC III, as in the double-handed groups, it was the same winners on the outward and return journey: Kai Greten's one-tonner "Oromocto" won the race both times. From Kiel to Aarhus, "Oromocto" was followed by Jens Dwinger's Sun Fast 3600 "Dwinger 2.0" and Jasper Paulsen's Xtreme 32 "Tormund" in second and third place. On the course back to Kiel, Hasso Hoffmeister's Akilaria 950 "Whiteout" and again the "Dwinger 2.0" sailed onto the podium behind "Oromocto" in that order.
The Blueribboncup 2025 can come
All in all, the 25th Blueribboncup from 28 August to 1 September offered a wide range of sailing conditions and plenty of sunshine. Plus a fun time in Denmark's refreshing sailing centre of Aarhus. The fast outward race from Kiel to Aarhus through the Great Belt in ideal wind conditions gave the crews plenty of free time in Aarhus this year.
On the way back, however, lulls and strong currents in the Little Belt tested the patience of the Blueribboncup sailors too much at times. However, according to the organising Kieler Yacht-Club, most of the active participants announced their intention to return next year immediately after the regatta.
