Championship of champions: Two 505 experts win Hamburg championship summit
There are not many regattas in Germany that can look back on such a long history and such famous winners in their past. Olympic champions and brothers Jörg and Eckart Diesch won the championship of champions in 1984, Germany's most successful Olympic sailor Jochen Schümann won the autumn season finale of German sailing, known as the MdM for short, in 2011, and the internationally successful professional sailor Markus Wieser won in 2010, 2012 and 2013.
Hofmann/Brockerhoff win for the third time
The record winner is former America's Cup helmsman Karol Jablonski with six victories between 1994 and 2004, followed by 470 and 505 virtuoso and Kieler Woche king Wolfgang Hunger (5 wins). 44 years after the premiere in 1980, the Hamburg Sailing Club was the dedicated host of the 43rd edition this year after two cancellations in 2016 and 2020.
The champions of champions crowned at the weekend proved their quality for the third time after 2015 and 2022: 505 aces Jan-Philipp Hofmann and Felix Brockerhoff from Düsseldorfer Yachtclub prevailed on the two-person RS Venture Connect boats, which were used for the first time. The duo not only proved their sailing skills, but also their interdisciplinary aplomb and class.
"We see the regatta as the last highlight of the year, a bit of a fun regatta too, and go in with the appropriate relaxed attitude," said Felix Brockerhoff, whose team regularly occupied the podium in the past MdM decade. "The inclusive boats this year were something different for once, they ensured equality," said Felix Brockerhoff, who has been in the same boat as his helmsman Jan-Philipp Hofmann since 2007.
Father-son duel at the championship of champions
The battle for second place in the father-son duel between Frank Schönfeldt and Till Krüger was exciting. Conger champion Frank Schönfeldt competed with Ole Harder for the Explorers and Sailors' Association. Schönfeldt's son Till Krüger sailed with Max Kleinsorg for the German club champions from Mühlenberger Segel-Club. In the preliminary round, it was initially the former champions Schönfeldt and Harder who won all but one race and progressed confidently to the final.
After an exciting showdown, however, son Till came out on top in the battle for the runner-up title in the championship of champions by winning the final race. This was also due to the fact that his father had to struggle with a technical defect and only finished last in the final of the top eight, but was still able to laugh in the evening at the HSC clubhouse on the Alster.
Till Krüger said after the MdM premiere on the inclusive boats: "That was great fun! The boats are definitely ideal for the format!" It was the other way round for his team: "We weren't that successful at first. We weren't very good in qualifying on Sunday in particular. But then everything worked out perfectly in the final." Father Frank, on the other hand, who was declared "Winner of Hearts" by the new champions of champions at the award ceremony, still has to hope for his first title this year after his 32nd (!) MdM participation in third place.
"Hamburger Deerns" in the top six
Silke Basedow and Nadine Löschke were the best all-female team to sail to sixth place at the autumn summit for Germany's sailing champions from 32 disciplines. The double world champions in inclusive sailing were also the best of the five inclusion teams competing. The use of the RS Venture Connect gave them an equal opportunity to reach the final, where the Hamburg girls also came sixth.
Ilca 7 ace Ole Schweckendieck and co-pilot Noah Piotraschke improved to seventh place in the final classification with fourth place in the final. Luca Leidholdt (Kieler Yacht-Club) and Luca Mayer (Konstanzer Yacht-Club) were the best sea sailors in ninth place. The defending champions and Tempest sailors Lars and Leif Bähr had to be satisfied with eleventh place in this year's RS showdown.
Race officer Tina Bauch and her team had the action well under control in the typical shifting Alster winds. The team of umpires led by Manuel Hünsch only had to use their whistles very rarely. Sailing on the RS Venture Connects, which generally ensured conservative rounding of the buoys, also contributed to this. Less than a handful of technical problems were solved quickly and effectively by Calle Sibbert's repair team.
Championship of champions: a family celebration
The MdM is not only a big family celebration of German sailing at the end of the season, but also regularly attracts family crews to the Alster, as demonstrated by the Hofmann and Brockerhoff families, for example: winning father Reiner Brockerhoff and winning brother Nils-Henning Hofmann sailed to 22nd place in the regatta in Hamburg as J/22 skippers. Officially registered as the "father & son" team, Jens and Jannik Dannhus finished the MdM in 32nd place.
IT WAS ONCE... Because there was no film so soon after the 43rd Championship of Champions, we look back twelve years to 2012, when many German sailing celebrities were at the start with Boris Herrmann, Jochen Schümann, Philipp Buhl, Tobias Schadewaldt and other top players. The title was won by Markus Wieser, Matti Paschen and Ulrike Schümann:
