Markus Wieser: Non-stop regatta - Bavarian sailing pro in demand on all decks
Last week, Markus Wieser and the crew on the Wallycento "Galateia" set a record in the Tre Golfi regatta at the European Maxi Championships in Sorrento. The team led by skipper Kelvin Harrap also took the class win in the European Championship Maxi 1 division.
"It was a great series that was a lot of fun with three coastals, two up & downs and the long distance. With almost ten hundred-foot yachts, it was also pretty impressive! Our boat has become even faster with a new mainsail, bowsprit and gennaker. This allowed us to sail more freely," said Markus Wieser after the award ceremony.
The 61-year-old perennial favourite is known for being able to adapt to new boats of all sizes and challenges at lightning speed. Now he is already in Palma de Mallorca, taking part in the "6Metre Mallorca Series" with Dieter Schön's "Momo". They are sailing for the Arenal Cup. The class is warming up for the World Championship in September in Long Island Sound in the Balearic Islands, which is already warm in summer.
"Mr America's Cup" starts at the six-man world championship
Even "Mr America's Cup" Dennis Conner wants to show up at the annual summit of the six-metre class with his new six-metre "Ole Miss". The design by Javi Cela was not completed until the end of 2024. 31 six-metre boats have so far been registered for the battle for the world championship crown, including Thomas Kuhmann's classic "Flapper" from the Bayerischer Yacht-Club and the Spanish "Bribon" of Juan Carlos I.
Dieter Schön's "Momo" crew, the 2022 World Six Champion, is also among the World Championship medal contenders, as is the team on the Finnish "Oiva", which won the European Championship title in 2024 ahead of the British "Battlecry" and Rainer Müller's "Junior". Dieter Schön is also building something new for the World Championships: his latest six is currently under construction at Knierim Yachtbau in Kiel.
The "Momo" team will be coming to Sailing City in northern Germany at the beginning of July with the "old" six. There they want to sail a two-boat test series from Laboe and optimise the new build before the youngest "Momo" is sent to the World Championships in the USA. Markus Wieser still has a long to-do list before the World Championships there, in addition to six-boat training sessions, tests and regattas.
Markus Wieser pilots "Platoon Aviation"
A new challenge awaits the professional from the Bayerischer Yacht-Club in the first week of June: Wieser will replace the busy owner, helmsman and three-time TP52 world champion Harm Müller-Spreer in the 52 Super Series represented at three consecutive regattas.
Markus Wieser will make his debut as helmsman on "Platoon Aviation" in the leading international monohull professional league at the Galicia 52 Super Series Royal Cup from 2 to 7 June in Baiona. This will be followed by appearances at the Rolex TP52 World Championship in Cascais from 1 to 6 July and at the Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Sailing Week.
In 2011, Markus Wieser sailed with the crew on Udo Schütz's "Container" to the TP52 Vice World Championship. Before his comeback, he says: "My last TP regatta was seven or eight years ago. I sailed a few days in training off Valencia this year and will need a day or two to really get back into it."
In the same boat as the "Hatari" crew
However, Markus Wieser is very familiar with the "Platoon Aviation" crew: around half of the sailors, including Michael Müller from Kiel and the Austrian Gerd Habermüller, are also members of the team with which he is rushing from success to success alongside owner and helmsman Marcus Brennecke on the ClubSwan 50 "Hatari". Click here for the ClubSwan racing calendar. It should be noted that there is currently no other successful German sailing professional as versatile and much sought-after as Markus Wieser.
The fact that he is well supported by his various crews, which he often puts together himself, is part of his success. The same goes for the variety of tasks that ensure a corresponding range of experience. "I could never sail just one boat," says Markus Wieser, who is speeding up "Momo" this weekend in the bay of Palma de Mallorca and will then prepare for the "Platoon Aviation" task off Baiona.
Looking back! The recently concluded Tre Golfi Sailing Week with the Maxi European Championship was a wonderful advert for regatta sport in Italy. The pictures from the Gulf of Naples already show which area the 38th America's is heading for, as Naples is on the other side of the Gulf from Sorrento:
