The crews of the boats that had entered the International German Offshore Sailing Championship (IDM) as part of the North Sea Week got out of bed early this morning. The skippers' briefing was already scheduled for 7.30 am. Despite the fact that some had spent a long evening in the legendary Nordseehalle at the "boot Regattaparty", the tent set up for the skippers' briefing was well filled. Firstly, race director Albert Schweizer explained the most important information for the day. This was followed by the weather briefing by "Wetterwelt" meteorologist Meeno Schrader. He promised the crews a sunny day with 14 hours of sunshine and good wind conditions. He was also right in his forecast that the wind would steadily increase from the initial nine knots throughout the day.
After the briefing, the helmsmen quickly left the North Sea Week tent and got their boats ready to set sail. The 30 boats set off on the "Capitell Cup Rund Helgoland" in two consecutive starts.
In the ORC A group, the "Rafale" team led by Malte Päsler crossed the finish line first with a sailed time of four hours and five minutes. According to the calculated time, this was enough for the team on the Elliot 52 SS to take third place. The Humphreys 39 "Ginkgo" was just under nine minutes ahead of them. The team led by Dirk Clasen, which finished at the end of April in the Hamburg City Hall with the "German Offshore Award" was honoured with an award, took second place in the ORC A group. Knierim managing director Steffen Müller's team ultimately took first place. They are taking part in the North Sea Week on a ship from their own shipyard.
The "Hinden" team won the ORC B classification with a lead of just over six minutes over the second-placed boat. Jonas Hallberg, who ORC Doublehand World Champion of 2022steered the JPK 10.30 to victory in the group. Just behind him and his team was the "OM" with Stefan Voss at the helm. Kai Greten and his team on the "Oromocto" completed the podium in this group.
Outlook for tomorrow's North Sea Week 2024
Tomorrow is the last day of the North Sea Week, for which active starts are planned. The teams taking part in the "Helgoländer Acht" will start at nine o'clock. The starts for the regattas from Helgoland to Hooksiel, Bremerhaven and Cuxhaven are then scheduled from 3.00 pm. At 4.30 pm, the participating crews will then be sent out onto the course of the "Pantaenius Rund Skagen Regatta". A challenging, northerly course awaits them before they slowly set course for the finish off Kiel at the northern tip of Denmark. "Pantaenius Rund Skagen" is the second part of the IDM Offshore Sailing as part of the North Sea Week.
