Offshore Two-Handed Mixed World Championships: A bitter end to the World Championships for Rixgens and Baden

“We’re all right, but the boat isn’t quite in one piece.” Those were Andreas Baden’s first words in an interview with *See* after the team had been forced to withdraw from the final of the Offshore Mixed Double-Handed World Championship on Wednesday. Lina Rixgans and Andreas Baden made the difficult decision around six hours after the start at 11.30 am. It had been a gruelling few hours in strong winds of 25 to 30 knots. “The forecast wave height of 1.3 metres was certainly there too,” said Baden, describing the conditions.

Reaching the final of the Offshore Mixed Doubles World Championships on an ‘initial hunch’

The German team’s fate was sealed by a gradual delamination of the stringers in the bow section of the Sun Fast 30OD they had been provided with and chartered. What had remained invisible the previous day following the boat draw during the initial check of sails and other equipment was then discovered by Rixgens and Baden two hours before the start on the morning of 30 September: two tiny hairline cracks, each about two centimetres long, on two stringers.

“We had an initial suspicion,” said Baden. They immediately informed the race committee and the technical team, asking: “Is there anything we can do?” But it was already too late. Nobody had any two-component epoxy to hand at such short notice. “They simply didn’t have any. And there’s a limit to what we’re allowed to carry,” said Andreas Baden, summarising the predicament his crew found themselves in shortly before the start.

So, against this backdrop, Team Rixgens/Baden went into the final of the Offshore Two-Handed Mixed World Championships up against ten other teams. Among them are fellow countrymen Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt and Clara Witthinrich. Rixgens and Baden set off with reef 1 and jib 2. As in the qualifying round, the pair made a false start at the start of the final. On top of that, they were given a penalty.

In the spirit of good seamanship: World Championship challenge marred by technical problems

“It was really tight at the start with so many boats and the wind,” Baden remarked before his team began their chase. And it went well at first, bringing them close to the main field again in no time. But then Baden and Rixgens, in their boat with bow number 18, were caught out by the stringer problem.

“Unfortunately, the damage quickly spread on the rough cross-wind with significant swells, so Lina and I decided that, in the interests of good seamanship, we would have to withdraw from the race.” Andreas Baden

During the few hours of racing they experienced in the final of the Offshore Mixed Two-Handed World Championship, both had to watch, every quarter of an hour, as “the hairline cracks, measuring a couple of centimetres, worked their way down the stringers”, said Andreas Baden, describing the slow but inexorable spread of the problem. “When we saw what it looked like, we lost our focus. There was simply little we could do out at sea,” said the Kiel native Go to the exercise.

Problems of this sort are nothing new to the experienced Imoca sailor. He has faced them before this Offshore Mixed Double-Handed World Championship as well with Fabrice Amedeo They had already experienced this on his boat and in other situations. On the way back to Marseille, the German crew then heard from another source that laminating work had been carried out on at least one of the Sun Fast 30OD World Championship boats during the night before the final.

Offshore Mixed Doubles World Championships: Dreams of a final dashed

“It’s really, really frustrating,” said Baden after they were forced to retire on Wednesday at around 5.30 pm. “We’d only sailed about 30 nautical miles. There were still over 200 nautical miles to go in the final leg. We could certainly have finished somewhere in the middle of the field.” At least Lina Rixgens and Andreas Baden were able to reach the start and finish port of Marseille – where the 2024 Olympic sailing regatta was held – under their own steam, and at a speed of up to eight knots with one reef and a J2, which is by no means slow. “But when you hold your hand out in front of you, you really get a feel for how the boat’s handling,” said Andreas Baden during the final ten nautical miles into the harbour.

The crew sees little scope for placing the blame on anyone in particular. “The small technical team here really gave it their all and always went to great lengths to ensure the boats were on a level playing field. But the circumstances were certainly unfortunate. Of course, it would have been better if we’d been able to sort out the problem. The cost of taking part in this World Championship is, after all, considerable,” said Andreas Baden.

On top of the entry fee of 5,000 euros, there are travel expenses and other incidental costs. “An ending like this is extremely unsatisfying – it’s actually frustrating,” said Baden. With a touch of gallows humour, Rixgens and Baden set course for Marseille in the evening. Andreas Baden said with a smile: “We’ll probably treat ourselves to a cold drink this evening. And we can eat seafood again now…” For him, the bottom line is clear: “We have to come back.”

The favourites are in the lead; Schmidt-Rybandt and Witthinrich are battling it out

For the ten other finalists in the Offshore Mixed World Championships (two-handed), the action continued on the mogul course. Leading the field on Wednesday evening at around 9.30 pm were Thomas André and Julia Colombe, one of the two joint favourites from France. They were followed by the team flying the Uruguayan flag, a good half a nautical mile behind former Mini Trasat winner Federico Waksman starring Irina Gracheva.

The Belgian Globe40 round-the-world sailors Jonas Gerckens and Djemila Tassin, who had won their qualifying group, were last reported to be in fourth place, a good nautical mile behind the leaders. Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt and Clara Witthinrich, in sixth place, were also just 1.3 nautical miles behind the leaders at around 9 pm. Click here to track the final of the Offshore Mixed Doubles World Championships.