ORC Doublehanded World Championship: On honeymoon at the World Championship

Lina Rixgens and Sverre Reinke have been a successful mixed duo on the German offshore scene for years. Now they have married, but are keeping their names and continuing their shared passion for sailing as Team Rixgens Reinke Offshore Racing. The "honeymoon" has taken the duo to the Dutch Rveier of Scheveningen. There they will compete for a medal at the ORC Doublehanded World Championship.

ORC Doublehanded World Championship: Rixgens and Reinke narrowly miss out on class victory at the start

The start was a great success. In the short offshore race, they parried the tactical challenges brilliantly. With their Sun Fast 30 OD "Gaia", the newlyweds showed themselves to be aggressive in class C. The World Championship for two-handed teams is organised in three classes - A, B and C. The fields are manageable, but exciting at the top. A total of 29 boats make up the three fleets.

According to the organisers, Class C offered the most exciting course of the tactical opening test over almost 32 nautical miles. After an intense duel with Lina Rixgens and Sverre Reinke, the Sun Fast 3200 "Waverider", sailed by Willem Schopman and the experienced navigator Max Deckers, took the first victory by a very, very narrow margin. Both boats - the Dutch and the German - were racing at high speed. The "Gaia" crew reached top speeds of almost ten knots.

Lina Rixgens and Sverre Reinke sailed to the finish line just 55 seconds short of victory in the C group with twelve boats from four nations. Calculated, they were a painful 32 seconds behind the Dutch "Waverider". In this order, the Dutch are now leading the ORC Doublehanded World Championship ahead of the German duo.

Between standing and shooting at the ORC Two-handed World Championship

"It was super, super close. If the reach had been a bit longer, we would have got it," said Lina Rixgens after the race. She also knows: "The cross was very, very tough for us, because the wind went down a lot and we were very much in the short wave here. On the other hand, we had two nice long reaches, we were able to shoot down once and catch up with everyone again."

We are in good spirits for the offshore race today. The forecast is for very light winds. From calm to ten knots. We should be underway for 48 hours. We are ready." Lina Rixgens

The defending Class C champions, Lars Bergkvist and Anders Dahlsjö on board the Swedish Corby 25 "Altissimus", completed the podium after the five-hour opening race, just four minutes and two seconds behind the "Waverider". Gunnar and Leonhard Kruse in the Dehler 36 CWS "Krusen" were in ninth place after the opening race.

Kai Stuebane and Knut Weijnen on the modified XP 41 "Laxxi" under the German flag initially took third place in the small Group A with six boats. The Dutch XR 41 "X-Esteem" with Robin Verhoef and John van den Starre is in the lead here. In Group B, Diederik Forma and Martjin Graafmans lead with the JPK 10.30 "Jetpack".

With optimism into the summit assault

With the long offshore race starting on 22 May, the ORC double-handed world championship fleet was already heading towards its peak and biggest challenge. The start was planned for Friday lunchtime, but has already been postponed slightly. The offshore marathon is expected to last around 48-60 hours for the slowest boats and will be weighted with a higher scoring coefficient. This means that part two of the double-handed world championship will be the deciding factor in awarding the medals.

Click here for the interim results of the ORC DH World Championship.

"We are in good spirits and believe that we have a very good chance in our group. But we also know that in light winds - depending on whether there's still a bit of wave or something coming from the freighters - it's really difficult for us with the round bow to get through and make distance. The rating for the "Gaia" doesn't make it easy for the German Mixed either.

On a 48-hour course, we have to be nine hours before the Sun Fast 3200." Lina Rixgens

The start of the endurance race will be broadcast live and can also be tracked on TracTrac. Here is the link. But first there was a time difference. As with the start of the North Sea Week on the Elbe, the winds were too light in Scheveningen.