ORC European Championship: Only seconds made the difference - European Championship silver for "Desna", bronze for "Intermezzo"
Tatjana Pokorny
· 17.08.2024
"Great regatta, great atmosphere, great sailing conditions!" Almost all of the participants are likely to agree with "Intermezzo" owner and helmsman Jens Kuphal's summary of the recently concluded ORC European Championship after the final in the Åland Islands. The Finnish organisers from Åländska Segelsällskapet were not only good and cordial hosts. During this ORC European Championship week in their dream sailing area of the Åland Islands, they also offered almost consistently beautiful sailing conditions and a full sports programme with no cancellations.
"Desna" is the best German EM boat
Johannes Wackerhagen's Knierim 49 "Desna" was the best German boat to take silver in Division A. The fact that Karl Kwok's "Beau Geste" followed up a brief "opening stumble" with fifth place on the opening long course with seven race victories and was unbeatable among the big boats was something that opponents and observers knew even before the ORC European Championship started. For those chasing the world champions, it was all about silver, bronze and good placings from day one. The duel between the two top German boats "Desna" and Jens Kuphal's modified Landmark 43 "Intermezzo" increasingly turned into a thriller.
On several occasions, only seconds decided which of the two boats flying the black, red and gold flag would take the lead in the battle for silver and bronze in the eight races. In race four, for example, the "Intermezzo" crew took second place, just two seconds ahead of "Desna". In the final eighth race, the "Desna" team turned the tables: a four-second lead was enough for second place ahead of "Intermezzo".
"Intermezzo" wins bronze on equal points
This meant that the thrilling German-German duel for the runner-up European Championship in Group A of the ORC European Championship was decided in favour of "Desna" after a long distance, six short races and a medium distance with the same number of points. Behind the European champion "Beau Geste" (11 points), "Desna" and "Intermezzo" (both 22 points) took silver and bronze at the ORC European Championship. Jan Opländer's Swan 45 "Katima", which made a strong start on the long distance with third place, and whose crew once again shone on the medium distance with second place, was less fond of the short distances. The Frers Swan from 2001 finished the ORC European Championship on equal points with the fifth-placed Polish HH 42 "Scamp Three" as the sixth A-boat.
Every second counts" (Jesper Radich)
"Desna" owner Johannes Wackerhagen, only 33 years old and with his young crew around the experienced tactician Jesper Radich only one year in action with the 49er design from Judel/Vrolijk, was delighted with the silver success: "We performed very well in the short races, really got everything out of them." After a "nasty long distance", in which "Desna", like many other boats, got stuck in the doldrums for two hours at the end of the initially so powerful and successfully contested overnight race in a fantastic aurora borealis backdrop, the team was able to improve more and more over the course of the European Championships.
"That was a great achievement with a young crew, some of whom have only just come of age. I'm really proud of everyone," said Johannes Wackerhagen from Kiel, who lives in Hamburg. The "Desna" crew contested their first major event at the ORC World Championship in Kiel. After the final success at the ORC European Championship in Mariehamn, the owner smiled and said: "Our tactician Jesper Radich always says: 'Every second counts! That was really the case here."
Series of cancellations welds crew together
Jens Kuphal was also proud of his crew after the final, which completed the medal set in Mariehamn with bronze after silver in 2020 and gold in Hankø 2022. "'The 'Desna' crew sailed superbly. And so did we. Only six of our eleven crew members sailed through. We fought our way through a high cancellation rate due to illness. I would like to thank everyone for that!"
On the final day, his son Jascha Kuphal even stepped in, who had been one of the ORC European Championship's photographers up to that point, providing powerful images from the Åland Islands. "He's only 15 years old. That was my greatest joy as a father," said Jens Kuphal. He continued: "Our focus this week was on the team. That kind of thing also welds us together."
Jens Kuphal's criticism of the reorganisation of the ORC groups, which he had already voiced before the start of the European Championships, had not been dismissed with the final. However, the Berlin native did not initially want to hit the successful event with his criticism. The "Intermezzo" owner does not believe that the small Group A of large boats can be saved in the long term with the reorganisation. "A healthy Group B has been torn apart. Boats from the former Group C were also flushed up to B."
Thrilling showdown in class B
Kuphal is not the only one to criticise this development. The Danish Group B runner-up from Kiel, Peter Buhl from Denmark, did not even take part in the European Championships. He and his team had optimised the Swan 42 "Sirena" for the 2023 World Championships in Kiel and invested a lot. He would have had to undo many of the modifications due to the reorganisation of the ORC groups. Buhl was not prepared to do this. The ORC management is faced with the difficult task of continuing the handicap sailing that has now been achieved by the formula and is very exciting in many areas on the one hand, while not alienating long-standing owners and crews on the other.
The growing tension on the credit side of the ORC European Championship was also represented by the title duel in Division B. After a not entirely happy long-distance start, the Danish-German crew on Erik Stannow's X-41 "Dixi 4" increasingly stood up to the modified Estonian X-41 "Olympic" during the course of the European Championship. The hunters on the ex-"Sportsfreund" - including many former sporting friends - increased the pressure on the leaders day by day. In the showdown, anything seemed possible. "We knew before the last two races that we ideally needed two wins and a little bit of luck," said "Dixi 4" sailor Bendix Hügelmann.
In fact, "Dixi 4" won the penultimate race of the ORC European Championship on Saturday. "We were only two points short. And 'Olympic' even had to curl at the first buoy ...", reported Bendix Hügelmann. But third place in the final sprint in the eighth and last race was not quite enough for "Dixi 4" to complete the title storm by a few seconds. With 26 points on her ORC European Championship account, "Olympic" took gold ahead of "Dixi 4" (27 points) and the Swedish JPK 11.80 "Garm" (42 points). Naturally, there were no complaints from the B group about the fact that they no longer had to compete against the Landmarks at this ORC European Championship.
Bittersweet silver success for "Dixi 4"
Owner Erik Stannow said of his Danish-German team's silver medal success: "You can look at it from two perspectives. One is that we have won a silver medal at the European Championships! That's great and was anything but clear until two days ago. The other is that we lost gold today because we were two seconds behind in the last race. So it feels bittersweet right now. But: We're relatively new to the game and have performed really well over the last few days."
In our field, it has been shown that ORC can offer almost the excitement of standardised classes" (Erik Stannow)
With such strong motivation, Erik Stannow and the crew of the "Dixi 4" are not the only ones with their sights set on the 2025 Worlds in Estonia's capital Tallinn: "Our crew has made a lot of improvements for this European Championship. On the boat and in the team. It was very intense! We experienced six great days of regatta sport and are fully fired up to sail the World Championships in Tallinn next year."
Erik Stannow can well understand the "pain" of the Landmarks and similar boats that were moved to Group A. The second chairman of the Helsingør Sejlklub and co-organiser of the classic Sjaelland Rundt said: "We were previously outshone by the Landmarks and others. Now the B field has moved closer together. The races have shown that relatively old X-41s can be competitive. That's great. We've had a lot of input from our sporting friends. That is very successful. There is a great atmosphere in our crew with many Germans and some Danes."
Sugar formula: "Sugar" wins in Division C
The best German boat in Group B was Felix Streckenbach's X-41 "Imagine" in seventh place. Dirk Clasen's Humphreys 39 "Gingko" finished the ORC European Championship in 17th place, while Alf Henryk Wulf's X-41 "Stardust" was in 19th place after the eight European Championship races. In Division C, Eike Claas Carmincke's M.A.T. 1010 "Matchbox" was the ninth boat to finish in the top ten. The favourite Estonian Italia 9.998 "Sugar" with helmsman Sandro Montefusco won ahead of Patrik Forsgren's modified First 36.7 "Team Pro4U" (Sweden) and Aivar Tuulberg's Arcona 340 "Katariina II" from Estonia.
