Pantaenius Round Skagen 2024: Crew in adventure mode - on board for the long-distance regatta

"All hands on deck! All hands on deck! Quickly!" Out of the sleeping bag, jumper and jogging bottoms and into the still damp oilskin jacket, oilskin trousers and sailing boots. Outside, the gennaker is flapping uncontrollably in the rigging and the whole ship is shaking. Stress at one o'clock in the morning. Five minutes later, we are standing on the foredeck trying to get the unruly cloth under control. But the boom hose won't come down.

However, it takes time to come to this realisation. So we salvage conventionally: flat out into the wind, pull the gennaker tight and try to get the huge cloth on deck under control. Twice the wind hits the sail so hard that the two men at the very front of the bow have to let it go again. On the third attempt, they succeed: the gennaker is recovered, the relief is huge, the pulse is racing.

Sleep is out of the question due to the adrenalin levels after this action. We are on board the Pogo 44 "Hotte" off the German North Sea coast. We started on Whit Monday afternoon off Helgoland, our destination is off the Olympic harbour of Kiel-Schilksee, we are sailing the Pantaenius Rund Skagen Race, the German offshore classic.

Every two years is a "Skagen year"

As in all even-numbered years, 2024 is a "Skagen year" for the North Sea Week. This traditionally takes place on the Whitsun weekend off Helgoland. The sailing programme begins on the Friday before Whitsun with the Elbe race from Wedel to Cuxhaven. In the evening, the crews that have registered for the Sundowner Regatta to Helgoland will sail to the island. The remaining feeder regattas from the various harbours on the North Sea coast will take place over the course of Saturday. On Whit Sunday, the crews will start the traditional "Rund Helgoland" regatta, before heading to Kiel on Whit Monday for the 510 nautical mile race around the northern tip of Jutland. This year, Rund Helgoland and Skagen Rund will be scored together for the International German Sailing Championship.

Our results from Cuxhaven to Helgoland and around Helgoland could have been better with a disqualification and a last place among the boats in our ORC A group. Nevertheless, the good mood of our crew of six around skipper and owner Thomas Breuer-Löwenstein is unbroken. Even the fact that the "Hotte" was drawn by lot for a safety check didn't dampen the mood, as our boat is well equipped and prepared.

The special inspection on Monday morning passes without any major complaints, so everything is ready for the start of the big race. Before that, however, we have to take down the racing sails and set the trysail and storm jib. It's a bit like activating the airbag; the safety equipment is mandatory for ocean races and makes sense, but you never want to have to use it. The procedure is a reminder of what we can expect.

The final preparations before the start

After a final visit to the toilet ashore, we are ready to set off in the direction of the safety gate. Before the start of the regatta, this must be passed through once under the aforementioned storm sails for inspection. All crew members equipped with life jackets and lifebelts have to show themselves on deck. At the same time, it is checked whether the AIS of the respective ship is transmitting. The instructions squawk from the radio on the agreed channel 72: "One time, please, the crew of the 'Hotte'," we hear. It's the voice of Markus Boehlich, the head of organisation for the North Sea Week. We stand in the cockpit, he counts the heads, and after a moment he says: "All right, your AIS is also visible. Thank you and have a good trip, see you in Kiel!"

A brief sense of relief spreads on board. Skipper Thomas: "Now please take down the storm sails and stow them neatly below deck." And off we go. This is the reason why the journey to the safety gate is seen by many as a small, separate race: Before the start, the storm sails have to be well stowed away again and, above all, the large regatta cloths have to be tied up and set. The start goes fairly smoothly and, let's say, conservatively; we cross the line safely about 45 seconds after the gun.

We experience the post-start phase rather uneventfully, apart from the increased shipping traffic caused by the other 37 regatta participants. After rounding the first two waypoints, we set course for the northern tip of Denmark. Up to the cardinal buoy at Horns Rev, we keep up well with the rest of the field.

Why "Hotte" is weakening

Unfortunately, the obvious weaknesses of the "Hotte" then become apparent. The Pogo 44 is 12.80 metres long, a full 4.50 metres wide and equipped with a swing keel. This can reduce the draught to 1.38 metres, sailing at 3.10 metres. The Finot/Conq design carries around 36 percent of its 5.9 tonnes of displacement as ballast in the keel. The Frenchwoman's strengths definitely lie on half-wind and room-sheet courses. Then the Pogo starts planing at a speed of around ten knots. A pleasure that we were to be denied for large parts of the course.

Nevertheless, the crew of five friends is enjoying the journey, the rare adventure of ocean racing. What counts for them is arriving safely, not the result. The route up to Skagen proves difficult on the upwind course. In addition, tack after tack follows. From time to time it feels like a slalom, sometimes it's wind farms, sometimes freighters or shoals that determine our path and make us change course.

Harsh conditions at the northern tip of Denmark

Early Wednesday morning, Denmark's northern tip finally seems to be within reach. Due to the cross and many tacks, it takes us until shortly before midnight to finally leave the cardinal buoy Skagens Rev on starboard. There is a lot of shipping traffic up here, especially many fishing trawlers. The conditions here, where the North Sea and Baltic Sea meet, are relatively rough for the actually moderate wind force. When the buoy is rounded, the watch on deck also makes an appearance. There are two reasons for this on board the "Hotte". Firstly, the passage of the buoy naturally has an emotional value: half of the race seems to be done, the roughest part mastered and the tough upwind section for us overcome - at least for the time being. On the other hand, a sip of rum is given to the sea in memory of Horst "Hotte" Breuer. All crew members who knew the deceased father of our skipper Thomas are in a special mood of devotion. After all, the ship we are sailing on bears his nickname.

After the sea has had its first sip of rum, co-skipper Dirk Lötsch makes a symbolic toast. "Here's to Hotte," he says briefly before taking a swig from the bottle. Unthinkable in times of coronavirus, the majority of our crew take a small symbolic sip from the rum bottle one after the other. The "Pantaenius Rund Skagen" rum was presented to all participating crews by the title sponsor after the helmsmen's briefing. A tracker was also included to enable families, friends and fans to follow the race. Daniel Baum, one of the managing directors of Pantaenius, who is also taking part in the regatta with his beautiful wooden "Elida", emphasised another advantage of tracking before the start: "Anything that increases safety should be in everyone's interest."

Half-time at the Pantaenius Round Skagen Race

By the halfway point, we have slowly got into the groove. With our crew of six on board, we sail the "Hotte" on a three-hour watch system with two people at a time. Thomas takes the shift with me. Co-skipper Dirk runs the ship together with his good friend Jochen, and navigator Ralf is in command on one shift with his former work colleague and now good friend Martin. "With three parties integrated into the watch system, I'm a big advocate of three-hour shifts," explains Dirk, "which means that everyone works different night shifts." By the morning of the third day at the latest, everyone is fully integrated into the watch system. I'm coming to the realisation that the free watches before and after the night watch in particular need to be used for relaxation whenever possible. Anyone who stays on deck longer will regret it during their watch. However, we rarely sleep really deeply on board, as there is always a certain restlessness and readiness, just as we have not yet got used to the ship's movements.

We hope to arrive in Kiel on Thursday evening, in the course of Friday. And that the long battles against the wind in the North Sea will have paid off and that we will be able to open the sheets in the Baltic Sea at some point and set off. However, this hope is dampened by navigator Ralf: "Don't underestimate the fact that we'll run into a heavy lull behind Langeland." After we have handed over the two rudders to Ralf and Martin and they pass the imposing Great Belt Bridge a short time later, it is already looming. The wind is steadily decreasing. "I hope we don't park up completely," I say to Thomas. And as if I had suspected it, Dirk and Jochen wake us up almost six hours later. Dirk says proudly: "Compared to the others, we really caught up during the night." Jochen adds: "We certainly did the best we could."

However, the co-skipper puts the chase into perspective by saying that some people have also travelled directly under land and had to anchor because of the counter-current, and indeed: when we stick our heads out of the hatch, there is no sign of any air movement. The boat is stuck in the water.

Hope that the wind could prevail

During the night, there was a private wind field for us for a short time, which allowed us to at least get close enough to the other ships to make out their silhouettes on the horizon. At times, however, we also drifted backwards. Again and again, there is hope that the wind might finally prevail, but even in our watch, almost two and a half hours pass before the light breeze actually remains. With the boat travelling at around three knots, we finally hand over to Ralf and Martin.

They continue on course for the finish in front of the Olympic harbour in Schilksee. For the last few hours, we even set the gennaker, which is over 200 square metres in size and is steadily pushing us towards the finish line. We are now getting closer and closer to our destination with a boat speed of eight knots despite a 0.9 knot counter-current and around twelve knots of wind. Shortly before the finish line, we plan to recover the gennaker and cross the finish line under genoa. "I'd like everything to go smoothly for the last manoeuvre of our trip," says Thomas, setting the bar pretty high. We hoist the gennaker on the forecastle; as soon as the furling tube is down, Jochen opens the genoa reefing line. Martin unfurls the genoa and at 8.18 pm we cross the finish line between the stone pier and the yellow Pantaenius buoy. The joy on board is huge. Dirk shouts: "We're through!"

Winner of the "Pantaenius Round Skagen" regatta 2024

The favourites lived up to their role: Henri de Bokay's Elliott 52 SS "Rafale" tilt-keel yacht was the first to cross the finish line of "Pantaenius Rund Skagen 2024". However, with a time of 47 hours, 44 minutes and one second, she missed the record held by the "Uca" since 2000 for the fastest monohull by four hours. The crew led by helmsman Malte Päsler and navigator Robin Zinkmann had done everything they could to break the record, but even their furious final spurt could not make up for the time lost on the approach to Skagen.

Päsler had already predicted before the start that they would be fast in the second half of the race: "We'll probably have to cross a bit before Skagen, but once we're round, we're really keen to unpack the big sails in a decent easterly wind and shoot down the Baltic Sea."

Second place in the Line Honours went to the Tripp 75 "Calypso" of owner and helmsman Dr Gerhard Clausen. The crew included Andreas Baden from Kiel, who sailed the Transat Jacques Vabre together with Fabrice Amedeo on his Imoca "Nexans - Art & Fenêtres" in 2023. They crossed the finish line just under seven hours after the "Rafale". Daniel Baum's "Elida" was the third boat to reach the finish line after a sailed time of 58 hours.

The "Pantaenius Rund Skagen" 2024 regatta formed the second part of the International German Sailing Championship (IDM) 2024, which the German Sailing Association had awarded to the Regattagemeinschaft Nordseewoche. The "Capitell-Cup Rund Helgoland" was scored once and the "Pantaenius Rund Skagen 2024" race was scored twice. The IDM in the ORC A group was won by the "Rafale", with Dirk Clasen's Humphreys 39 "Ginkgo" in second place ahead of the "Calypso". ORC B was won by the "Hinden" of the 2022 ORC Doublehanded World Champion, Jonas Hallberg. Behind his JPK10.30, second place went to the team of the aged one-tonner "Oromocto" skippered by Kai Greten. Although our crew did not play a role in the race for the IDM, they were pleased with themselves. And they immediately set their sights on other ambitious goals. For example, Thomas could imagine crossing the Atlantic or taking part in the Fastnet Race 2025.

Pantaenius Round Skagen

The "Round Skagen" regatta, in which the northern tip of the Danish mainland is rounded, was sailed for the first time in 1932. The first start after the Second World War took place in 1950 from Bremerhaven, and since 1953 it has been sailed again from Helgoland to Kiel. The route to be sailed is around 510 nautical miles long and leads from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea through the Great Belt to Kiel. The current record for monohulls in Rund Skagen as part of the North Sea Week dates back to 2000, when the Bruce Farr design Baltic 67 "Uca" of former employer president Dr Klaus Murmann and helmsman Walter Meier-Kothe won (see portrait from page 52). Her sensational record of 43 hours and 46 minutes could not be equalled in 2024. Pantaenius has been the main sponsor of Rund Skagen since 1994, when it also donated the challenge prize, a bronze cast sculpture of a Viking ship by the sculptor and sailor Hermann Noack from Berlin. The owners of Pantaenius, the Baum family, regularly take part in the long-distance regatta themselves with the Swan 48 "Elan". This year, Daniel Baum, one of the managing directors, was once again at the start with his still young "Elida". Last year, he managed the "First Ship Home" with her in the new format of the Helgoland Offshore Triangle. This year, it was enough for second place in the Skagen race based on calculated time across all groups.

• You can find more information and the results here: NORDSEEWOCHE.ORG