Pantaenius Rund Skagen: "Rafale" takes the line honours, "Uca" record remains untouched
Legendary and long-lasting records always require both: outstanding sailing skills and ideal conditions. So it was 24 years ago when the crew on the 67-foot Baltic "Uca" set a record for the Pantaenius Rund Skagen that has the makings of a very, very long life. Skipper Walter Meier-Kothe, navigator Christopher Paschke and their crew sailed through the North Sea and Baltic Sea, the Skagerrak and the Kattegat in 43 hours and 46 minutes. Their record of 2,626 minutes for the challenging 510 nautical mile course from Helgoland around Skagen to Kiel remained untouched this year.
"We are quite proud to still be defending this record. It's a shame that Klaus Murmann can no longer experience this," said the then skipper and helmsman Walter Meier-Kothe with a smile on the day of the decision. He had followed the course of the current edition of the Pantaenius Rund Skagen closely and knew where the hopes of the "Rafale" crew had been dashed: "They had a long cross past Hanstholm this time. That cost them the opportunity to set the record. We were the fastest back then."
Suddenly all that was left of a spar were the braces" (Walter Meier-Kothe)
The 67-foot-long "Uca" had reached top speeds of 26 knots on the Skagen-Tonne course 24 years ago. "We hit it perfectly on the North Sea side," recalls Walter Meier-Kothe. He continues: "We could just carry the spinnaker. There was real pressure in the air. Suddenly all that was left of one spinnaker was the braces ..." The return journey from Skagen to Kiel then brought the "Uca" crew another "game changer". "We made the right decision at the southern tip of Langeland and turned right towards Schleimünde. Then the wind shifted continuously so that we were able to sail in a wide arc to the finish."
However, the record-breaking journey in the year after the turn of the millennium was no walk in the park, says Walter Meier-Kothe. "We also put up a good fight! We had a really good crew together. Christopher Paschke was the navigator. Our foresailors were in the mast when there was a lot of wind and had to haul down the halyard to set the spinnaker. These are disasters that can really cost time - or they work out perfectly. Just steering the boat down the waves at night was a real challenge with the pressure in the air. The whole crew worked really well."
A boat with record-breaking potential
The next chance to break the "Uca" fabulous time from 2000 will not come again until 2026 with the next edition of the Pantaenius Rund Skagen. Henri de Bokay's Elliot 52 SS "Rafale" was the first boat to dominate this year's Rund Skagen storm: the pre-start favourite for line honours lived up to the predictions, crossing the finish line of the exciting offshore classic on Wednesday afternoon after 47 hours and 44 minutes and 8 seconds at sea. Just under four hours were missing the "Uca" record.
Henri de Bokay's crew around skipper Malte Päsler and navigator Robin Zinkmann gave their all, got the best out of the Elliot and finally ploughed through the Baltic Sea from the Skagen buoy down to Kiel at a cracking pace. But even the furious final spurt was no longer enough after the excessively long cross at the approach to Skagen. In the Belt, the "Rafale" crew then had to cope with three knots of counter-current at times. The team was credited with a calculated time of 1 day, 23 hours, 44 minutes and 8 seconds for the overall strong run.
Robin Zinkmann said after crossing the finish line: "We are mega-happy. We already suspected at the start that we wouldn't break the record. The 13-hour cross from Hanstholm to Skagen didn't help. But in ideal weather conditions, the boat would definitely be able to break the record. As an 'outsider', she has already come close once before with Tilmar Hansen, Bo Teichmann and their crew."
Who will win the Skagen Prize?
In the chasing pack on Wednesday afternoon, the smaller ORC B boats struggled to catch up with the lead gained by the large ORC A boats on their fast Baltic section. They did so in different conditions to those experienced by the large yachts that came through ahead of them. The JPK 10.30 "Hinden", co-favourite in the battle for the Skagen Prize, passed the Skagen buoy at around 12 noon. Skipper Jonas Hallberg reported on Wednesday afternoon: "We've been round the Skagen buoy for a good hour. That all worked out quite well. Then we had a relatively fast ride on the A4, then switched to the A2. The mood is still great. The sticking point will be the calm off Kiel. How quickly we manage to get south so that we are affected as little as possible."
To beat 'Rafale', we can't get stuck in the doldrums for so long, we have to be faster than we should be. We are trying to do that" (Jonas Hallberg)
Jonas Hallberg already knew at midday: "'Rafale' had really good wind. To beat them, we can't get stuck in the doldrums like this, we have to be faster than we should be. We are trying to do that. It's not entirely in our hands, it's totally dependent on the weather. We also have to look behind us. If we get caught in the doldrums, it's always possible that they'll come up behind us. But let's hope not."
Late on Wednesday afternoon, the JPK 10.30 "Hinden" was around five and a half hours behind the first ship home in the extrapolation of the calculated times when "Rafales" crossed the finish line. With "Hinden" close behind, Dirk Clasen's crew on the Humphreys 39 "Ginkgo" piled on the pressure in the battle for the Skagen Prize for the best boat by calculated time. It remains exciting to see what the pursuers in the Pantaenius Rund Skagen can still make up by the time they cross the finish line on Thursday. This will also decide the battle for the title and podium places in the IDM Seesegeln Offshore, which is experiencing its climax with the Pantaenius Rund Skagen.
