An early finish was not rewarded. After a lunch break ashore, the regatta organisers started a second attempt. Once again it was a tough business, but in the end a programme for starlings, congers, keelboats, Olympic dinghies and teens was still possible. The IC Canoe also had their interlude competition on the programme.
IC Canoe
The IC Canoe put their world championship competition on the sidelines this Thursday. Nevertheless, the competition was fierce. For the class, it was all about the New York Canoe Club Challenge Trophy. The second oldest sailing trophy in the world, a Nations Cup, was to be awarded for the 30th time during the Travemünde Week. After two races between Germany and Great Britain, one nation had won each race before a third race had to be cancelled due to a lack of wind.
The fact that the trophy was being fought over vigorously and with great determination became clear on the water. The race organisers ordered a second jury boat for the regatta between the three boats from each nation. But even the jury could not prevent a protest by the British against the German victory from being lodged in the evening. This meant that the decision on the award of the silver pot went into the night's extra time at the green table.
Cancellation in many classes
In addition, eleven classes should have been sent out onto the courses on Thursday. However, one by one the flags for cancellation of the races went up on the signal masts. For the Foxtrot course, located in the lee of the Brodten cliffs, the first decision was that the Flying Junior and Javelin classes could hoist their sails again. This was followed by the neighbouring Alpha course for the Formula 18, and the Typhoons were also able to stay ashore.
Starboat Championship
The star boats fought hard for a start. However, the light winds and the overzealousness of the participants with a few early starts meant that all efforts to get the former Olympic class onto the course on the first day of their International German Championship in a regatta-compliant manner were in vain for a long time. The first race was won by Nick Heuwinkel/Jesper Spehr (Kiel).
The courses along the Mecklenburg coast with the four classes represented there (Optimists, Kielzugvogel, Conger and Olympic dinghy) also tried for a long time to get something countable in the books. These efforts were not rewarded in the Optimists. For the other three classes, however, the race continued into the evening.
Keel draft bird, conger, O-dinghy
Manfred Brändle/Stefanie Gouverneur (Duisburg) came out on top in the keel draft birds. Julia Pechstein/Wolfgang Goeken (Hamburg) won the first race of the congers, and the first winner in the small field of Olympic dinghies was Roland Franzmann (Scheppen).
Teeny
The teens were even able to provide sporting action twice. Firstly, they completed a race on the course for the German Youth Championship, then 16 youth crews also sailed for the prize money in the Volksbank Trave Race. While the Berlin team Hanna Sobotka/Storm-Ole Harreuter were delighted with their victory and thus the lead in the German Youth Championship, all the teens could feel like winners after the Trave Race, as the prize money went to the class fund.
Sailing
In the evening, the sea sailors set off on the long course with a presumably protracted race. They started the Rund Fehmarn regatta. The wind forecasts suggested that no record would be broken on the course.
Two Olympic generations in one boat
One of the exotic teams on the entry list for the World Championship in the Flying Junior class is a team competing for Mexico.
Gentry Yanic and Hermann Mergenthaler not only have their home country in common, they are also both Olympic athletes. They have been sailing Flying Junior together for a year.
The two sailors met in Mexico through Mergenthaler's son. Mergenthaler himself now lives in The Hague in the Netherlands. Gentry has lived in Hamburg for seven years, but competes for his home sailing club in Puerto Vallarta on the west coast of Mexico. The 62-year-old Hermann Mergenthaler took part in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles in the 470. Yanic Gentry, 33, competed in the Laser in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
This is Gentry's first time in Travemünde. Mergenthaler, on the other hand, has a lot in common with the Baltic seaside resort. He first competed in a regatta here 42 years ago. He had actually planned to return to the regatta in Travemünde together with his brother Eric, a successful Finn sailor who took part in the Olympic Games three times and won the class world championship title in 1992. A stroke of fate thwarted the plan to take part in Travemünde Week together: Eric Mergenthaler died in 2020 as a result of a cycling accident. Hermann Mergenthaler named his Flying Junior "Flying Joie de Vivre" in honour of his brother.
How did a Finn and a 470 sailor end up in the Flying Junior class? "I fell in love with the beautiful wooden boat at boot Düsseldorf last year and bought the wooden Flying Junior built by Galetti in 1969," explains Mexican-born Hermann Mergenthaler.
The Central American combination of two sailing generations is working well: after six races so far, Team Mexico is in seventh place among the 42 World Championship teams.
