After a short breather with a few races on the Baltic Sea, but focussing on the Rotspon Cup of the Mayorsthe Travemünde Week has gained momentum again. On Thursday, ten classes took to the starting line on five different courses. The participating fleets ranged from the young sailors in the Open Skiff class to the experienced participants with World Championship and Olympic experience in the Formula 18. In predominantly light, sometimes shifting winds, most classes were able to complete their races on schedule and collect important points for their respective championships.
Varianta and keel migratory birds with clear leaders
The Varianta class, which had taken an unplanned break the day before due to the heavy conditions, returned to the course on Thursday with a full strength of twelve boats. Frank Schönfeldt and Gerd Becker from Hamburg impressively demonstrated their superiority and clearly lead the German ranking after seven races with six wins and one second place. In the keel draft birds, the leaders Axel Fischer and Michael Schiermann were unable to repeat their strong performance from the previous day, but still have a reassuring lead over Manfred Brändle and Stefanie Gouverneur from Duisburg, who took two victories on Thursday.
The Dyas sailors have just arrived on the golf course. After the North German Championship at the beginning of the week, the focus is now on the German Championship, for which some strong title contenders have travelled. The newly crowned North German champions Arndt Fingerhut and Andreas Malcher from Edersee will have to settle for fifth place for the time being. After three races, Jens Olbrysch and Norbert Schmidt from Munich have taken the lead ahead of Stefan Kreiss and Sonja Diezler. Olbrysch, who has been one of Germany's top sailors in various classes since winning the German Optimist Championship in 1981, forms a well-rehearsed duo with Schmidt, who already have four Dyas championship titles (2017, 2018, 2020, 2024) under their belts.
Youth and international participants
On a course close to land directly in front of Priwall beach, the youngsters in the open skiff class started their national competition. With 19 registered boats, the number of participants is not ideal, but as board member Marcus Cremer explained, the class is in a state of upheaval and needs to build up a larger fleet again. Four races were completed in the light, shifting winds, all of which were won by Mila Weniger from Bleiloch-Talsperre in Thuringia. She is currently the measure of all things in this youth class.
The twins Sascha and Rene Treichel from Wolfsburg dominate the Topcat K1. Two days before the conclusion of the European Championships and the parallel World Cup, they still have no strike result in the books and are heading for a seemingly certain victory. Austria's Mathias Equiluz and Susanne Wallner lead the chasing pack ahead of Sebastian Pohl and Marco Schleich from Chiemsee. In the K2 category, Robert Zank and Tim Stiegler from Ammersee are on course for the title, while in the K3 topcats Paul Säger is only three points ahead of Christian Enzmann from Walchensee.
The Olympic dinghies are led by a Dutch sailor. Thies Bosch dominates the field with two victories in two races ahead of the Lübeck sailors Ingo Hüter and Arne Assmann. The 470s also boast an international top class. Switzerland's Frederik Huck and Gabriele Konrad are in the lead ahead of Nana and Christoph Busch from Edersee and Austria's Helena Schiffke and Paul Hoppe.
In the evening show race, the Volksbank Trave Race, Frenchmen Bernard Boime and Gilles Espinasse landed a remarkable coup. After an early start, they had to chase after the field and were the last to arrive at the first mark. With a tactically clever decision, they chose a wide leeward turn, overtook the fleet and ultimately secured the 300-euro winner's cheque. "We had the course figured out beforehand, and when we were last, we had to do something else," they explained their successful move.
Formula 18 gets off to a strong start for the favourites
Record winners Helge and Christian Sach had a perfect start to the Travemünde Week at the Formula 18. The newly crowned Master World Champions wanted to relinquish their role as favourites, but after the first day with four wins in four races they will probably have to accept it again. "The wind will decide whether we play a role at all. We only have a chance in light winds," said Christian Sach. The two brothers from Zarnekau are followed by the Hamburg father-son team Jesse and Sven Lindstädt and the Scharbeutz duo Daniel Paysen and Nico Heinrich.
The 2021 Olympic bronze medallist in the Nacra 17, Paul Kohlhoff, struggled with his boat during his spontaneous and last-minute appearance in the F18 class. Together with co-skipper Tom Heinrich, he only managed to finish two races and is in twelfth place in the interim standings.
