Travemünde Week: Gusts of up to 27 knots cause breakage and tough racing

IC-Canoe

While the keelboats in the Dragon, J/22 and Dyas classes were still able to cope well with the conditions and the dinghies had to fight hard, the limit was exceeded at times for the IC Canoe skiffs. With a lot of damage to sails, rigs and hulls, the first race attempt was cancelled. After a repair break ashore, a reduced fleet was able to continue in the late afternoon.

To the portrait of the IC-Canoe ...

Emma Grigull, the spokeswoman for the German IC-Canoe class, had suffered damage to her sail after capsizing because she had drifted into a race management boat. The valuable cloth went straight to the sailmaker. She was also unable to finish the restart with different sails. Others also had to retire. "There was some damage. We had mast breakage and damage to the spreaders, tears in the sails and also a hole in the hull."

Jacob Wegner from Preetz was the unfortunate man who had to give up with a leaking boat. He hit the hull after capsizing and broke through the plywood: "The boat is not very young and it was a damaged area. I hope to be able to laminate the damage with a carbon mat." However, he was only able to watch the late race from land. The second canoe class, the Taifun, did not race in the conditions. The only race in the IC was won by Michael Costello from the USA out of 18 starters.

J/22 German Open

While the IC-Canoe were still sailing at the start of their World Championship, the J/22s were already celebrating the winners of their German Open. Reiner Brockerhoff (Duisburg) and his son, the 505 ace Felix, and the Frenchman Christoph Declerque in the foreship had put together an almost flawless winning streak. The Franco-German crew won seven of the eight races: "We still had to get into the groove a bit in the first race, but things went very well after that. We had very good speed, especially in the stronger winds today," said skipper Brockerhoff.

He acknowledged that the second-placed team from Berlin, led by Wolf Jeschonnek, had been strong opponents. Third place went to Thorsten Spötter and his team from Hamburg. However, several crews from the German fleet were missing from Travemünde. "I don't know why they weren't there. We will advertise the Travemünde Week. It was a great event," said Brockerhoff.

Javelin Euro Cup

The Javelins also had a lot of fun on the track on their first day in the Euro Cup. "It was borderline, but nice. A great TW day to kick things off," reported Jens Schlittenhard, who sails on the foresheet with his nephew Robin. Currently in third place, they are currently the best Germans - behind the two British teams Eddy and Neil Reid and Ben and Richard Fisher. "It's great that some family crews have come together in recent years. That's good for the class," says Schlittenhard, who is expecting an exciting battle for the title in the coming days. After day one, only a single point separates him from third place and the top spot.

Decisions in the dragon

For the dragons, it's all about winning the second Grand Prix of the year on Tuesday. Switzerland's Jan Eckert has taken a narrow lead with a victory in the sixth race. The helmsman from Lake Geneva has an international crew on board with the American Tovar Mirsky and the Portuguese Frederico Melo. However, everything is wide open on the final day, as the chasing pack led by Christoph Toepfer (Hamburg) and the Swede Jesper Stalheim are only just behind with two races still to go.

RS Aero German Open

Ukraine's Sofiia Naumenko is back on the road to success in the RS Aero. With two victories in the challenging conditions, she significantly extended her lead at the German Open. One good race in the two remaining races will be enough for her to win the title. Marcus Walther (Langen) and the German class president Juliane Barthel (Osnabrück) will battle it out for silver and bronze.

Finn dinghy

André Budzien is back at the top of the Finns. The man from Schwerin has cancelled his early start disqualification from the second day for the time being, but can no longer afford to slip up in the battle with Berlin's Fabian Lemmel on the final day of the Finn regatta. Dutchman Bas de Waal will also start the final day of the former Olympic class with a chance of victory.

Opti and Flying Junior

Before the start of their championships, the Optimists and the Flying Juniors undertook a territorial test with their practice races. The Flying Juniors had the opportunity to present themselves in front of an audience at the Volksbank Trave Race. 16 teams competed in two semi-finals and the final for the prize money of 300 euros offered by Volksbank Lübeck. In the decisive race, the Italians Stefano Baciga/Marcello Cassini finally prevailed. They had the best start and confidently defended the lead from there. "We really enjoyed sailing here in front of an audience. As a sailor, you don't usually get that chance. But we also felt very comfortable on the Baltic Sea. We're looking forward to the world championship in the coming days," reported the winning team.

Christian Mehrens, Member of the Board of Volksbank Lübeck, was delighted with the show race in the best conditions on the River Trave: "It's great that these races take place and that visitors stop to watch the sailing sport. We as Volksbank are very happy to support this and are already looking forward to Wednesday, when Lübeck's city president Henning Schumann competes against Reinhard Meyer, the Minister of Economic Affairs of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in the Volksbank Rotspon Cup."

• Travemünde Week: 10 days of sailing and festival
• Sea sailors, Hobie 16 and Optis team racers crowned their winners