The brothers Helge and Christian Sach have set a record at the 136th Travemünde Week. With their victory in the Formula 18 class, they increased their win tally to 23 victories at the Baltic Sea event. The last day of the regatta was a complete washout - or rather, it fell victim to the lack of wind. In glassy seas, the race officers had to give the signal "AP over A" at 11.30 a.m., which meant the end of all further races.
The Sach brothers from Zarnekau in eastern Holstein dominated the Formula 18 competition with seven first places in nine races. Jesse and Sven Lindstädt from Hamburg and Daniel Paysen and Tom Heinrich from Scharbeutz followed in second and third place. Despite their age - Helge is 68 years old, his brother two years younger - the veterans showed the much younger competition the ropes.
Close decision at the Seascape 18
At the German Open of the Seascape 18 (here to the comparison test), Jan Wilkens won the title together with his co-sailor Tobias Rieger from Schwerin - albeit by the narrowest of margins. After six races, they were tied on points with Walter Wüllenweber and Martin Schmidt from Hamburger Segel-Club. As both teams also had the same number of first, second and third places, the final race decided the winner. Third place went to the Swedes Anders Joensson and Henrik Aulin.
"The feedback from the class was consistently positive. Many have said that they would like to come back to Travemünde. Everything was just right. It was great on the Priwall with the mooring beer, the Passat evening and the short distances," said a delighted Jan Wilkens, who not only gave a positive summary as the winner, but also as class secretary of First Seascape.
Sailors without propulsion
It was a tough weekend for the sea sailors. On Saturday, they already had to fight their way through the calm zones in the Bay of Lübeck in light winds. At least they managed to bring both fleets to the finish line in the Yardstick and "Orc" rankings. On Sunday, there was no more sailable wind on the Baltic Sea.
Among the "Orc" yachts, Torsten Habicht's "Matchbox" (Wismar) completed the 25 nautical mile course in just under four hours. The crew had calculated a lead of just 26 seconds over the "Sea Lounge" of Ralf Drews (Brunsbüttel) and a further minute over the "X-Wärts" of Lars Schöppener (Wismar).
In the yardstick classification, the "Masovia" sailed by Arnd-Tido Achermann (Lübeck) and the "Sola" sailed by Uli Tesch were separated by just four seconds. However, Tesch and his crew had calculated a lead of two and a half minutes. Stefan Meining (Lübeck) finished third with his "Na und".
Record winner with ambition for the future
The Sach brothers take their record in their stride. "We don't count, others do that. But the victory means a lot to us, because the competition was stronger than it has been for a long time. And we also had a good day with the wind and double harness," said Helge Sach. Given their age, his brother Christian had feared "that we would only see the tail lights of the others. We haven't sailed that much this year."
The experienced sailors already proved that class knows no age at the previous F18 World Championships in the Netherlands, where they were the best Germans in 18th place. And their motivation remains unbroken: "Our ambition is to get a little faster. F18 is the coolest for regatta sailing," says Helge Sach. With their determination to fight for victory every year at the Travemünde Week, they have become ambassadors for the sailing event.
