Two-handed Mixed World Championship: Final! Lina Rixgens and Sverre Reinke are confident participants

It went even better than hoped: Lina Rixgens and Sverre Reinke reached the final of the Offshore Two-Handed Mixed World Championship soveränän reached. In their qualifying race in the first of two World Championship groups, the only German crew finished just five minutes behind the British title defenders and race winners Calanach Finlayson and Maggie Adamson. Rixgens/Reinke were only 1 minute and 13 seconds behind Dominique Knuppel/Ferderice Waksman from Uruguay.

Two-handed mixed world championship: five teams make it to the final

However, the decisive factor in this overnight race was not a place on the podium, but a place in the top five. Only the best five teams from each of the two World Championship qualifying heats and the winners of the hope heat will compete for the World Championship medals in the final of the best eleven teams from 29 September. In addition to Finlayson/Adamson, Knuppel/Waksman and Rixgens/Reinke, Anna Drougge and Martin Angsell, sailing for Sweden, and Ivar Elstrodt and Christiane Walta, flying the Dutch flag, also qualified directly for the final. Click here for the results.

"Our goal was the top five, just to make the qualifying round. That's really good now," said Lina Rixgens after crossing the finish line on Wednesday morning. Neither she nor Sverre Reinke slept for more than 10 or 15 minutes in the qualifying race, which began on Tuesday afternoon off Cowes and lasted almost exactly 19 hours.

Strategically, they did not take any major risks, but generally stuck to their group in the two-handed mixed world championship. In fact, Lina Rixgens and Sverre Reinke even led the qualifying race for the final of the Offshore Two-Handed Mixed World Championship for long stretches of the first half. The German duo were able to assess their opponents a little better this time than at last year's World Championship. "In France 2024 it was still a real black box, now we already knew some of them," said Lina Rixgens.

Eventing competition at the Two-Hand Mixed World Championships

Team Germany had a lot of fun at this World Championship opener on the Sun Fast 30 OD World Championship charter boats. Sverre Reinke told us about the course: "We had pretty much everything with us. We started with light and medium winds. Then we went out with a short starting cross and passed the Needles. The weather was wonderfully warm, the sun was shining and the water was flat. Later in the evening and during the night, the wind picked up to 25 knots, cruising, upwind courses."

"It basically went around the Isle of Wight once and then round another corner to Brighton. We really, really liked the course," enthused Lina Rixgens. "All parts of the course were included. And it was also super tactical due to the coastline here. There was really a lot to do on all the courses, and the technical aspects were not to be underestimated with longer speed sections," said Sverre Reinke.

Everything had to be mastered." Sverre Reinke

However, both report that it was not a race of top speeds with an offshore wind and few waves. "It got a bit uncomfortable at night with the wet conditions, but that's part of it. There was quite a lot of upwind and open downwind," said Lina Rixgens with a smile. With a tight half-wind course - Rixgens also calls it a "banked upwind course" - the course led back to the Solent and to the finish at 8 o'clock in the morning.

Fishing net forces Rixgens/Reinke to reverse

The Sun Fast experts, who themselves own a world championship-type boat in their "Gaia", had to overcome a minor annoyance on the south-east corner of the Isle of Wight on the evening of the start day. "We caught a fishing net in between. That was a bit of a shame. We were leading the field for a while, caught the net and lost six places." Lina Rixgens adds: "Because we were very close to the coast, we were the first to round the corner. And then we just had to sail backwards once."

The course of the qualification race strongly motivated the German mixed team for the final. Lina Rixgens said: "It was really cool! We were already first at the windward mark, then placed very solidly at the front all the way to the needles. That was another reach with code zero." Rixgens and Reinke quickly worked their way back up from seventh place after the involuntary encounter with the fishing net. "We had really good speed on the upwind course towards Brighton," recalls Lina Rixgens fondly.

They moved up to second place again and then only dropped a feather because they sailed to safety. At the finish, third place behind the Brits in their home match and the team from Uruguay was enough to secure them a place in the final. The qualifying race for the second group of the Two-handed Mixed World Championship at the host Royal Ocean Racing Club starts on Thursday (25 September). This will be followed by a hopeful race, the winning crew of which will also reach the deciding race. Eleven teams will contest the final from 29 September.

Impressions from the Offshore Two-handed Mixed World Championship in Cowes - what the hosts and sailors said before the start of the first qualifying race: