Warnemünde Week: After the Saturday endurance test - "Super Sunday" in sight

On the final day of Warnemünde Week, things started earlier than at school: Sports Director Peter Ramcke had already gathered his teams from the race committee, the safety boats, the jury and the situation centre as well as the representatives of the sailing classes for a briefing at 7am. The German Weather Service had also joined the meeting from Hamburg. Everyone quickly realised that after the cancelled Friday races, they would once again have to deal with powerful winds with strong gusts.

Warnemünde Week: Wind and waves galore

In addition, a considerable wave had built up by Saturday - partly with cross-seas. The ominous message: The conditions would become even more severe as the day progressed. It was therefore logical that swift and flexible action was required. Alternative regatta courses in the Warnow were quickly examined, a dinghy was sent out to check the current wave situation on the courses off the coast - and finally a decision was made.

The Zoom8, Finn Dinghy and RS Aero classes were sent to the race area to the east of the harbour for a 9 a.m. start, where they sailed closely spaced courses. This meant that the best wave pattern could be utilised and the fleet of safety boats could be kept together. The fragile Musto skiffs, which have a fundamentally higher risk of capsizing under gennaker and on the outriggers, remained in the harbour.

Out on the water, they fought, capsized, righted again, fought on and won. The course was not without damage. However, another race was held at the Zoom8 World Championships, and the RS Aero was also able to open its German Open with a cracking first race. But then it was over. The race organisers sent the athletes back to the harbour. This also applied to the Finn Dinghy veterans, who also returned to the harbour after one race.

"The goal today? Achieve the goal!"

The motto on this second Saturday of Warnemünde Week was explained by Juliane Barthel, Chairwoman of the German RS Aero Class Association: "The goal today was to reach the finish line! It was about not breaking anything." The conditions presented major hurdles for the design of the RS Aero. "In the steep waves, the narrow bow quickly cuts in and the boat overturns," explained Juliane Barthel. For good reasons, unnecessary jibing manoeuvres were avoided wherever possible on the RS Aero course.

After the only race so far, Ukraine's Sofia Naumenko leads the books ahead of Marcus Walther (Langen) and Juliane Barthel from Dümmer-See. The children and youngsters in the Zoom8 class also achieved a lot on this day. They were proud to have been on the course, but also exhausted by the challenging winds and waves. "It was really windy, tough conditions," reported the young Dane Safina Linnau.

She didn't make it to the finish and dropped from third place overall to seventh. Her compatriot Emil Praest Pedersen, who overtook her to finish sixth, commented: "It was tricky today - especially when riding the waves. The wind got too strong after the race. So it was good that the race was cancelled." Austrian coaches Max Fitzinger and Herwig Bäumel agreed with the youngsters: "It was a great decision to go out today. We have now secured enough races to win the title. But after the race it got too intense."

68 years Olympic: Finn Dinghys in her element

Her currently most successful protégé Felix Rhomberg moved up to fifth place. The podium on Saturday evening was initially occupied by Scandinavian and Baltic challengers: Sisu Seliö from Finland showed his exceptional boat control even in strong winds, taking his fourth win in the fourth race and now leads ahead of Johan Gundborg from Denmark and Leon Zolotarjov from Estonia.

It was hardly surprising that the furious Finn sailors enjoyed the power play at Warnemünde Week. They can do it. And their boats - the Olympic single-handed dinghy for sailing stars such as Paul Elvström, Jochen Schümann and Russell Coutts for more than half a century from 1952 to 2020 - can do it too. Berlin-based Fabian Lemmel, third in the 2024 German Championships, enjoyed being out on the water.

Fabian Lemmel said: "Great conditions, super wave out there. I would have loved to have sailed more races." The fact that he was also thrown off once did little to dampen his joy. Lemmel reported: "I messed up the first cross. So I risked everything on the downwinder, made up a lot of ground and then capsized. After that, I was still able to work my way up to third place."

Budzien fights for the Warnemünde Week victory

The race was won by grandmaster André Budzien. The man from Schwerin only just missed out on the podium in fourth place at the OK Dinghy World Championships at the beginning of the week. Now he is aiming for Warnemünde Week success in the Finn. On Super Sunday, however, he will have to arm himself for attacks from the pursuers in the final. Not only Budzien's closest rival Peter Sigetty Böje from Denmark will try to put the pedal to the metal.

Sports Director Peter Ramcke has already scheduled another early start for the four classes for the finale of the Warnemünde Week. The first races are scheduled to start at 9 am. While the Zoom8, Finns and RS Aero are hoping for a whopping three races, the Musto Skiffs are looking forward to a mammoth programme and even want to complete six races if possible. Click here for the interim results.