Warnemünde Week: Favourites defend good starting positions for Sunday's final
YACHT-Redaktion
· 13.07.2024
Most of the leaders defended their good positions for Sunday's final on the final day of the 86th Warnemünde Week. However, a number of overall recalls had previously delayed the races. And many teams found a so-called BFD, an early start disqualification, in their results lists in the evening. This jolted the rankings, even though the majority of the top contenders remained in front.
The Brits James Crossley and Sam Webb suffered a few setbacks on day two of the 29er Europa Cup. After taking a commanding lead of the 31 crews in the youth skiff on Friday, they also started the day with a race win on Saturday morning. However, they then suffered a 13th place and even an early start disqualification at the end of the day. Although they still defended their lead, the American-German mixed team Truman Rogers/Paula Lepa (Potsdam) had a much better day. With a series of 4, 6, 1, 2, the 29-man duo put in a consistently good series, moving up to second place.
"The current was tricky, and the wind shifts weren't easy either. But we managed well. Our communication and coordination are getting better and better - and so is our boat handling," reported Paula Lepa. She has only been sailing with her helmsman from Miami for one and a half months. The connection came about through the 29er boat dealer Holger Jess.
First a wetsuit, then a prom dress
"Paula was without a partner this season. I searched worldwide and Truman got in touch. He's now spending two and a half months here, working and sailing. The two of them are making great progress," says Jess. Kiel Week was the first major event for the duo. There they narrowly made it into the gold fleet. At the European Championships shortly afterwards, they were already the second-best team under the German flag in 31st place. Now they are the crew that is very close to the stern of the European Championship fourth-placed team ahead of Sunday's decision.
Paula Lepa is hoping for fast races on the final day: "I'm travelling to Potsdam straight after the regatta, I have my graduation ball in the evening." At least for that, she is swapping her wetsuit for a ball gown. Afterwards, however, she and Truman Rogers will be back on the water. The highlight of the season will be the World Championships in Aarhus. With their current second place, Rogers/Lepa are already establishing themselves in the international field. With the British in first place and the Dutchmen Lenny Hofmann/Rens van der Heiden in third place, four nations are currently in the top three.
Champion in the Flying Dutchman: five races, five victories
While the 29ers are still heading towards their season highlight, the Flying Dutchmen already have their 2024 World Championships behind them. And with a strong German performance: Kay-Uwe Lüdtke and Kai Schäfers (Berlin/Hanover) won the title for the second time in their career in March. They also demonstrated their performance at the Warnemünde Week: five races, five victories.
It's going quite well" (Kay-Uwe Lüdtke)
"It's going quite well," said helmsman Lüdtke with a smile. "The wind wasn't easy today though, very inconsistent with lots of gusts. And with the current, we had to avoid an early start." The duo, who had to be satisfied with third place at Kiel Week, managed to do just that. In Kiel, however, Schäfers had also suffered a painful rib contusion: "I'm fine now. But I'm still sailing with painkillers," he reported.
In the Corsairs, which sail on the same course as the Flying Dutchman, the leaders show a similar dominance. Husband and wife team Uti and Frank Thieme scored a fourth place after six races, but have otherwise notched up five wins. "We got off to a good start today, which we don't usually manage to do. The wave was very choppy at the beginning and the wind was gusty. So it wasn't easy today," reported the two Berliners. For them, the Warnemünde Week is good preparation for the German Championships on Lake Schwerin in August.
German-German Contender duel for third place
Meanwhile, the Contenders will already be sailing for their German title at Warnemünde Week. However, only third place on the podium seems to be reserved for the Germans. On Saturday, there was an internal change of position in the bronze medal position. Markus Maisenbacher (WV Hemelingen) overtook his club colleague Eike Martens. The two will fight for this place on the final day. They will hardly be able to attack the top. Jesper Armbrust (Denmark) and Pim van Vugt (Netherlands) have already pulled away from the chasing pack.
A Dane is also in the lead in the OK dinghies. Jörgen Svendsen has overtaken the competition here, leading ahead of Cord Prignitz (Rostock) and Pawel Pawlaczyk from Poland. The Finns see Poland's Barosz Szydlowski at the top of their competition ahead of Fabian Lemmel (Berlin) and Thomas Schmid (Hamburg). In the Beneteau First 18, Jan Wilkens/Tobias Rieger (Hohen Wieschendorf) defended their top position at the German Open, the unofficial German championship in this modern keelboat class.
In stark contrast to the Rund Bornholm, the yachts sailed a fast race in the Gedser Race. The twelve crews sailed a long course without any major manoeuvres to the southern end of the Danish island of Falster. The fastest crews reached their destination in less than three hours. However, the "Ember Sea" was unable to complete the finish, according to its own words, due to the excessive draught and therefore could not be timed. The "Galicia" of Olaf Hell from Rostock won the Yardstick classification according to calculated time and the "Nemo" of Uwe Kleinvogel (Rostock) won the ORC classification.
