Warnemünde Week: Gusts challenge the fields, Olympic champion Anne-Marie Rindom advances

Day two of the Warnemünde Week races once again served up challenging conditions. Although the wind had eased somewhat in strength, some gusts still jumped over the 20-knot mark. The waves had also increased in strength. With the wind shifting to the south-west and the current coming from the opposite direction, a swell of around one metre built up. This put the powerful players in particular in a strong starting position. Which is why the leaders from the previous day defended their top positions almost without exception.

Two victories for the Ilca 6 queen

There was only a change in the lead in the Ilca 6 Euro Cup, but it came as no surprise: World champion Anne-Marie Rindom overtook her Danish compatriot Anna Munch three weeks before the start of the Olympic regatta in the Bay of Marseille with two wins on the day. The 33-year-old dominated the action in her red group, winning both races. In the yellow group of the other half of the 101 starters, compatriot Anna Munch finished second twice and is now one point behind in first place in the overall standings.

It feels good again" (Anne-Marie Rindom)

Anne-Marie Rindom, who recently suffered from "a kind of tennis elbow" and was therefore unable to take part in the Kiel Week had had to pull out, said: "It feels good again. The Warnemünde Week is the last regatta test before the Olympic Games. On Wednesday we're going home for a day and then we'll be travelling on to Marseille." Hannah Anderssohn dropped one place to fourth after finishing 6th and 3rd, but remained within striking distance of the two leading Danes.

The leader of the Ilca 7 class remained so on the second day: the Dane Andreas Krabbe-Christensen remained without a race win after two second places on Sunday, but with only six points in his account he was dominant overall, while the competition struggled to move up the rankings with less consistent results. The US American Daniel Escudero was in second place after four races with twelve points ahead of the two Swedes Ludvig Lingqvist and Rasmus Granzin.

French strong in the 505

In the Ilca 4, the junior class of the Olympic disciplines, the Czech Jiri Tomes remained the measure of all things. His record so far: four starts, four wins! There was also little change behind him on the second day. Anatoli Zoubovski from Cyprus defended second place ahead of Beáta Dokoupilová from the Czech Republic. In the 505, Frenchmen Philippe Boite and Marin Carnot deviated from the one-race series with a second place, but remained dominant with just four points after five races.

Skipper Marin Carnot explained: "The conditions are great. We are used to winds like this in our home waters in La Rochelle. However, the waves are not as strong there." Carnot praised the strong field at his crew's third Warnemünde Week outing: "This is good preparation for the World Championship in Sweden in August."

The duo sailed to fifth place in last year's World Championships. However, helmsman Philippe Boite in particular has higher goals this time round. He has already been world champion four times in the former Olympic Tempest class - including in 2007, when the world championship was held off Warnemünde. Tim and Finn Böger from Hamburg have moved up to second place in the 505s thanks to their victory in the fifth race. For the time being, they have pushed Lutz Stengel and Frank Feller from Rostock into third place.

Two Warnemünde Week highlights start on Monday

On Monday, the smallest and largest boats of the Warnemünde Week will start their highlights: For the youth sailors in the Zoom8, the first starting signal for the world championship in the 2.65 metre children's and youth dinghy will be given at 11 am. An hour later, yachts up to almost 20 metres in length will be sent off on the 280 nautical mile classic round Bornholm.