Rund Bornholm proved to be exactly what it should be for the boats at the front of the field: the highlight for the sea sailors during Warnemünde Week. After 33 hours and 43 minutes, Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt's "Illbruck" was the first yacht to cross the finish line off Warnemünde on Tuesday evening. She finally crossed the line at 9.48 pm, leaving her sister ship, the "Ospa", both 60-yachts from the former Volvo Ocean Race, 26 minutes behind. The Hamburg "Störtebeker" finished a further 1:46 hours behind - two seconds after midnight.
Fortunate circumstances for the "Illbruck"
Even after a restful night in the harbour, Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt still had a smile on his face. "We've been lucky throughout: with the weather, with our decisions and with the guests on board. After all, we were sailing with a crew of seven and seven guests. It was just a great atmosphere on board - really cool," said the skipper.
On board the former ocean racer, which won the Volvo Ocean Race in 2002, how quickly the yacht can be moved around the course depends on the commitment and desire of the guests. Schmidt-Rybandt emphasised: "The more the guests get involved, the better we can operate. The mild weather also played into our hands here. We were even able to change the spinnaker in the middle of the night. In bad weather, there's already some discussion. But now it was just a case of "Yes, let's do it!"
The right strategic decisions
The "Illbruck" team not only made the right decisions when it came to crew co-operation. "We didn't want to separate from the 'Ospa', so we sailed clockwise around the island. In the end, that was the right decision, although the routing models were not in agreement. Due to the wind shift, it would have been better the other way round. But the wind strength favoured it that way. The fact that it worked out is pure luck. Nobody could have predicted that," explained Schmidt-Rybandt.
Fortuna continued to have a hand in the game as the "Illbruck" glided steadily through the lulls while the pursuers got stuck. As a result, the leading yacht came out with a reassuring lead south of Bornholm and had the advantage on the way back towards Warnemünde of having a speed advantage on the sharp upwind courses.
Mast breakage and salvage
However, not all yachts were kissed by luck. The "Dockenhuden" even suffered a broken mast north of Bornholm. The mast of skipper Maik Dünnfründ's Hamburg yacht unexpectedly snapped off after a day at sea in the mid-wind. But nomen est omen, Marcus Paap's "Place to be" was exactly where it should be. The Stralsund crew came to the rescue and towed the "Dockenhuden" into Tejn harbour. The crew of the "Dockenhuden" remained unharmed.
The "Place to be" then sailed back to the site of the mast breakage and resumed the race. For her efforts, the jury ultimately awarded her a compensation of 4:01 hours for the calculation of the race time.
It got uncomfortable for the last yachts towards the end. A hard wave had built up along Darß, Zingst and Rügen and a strong breeze was blowing against them. These conditions were also responsible for the fact that the other classes of the Warnemünde Week were unable to race on Wednesday. This postponed the start of the World Championship by one day for the Zoom8 and cancelled the final of the European Championship for the OK dinghies.
World champion in the OK dinghies
This meant that the medallists of the OK dinghies were decided after six instead of the planned eight races. In a very close decision, the title went to England. The experienced Charlie Cumbley once again took the European Championship crown for the OK sailors. He was followed on equal points by the young Canadian Baabii O Flower. Only the number of race wins sailed (3 for Cumbley, 2 for Flower) decided the race in favour of experience over the class newcomer from Canada.
The decision for European Championship bronze was just as close. The Swede Daniel Björndahl had the better end in his favour. Like André Budzien from Schwerin, he had 17 points to his name. Both had also scored one win each in the course of the series. But Björndahl had more second places to his name.
Budzien took the ungrateful fourth place sportingly: "I'm still happy. We sailed six great races. I was able to improve well towards the end. The result is absolutely fine," said Budzien. Looking at the water, however, he admitted that he would have liked to have sailed again himself: "Sure, we could perhaps have attacked the podium again. But it was a good decision not to let the sailors out again. A lot might have been ruined. That doesn't have to be the case."
And Budzien may still have a chance of winning the Warnemünde Week 2025, starting on Friday in the Finn Dinghy. Thursday will be a little quieter on the course for the time being, but no less high-calibre. Only the races for the Zoom8 and the Musto Skiffs are planned. However, the first points for the World Championship (Zoom8) and European Championship (Musto Skiff) will be at stake.
