According to the organisers, the 2026 Warnemünder Woche brought together 386 boats and yachts, as well as 774 sailors, across nine regatta courses. At the start of the event, gusts of up to eight Beaufort swept across the Baltic Sea; midweek, a storm system forced several classes to take a break; and on the second weekend, light winds dictated the final races.
Warnemünder Woche 2026: ‘Around Bornholm’ puts the spotlight on offshore sailing
The most memorable offshore moment came during the shortened round-Bornholm race. Due to forecast storm gusts, the race organisers shortened the classic long-distance course from around 250 to about 120 nautical miles and set the turning point north of Rügen.
In the yardstick classification, the “Skendata-Illbruck” came out on top ahead of the “OSPA” based on calculated time; in terms of actual sailing time, the two yachts were only a few minutes apart at the finish. In the ORC class, “Universitas” with Hauke Sponholz took the win, whilst “Vaiana” came out on top in the ORC Club class. Anyone wishing to find out more about the long-distance race separately can find the details here:
Schweckendiek turns the ILCA-7 duel around
It was a particularly close contest in the ILCA-7 class. After two strong days, Nik Aaron Willim had initially been in the lead, but on the final day Ole Schweckendiek overtook him with a first and a second place to win the Eastern District Championship.
There were clear winners in the other ILCA classes too. Kira Gremlitza won the ILCA 4 class, whilst Victor Hensel dominated the ILCA 6 series with a particularly consistent week.
Budzien takes a double, Hollweg wins the J/70 IDM
André Budzien made a double impact. The Schwerin native first won in the Finn dinghy and later also in the OK dinghy. In the J/70 class, Kai-Uwe Hollweg secured the German championship title on his first outing in the waters off Warnemünde.
Youth regattas and extreme weather conditions are the highlights of the week
The 88th edition featured not only championships but also international youth regattas. These included the Zoom8 World Championship and the O’pen Skiff Eurochallenge, which was held in Warnemünde for the first time.
In the Zoom8 class, Austria’s Jakob Gsell came out on top, whilst in the O’pen Skiff class, Milej Krzysztof won the U13 category and Pawel Sitko the U17 category. Despite the changeable weather, enough races were sailed in all classes to produce final results.
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
