"Black Jack", an SL 33 catamaran, crossed the finish line off Lindau after 5:07:23 hours. Helge Sach came second with the "itelligence" (M 32) ahead of the runner-up in the Starboat World Championship, Flavio Marazzi, with the new catamaran "Marwin" (GC 32).
It was a dramatic round with a lot of wind, sometimes 6 Beaufort with a steep, short wave. The catamarans battled among themselves at the front. Fritz Trippolt capsized with the catamaran "Skinfit" off Hagnau, the ship is a total loss according to the water police. It has not yet been decided whether it can be salvaged. The crew remained unharmed. According to Trippolt, the connection on the windward float of his Ventilo M2 probably broke, "then there was a crack in the carbon fibre, at least that's what it sounded like, and the crew had to get into the net. And that caused us to fall over to the side." At the time of the accident in the middle of the night, the wind was blowing from the south-west at around 4 Beaufort and the "Skinfit" was travelling at around 20 knots with a gennaker. "It's a shame in terms of the result, we were so far ahead that nobody could have caught us," says Trippolt, regretting the capsize.
"I'm so happy," cheered the winner Ralph Schatz from the Meersburg Yacht Club. "I was second three times, sometimes just a few seconds behind - and now it's finally worked out." And his helmsman Veit Hemmeter added: "In the end, it paid off that we played it safe. The SL 33 is actually a light wind boat, so we had to take the sails away early in the strong wind - and that meant we made good time." The "Black Jack" was sailing between Constance and Überlingen without a jib and with a reefed main and was still travelling at 26 knots in Lake Überlingen, which is around 50 kilometres per hour.
Last year's winner "Sonnenkönig" (Ventilo M2) also capsized off Birnau; the crew is in good health. According to skipper Armin Schmid, they were within reach of the "Black Jack". The crew had set the gennaker at 2 to 3 Beaufort, "we were still able to ride out the first gust, but after that it set us up. We opened the sails - but that was too late, it's hard to see the gusts at night." However, there was zero damage to the ship, which was raised again with the help of the Thurgau lake police and towed to Romanshorn.
Many participants had problems with the low temperatures well below ten degrees. Of the 278 boats that were flagged, 102 crossed the finish line. While the leaders had to contend with a lot of wind, the large field had to deal with rain and calm.
Andreas Knoll and his "Mata Hari" from Stuttgart won the small blue ribbon in starting group 3, while the blue trophy for the fastest boat in starting group 2 went to "Team Sonnenkönig" with Daniel Scheerer from Motor-Yacht-Club Überlingersee, as in the previous year.
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
