Cologne/Schwerin. With gale force winds of four to five Beaufort and the vociferous support of several thousand spectators, the 2nd Volvo Champions Race came to an end on Sunday afternoon in Schwerin in an exuberant beach atmosphere.
Once again, the 30 sailors from eleven nations thrilled their audience with fast-paced manoeuvres, spectacular capsizes and exciting duels right in front of Zippendorf beach. There was constant applause, cheerful La Ola waves and enthusiastic cheers from the audience. Especially for the overjoyed new champions, the team Robbie Daniel/Anders Straume (USA) in the Tornado and the three-time world champion Chris Nicholson (Australia) with co-skipper Gary Boyd in the 49er.
The second of a total of three tour stops in the new sailing super series ended with a heart-stopping finale, as three teams in the Tornado class went into the last and decisive race tied on points, including three-time world champion Roland Gäbler (Tinglev), who won bronze for Germany at the Sydney Olympics. Even before the "showdown", three-time Tornado world champion Roland Gäbler (39) said: "I've never seen anything like it: three teams going head to head in the last race. You can't even think about tactics any more. You just have to get going and go full throttle."
Perhaps Gäbler was thinking too much after all. After a botched start, the former national coach was no longer able to intervene in the battle for victory. In the end, the most successful German Tornado sailor of all time with three Olympic campaigns had to be satisfied with fourth place overall and the "wooden medal". Gäbler's conclusion was nevertheless enthusiastic: For us sailors, the Volvo Champions Race is a fantastic event. It is a regatta format that we have been waiting for a long time. At last we are so close to the public that people can see us and cheer us on. That gives us a huge boost. This weekend was also a landmark for us as a crew. My new co-skipper Gunnar Struckmann has shown himself to be in brilliant form. It was great fun sailing with him."
The only German podium finish was achieved by the German pre-Olympics starters Marcus Baur (Kiel) and Max Groy (Fleckeby) in the 49er. Marcus Baur (31), fifth at the Sydney Olympics, wants to give it another go and two years ago brought a new skipper on board in the form of his co-skipper Max Groy (21). The unanimous conclusion of the two North Germans: "The Volvo Champions Race is simply great." The local heroes from Schwerin, Ronald Rensch and Torsten Haverland, finished ninth in the field of the world's elite at the "highlight of our diary" and with several weeks of intensive training behind them.
This second tour stop in the Volvo Champions Race marks the final breakthrough of our idea of spectator-friendly, highly attractive Olympic sailing," said organiser Dirk Neumann (Hamburg/4Sail Projects), "the response from the public proves the concept right and makes us highly motivated to continue working on this concept." Thomas Hanel, member of the management of Volvo Car Germany, also drew an all-round positive balance: "We are 100 per cent satisfied. Schwerin and the people of Schwerin have given us great support. Our concept of bringing the sailing athletes together with the fans was a complete success."
The Volvo Champions Race circuit moves on to Travemünde, where the world's best 49er and Tornado crews will once again get down to business for a third and final time right on the beach from 9 to 12 October. A hot autumn finale can be expected there at the end of the season, just one year before the Olympic Games in Athens.
Final results Volvo Champions Race Schwerin
(after 11 races/2 strings)
Tornado Sport
1. Robbie Daniel/Anders Straume (USA) 33.00 points
(1/10/1/10/9/4/1/11/3/3/1)
2. Robert Wilson/Martin Sellars (GBR) 34.00 points
(2/4/6/5/10/1/4/9/1/6/5)
3. Darren Bundock/Glenn Ashby (AUS) 36.00 points
(6/7/2/4/3/3/8/2/2/9/7)
4th Roland Gäbler/Gunnar Struckmann (Tinglev/GER) 38.00 points
(9/3/4/2/2/2/2/5/9/11/11)
5. Peder Ronholt/Sören Jörgensen (DEN) 42.00 points
(5/2/5/6/8/6/6/3/6/10/3)
6. Johannes Polgar/Will Howden (Kiel/Germany + GBR) 45.00 points
(8/8/8/7/1/5/12/4/4/2/6)
7. Helge and Christian Sach (Zarnekau/GER) 47.00 points
(4/1/3/12/5/9/DSQ/1/13/4/2)
8th Martin Strandberg/Christian Mattson (SWE) 55.00 points
(10/9/9/1/6/12/7/7/13/4/2)
9th Diego Cayolla/Nuno Barreto (POR) 60.00 points
(11/6/11/9/4/8/3/10/5/13/4)
10th Lars Bähr/Dino Grobe (Berlin/GER) 65.00 points
(3/5/10/11/7/10/5/12/12/5/9)
11. Tino+Niko Mittelmeier (Überlingen/GER) 76.00 points
(DNF/14/7/3/11/14/9/6/7/7/12)
12th Erik Holden/Mark Coakley (CAN) 92.30 points
(7/13/13/14/10.3/7/10.3/14/8/12/8)
13. Patrick Egger/Kristof Koch (Friedrichshafen/GER) 96.00 points
(13/11/12/8/14/13/11/8/8/14/10)
14. Eckart+Gyde Kaphengst (Kiel/GER) 110.00 points
(12/15/DNF/13/12/15/10/13/14/8/0
15. Christina Loweg/Julia Nowak (Stuttg./GER) 127.00 points
(14/12/14/15/13/11/DNF/DNS/DNC7DNC/DNC)
49er
1. Chris Nicholson/Gary Boyd (Australia) 21.00 points
(1/5/6/4/3/1/2/1/2/2/5)
2. Peter and Sören Hansen (DEN) 26.00 points
(3/1/3/2/4/2/5/4/4/8/3)
3. Marcus Baur/Max Groy (Kiel/GER) 33.00 points
(7/6/2/1/2/6/1/6/6/3/11)
4th Markus Steeg/Moritz Deml (Budenheim/GER) 39.00 points
(2/2/4/12/10/7/3/7/3/12/1)
5. John Harris/Evan McNicol (AUS) 40.00 points
(6/3/1/7/5/10/4/3/13/7/4)
6. Rodion Luka/George Leonchuk (UKR) 50.00 points
(9/11/5/5/7/5/8/5/1/5/DNF)
7. Gabriel Wicke/Wolf Jeschonnek (Hanover/GER) 50.00 points
(5/7/7/3/9/11/6/13/7/4/2)
8th Nico Delle-Karth/Nikolaus Resch (AUT) 51.00 points
(4/4/8/DSQ/1/3/7/11/12/1/12)
9th Ronald Rensch/Torsten Haverland (Schwerin/GER) 62.00 points
(8/12/10/9/11/4/13/2/5/6/7)
10. Felix Oehme/Julien Kleiner (Lübeck/GER) 80.00 points
(12/13/9/6/8/12/10/9/11/9/6)
11. Jan-Peter+Hannes Peckolt (Hamburg/GER) 84.00 points
(10/8/11/DNF/6/8/11/12/10/11/9)
12th Mike Bassett/Kurt Riechelmann (NZL) 90.00 points
(14/9/13/8/14/14/9/10/9/10/8)
13. Martin Kirketerp/Dion Valente (DEN) 104.00 points
(DNF/10/12/10/12/13/14/15/8/DNF/10)
14th Martin Gernhardt/Fionn Erdmann (HH/GER)105.00 points
(11/14/14/11/13/9/12/8/DNF/13/DNF)
15. Frank and Peter Mühlhauser (Allensbach/GER) 137.00 points
(13/DNF/DNF/DNF/15/DNF/15/14/DNF/DNF/DNF)
