The fact that Anne (20) and Jan (29) Stähr from Heikendorf beat the existing record to Bornholm by almost an hour and a half is remarkable in every respect. The two newcomers to the scene sailed their nine-month-old ten-metre yacht over the 137 nautical mile route. Average speed: 9.1 knots, top speed: 18.8 knots. Time: 15 hours and four minutes.
So far, the bar for the record has been set three times. Twice officially, once unofficially, outside the prescribed time window between April and September. The Heinritz 34 "Connection" from Heiligenhafen set a time of around 17 hours in the inaugural year of the Cup (2001), followed later by Jan Hamester's Figaro 2 and now Anne and Jan Stähr's Figaro 2. Although this year's Challenge Cup season is closed, the latest attempt proves the popularity of the idea.
In the first year of the record, it was mainly old friends from the regatta scene who sailed to Bornholm for a time. However, they did not always return immediately: the Bornholm record was also intended as a quick prelude to an extended summer cruise. Accordingly, it was mainly larger cruisers/racers that went on the trip: Yachts from Luffe and X-Yachts, to name but a few. The extreme sailors came later.
Describing Anne and Jan Stähr as newcomers to the scene is not entirely fair. After all, their Figaro 2 "Gnaraloo" took part in more regattas during her first season than most of her competitors. "New" refers at most to the racing seasons she has sailed, namely one, not to the experience she has gained over long distances. At the Double Hand Challenge in May, Anne Stähr skippered the newly delivered Bénéteau Figaro 2 across the Flensburg Fjord in extremely bad weather. Her experience as a sailor of a 420 and various small-cruiser cruises came along for the ride. The boat later took part in the feeder race to Sandhamn (her older brother is at home in the surfing scene) as well as the subsequent race around Gotland and the HSH Nordbank Cup. In view of this varied sailing programme, it is hardly surprising that "Gnaraloo" sailed on immediately after passing the Bornholm Challenge finish line - the Hammerodde beacon must be 155 degrees - and did not moor on Bornholm. "Gnaraloos" course: Travemünde. Their destination: the start of the Double Hand Challenge around Fehmarn.
"We wanted to have the record officially registered with the World Sailing Speed Record Council in England. But that costs too much," says co-organiser Jörgen Heinritz from Heiligenhafen. In this respect, the record is a highly serious fun phenomenon that was launched during a beer round: It included some very experienced sailors from the Ortmühler Regatta Club e.V. (ORC) such as Heinritz himself. He demonstrated this not least as the skipper of the "Connection", which he designed and which has held the record to date.
However, the official invitation to tender cannot always conceal the beer mood from which the idea was born. This is because one criterion for yachts is that they have to fit under the Fehmarnsund Bridge. Its height on the chart: 21 metres. Larger yachts are automatically blocked out by this gag: Fast fifty-footers, for example, were not even given a starting licence. The Ortmühlers are more picky when it comes to measuring the yachts. Only seaworthy yachts that are equipped in accordance with safety category 3 of the German Sailing Association (DSV) are allowed to start. This regulation and the fact that the time window must be adhered to is intended to deter adventurers from trying their luck on the route. And it is intended to prevent the sailing community from claiming that the people of Heiligenhafen are sending sailors on an unreasonable voyage.
Heinritz now believes that it is not well enough known that you can seriously chase a record in local waters. "If three or more yachts take part, we pay out prize money of 1250 euros to the winner," says Heinritz. "But the Stährs were the only ones to enter this year." As a result, the prize money could not be paid out to them.
However, they will bag two trophies in Hamburg in mid-December. Heinritz will have to take one of them, a silver platter, out of his display case at home and hand it over. It is the travelling prize for the absolute record. A block of genuine Bornholm granite rounds off the trophy collection that Anne and Jan Stähr will soon have to store in their display cabinets.
