They have beaten Olympic champions, world champions, European champions and German champions and won the rain final on the Alster in furious style: 49er helmsman Florian Kemper from Hamburg and his crew with Wolf Jeschonnek (Berlin) and Michael Krause (Hamburg) are the YACHT Champions of Champions 2008.
The 29th edition of the cult regatta came to an end with spectacular sailing manoeuvres, centimetre decisions and a surprise victory. In the triple-race final of the best three teams, Kemper's crew gave the teams led by the second-placed Kiel 505 helmsman Jens Findel and the German star boat champion Alexander Hagen from Hamburg no chance with two dramatically exciting start-finish victories.
"We are super happy, the sailing was really fun today, the wind was great - a wonderful regatta," said 25-year-old shipbuilding student Kemper from Kiel after the races. His co-sailors in particular benefited from their experience in handling the new Laser SB3 champion boats from the Olympic 49er dinghy, on which Kemper and Co. had won the German Championship in the same area just three weeks ago. Kemper's motto, which he had already proclaimed before the first starting shot in this series: "This is the championship that creates champions."
DSV President Rolf Bähr was also among the enthusiastic spectators of the fiercely contested duels in the modern "sailing triathlon". "This is as exciting as the last America's Cup final," said Bähr on the pontoons of the host Hamburg Sailing Club, "what a great advert for our beautiful sport."
30 teams, 90 sailors, started the traditional end-of-season regatta in Hamburg on Saturday morning. Among the most prominent losers in the preliminary round were Olympic eighth-placed Johannes Polgar from Dänisch-Nienhof, German match race champion Andreas Willim from Goltoft, Olympic champion Thomas Flach from Berlin, Olympic fourth-placed Ulrike Schümann and Paralympics winner Jens Kroker (Münster).
"We got into too much trouble with Andreas Willim and didn't stick to the important rule of 'stay out of trouble'," said Johannes Polgar, explaining his early exit. Last year, Polgar had reached the final of the YACHT Championship of Champions, where he was defeated by Ulrike Schümann's team. Title defender Ulrike Schümann was also upset about missing out on the final round: "We made mistakes and are naturally a little annoyed about it. Nevertheless, it was a great time with lots of old sailing friends at the end of a long season."
The hanseboot trophy for the winners was presented in the afternoon in the new hanseboot arena in Hall B5 of the new exhibition halls by Bernd Aufderheide, Managing Director of Hamburg Messe.
Result:
1st Florian Kemper, Wolf Jeschonnek, Michael Krause; IBM 49er
2nd Jens Findel, Andreas Achterberg, Wolfgang Stückl; EM/DM 505er
3rd Alexander Hagen, Lennart Brieseneck-Pudenz, Tom Gosch; IDM Starb.
4th Thomas Schiffer Heinz Lenz, Dietmat Weigt; DM KZV
5th Peer Kock Stefan Karsunke, Roland Böhm; EM J-24
6th Frank Schönfeldt Finn Möller, Carsten Bredt; DM Varianta
7th Robert Stanjek Markus Koy, Hannes Baumann; EM Starb.
8th Svenja Puls Nele-Marie Bock, Janika Puls; IDM Europe F
9th Frank Weigelt Christian Rusitschka, Thomas Olbrich; WC Tempest
10th Daniel Zehpuntke Dustin Baldewein, Moritz Rojek; IDM 470er M
11th Sven Naumann Stephan Zeyn, Wolfgang Goeken; DM Conger
12th Christian Sach Eckart Kaphengst, Justus Wolf; IDM Tornado
13th Christiane de Nijs Kathrin Kadelbach, Jan Böttcher; IDM Laser R.
13th Florian Stock Tobias Barthel, Stefan Seifert; DM H dinghy
15th Donald Lippert Lutz Woschikowski, Göran Freise; EC O dinghy
16th Andreas Willim Helge Homann, Chris Hartkopf; DM MatchR.M
17 Ulrike Schümann Julia Bleck, Ute Höpfner; Titlevert.
17th Hans-Peter Schwarz Roland Kirst, Jan Eike Andresen; DM FD
19th Volker Schoen Mathias Schulz, Birger Keilberg; DM Ixylon
20th Thomas Budde Sven Düsener, Jens Dannhus; IDM 15qm
20th Jens Kroker Bernd Zirkelbach, Henning Seltmann; Wildcard Paral.
22nd Thomas Flach Harald Schaale, Sven-Ake Diedering; IDM 20sqm
23rd Michael Heilingbrunner Ute Rogers, Uti Thieme; IDM Korsar
24th Manfred Brändle Joachim Heinz, Dagmar Heinz; IDM SZV
24th Johannes Polgar Caro Hentschel, Nils Hentschel; Wildcard Olymp.
26 Suzanne Willim Anne Beucke, Antje Gosch; DM MatchR.F
27. Jan Kurfeld Philipe Fische, Jonas Müller; DM FD
28th Detlef Hegert Oliver Bajon, Andreas Gluschke; IDM Pirat
28th Christoph Nielsen Torben Dehn, Krzystof Paschke; DM Folkeb.
30th Oliver Huber Erik Bittersohl, Marco Stanischewski; DM IMS II
