Nothing stays the same. That could be the Bundesliga motto for this third season. Even at the second regatta, the German club champions from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, who have been so dominant in the past two years, did not really get going and had to be satisfied with 13th place at the end of the league weekend in Kiel. The Chiemsee Yacht Club secured victory with Leopold Fricke, Christoph Müller, Moritz Fricke and Simon Tripp. The quartet made full use of their inland water experience on the inner fjord, coping best with the beautiful but challengingly changeable conditions off the Kiellinie. "Poldi" Fricke said: "Our recipe was consistency. We sailed defensively and tried to make as few mistakes as possible. That worked. We are super happy and satisfied with the team's performance."
For a long time, it had looked like the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club would make it through in Kiel. The Berlin team with helmsman Malte Kamrath, Tim Elsner, Jens Steinborn and Julian Bergemann had started the final day in the lead, but then suffered several setbacks. "We just didn't get back on track in the last three races. We didn't realise it...", said tactician Elsner. Nevertheless, the capital city crew could be highly satisfied with second place, so the disappointment at missing out on victory did not last long.
The local heroes from the Kieler Yacht-Club sailed to third place with Oliver Schwall at the helm and Ole von Studnitz, Sönke Boy and Felix Weidling in the boat. The hosts only made it onto the podium in the final race with a second place. "We didn't get off to a good start," said Oliver Schwall, "so we had to work our way up from the back. The team did a sensational job and we fought our way onto the podium in the last race. We're delighted with this small 'home win'."
The Bundesliga weekend served up a series of bow-to-bow duels between the J70 yachts and ensured excitement right up to the last race. The top eleven clubs were separated by just ten points after 45 races. Eleventh place went to the highly rated Yacht Club Berlin-Grünau with skipper Jochen Schümann. But even he had to realise: "The Bundesliga level has definitely risen. Those who take it seriously and train a lot are doing well." After two of the seven league regattas, the Chiemsee Yacht Club has taken the lead in the table ahead of the German Touring Yacht Club and the Flensburger Segel-Club. The Seglerhaus am Wannsee club moved up to fourth place. The third Bundesliga regatta of the third league season will take place off Warnemünde in mid-July. The second-league teams will also be competing there at the same time.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
