The hosts did not allow themselves to be denied victory on their home turf: At the sixth of a total of seven Bundesliga regattas on Lake Constance, the crew of the host sailing and motorboat club Überlingen (30 points) won by 0.55 points ahead of the Munich Yacht Club (30.55 points) and by one point ahead of the club Seglerhaus am Wannsee (31 points), which had been in the lead for a long time.
The Überlingen crew with skipper Steffen Heßberger, Alexander Gaiser, Christian Zittlau and Hendrik Schaal also benefited from a recently controversial league rule that is expected to be changed for the fourth league season in 2016. Instead of 15, only eleven full rounds with three races each could be completed after the cancellation of the opening race due to the lulls. This was followed by only one of three races in flight twelve on Sunday afternoon. As a result, six clubs achieved a real result for this twelfth race, but twelve clubs were awarded the average score of the races sailed up to that point for flight twelve as compensation.
Among them, for example, was the Münchner Yacht-Club, which came second in the final standings of this first division regatta, but a real result could have seen them win the regatta, or even drop back. In the meantime, many sailors have spoken out in favour of a flight being taken out of the classification completely if two thirds of all clubs were unable to compete in it because the time limit on the final day forces a cancellation even in the best sailing conditions. A general postponement of the time limit by one or two hours would also be conceivable.
Nevertheless, the Überlingen team's performance was outstanding. With five wins on the day, they prevailed in the high-calibre races and moved up to fourth place with a total of 43 points ahead of the first division final in Hamburg at the end of October. After six of seven Bundesliga matches, the German Touring Yacht Club remains the leader of the 1st Bundesliga despite finishing eighth on Lake Constance. Although the Tutzing team missed out on winning the German club championship early, they still have a reassuring, albeit not completely uncatchable, points cushion with an eleven-point lead over the Berlin Yacht Club with skipper Max Nickel, which is in fourth place in Überlingen and second in the table.
While the first division teams are positioning themselves once again for their finale at the end of October on the Hamburg outboard, it was all or nothing for many second division teams at the league spectacle on Lake Constance at the weekend. For them, the guest appearance in Überlingen marked the last regatta of the season before the relegation and qualification regattas in the autumn. Watch the live commentary from the final day here.
The two-time club champions from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein with skipper Florian Haufe sailed to sixth place on Lake Constance and moved up to third place in the table. The other way round was the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club, which sailed to third place ahead of Überlingen and is in sixth place in the table. VSaW, skippered by Malte Kamrath, had led the sixth Bundeliga regatta this weekend for a long time, but gave up a possible victory in the twelfth and final race by finishing fifth. After the weekend of sailing in southern Germany with a total of 36 teams and 144 sailors, the Bodensee-Yacht-Club Überlingen (81 points), the Konstanzer Yacht Club (92 points) and the Bayer Uerdingen Sailing Club (97 points), which can no longer be saved, are in the dangerous first league relegation zone.
While the first division teams were positioning themselves for their season finale in Hamburg before Überlingen, for some second division teams it was all or nothing at their last regatta of the season. The second division champions from the Lindauer Segler-Club with skipper Veit Hammeter secured direct promotion, for whom second place in Überlingen was enough for triumph. On the other hand, but with similar success, the Bavarian Yacht Club with helmsman Philipp Hibler won second place on Lake Constance and was directly promoted back to the 1st Bundesliga, from which the Bavarians were relegated only a year ago. Hibler said: "It was a tricky event! Everything was there. The team is experienced and so we were able to adapt well. That was probably the reason for our success. We're really looking forward to the 1st division!" Simon Grotelüschen's crew and his team from Lübecker Yacht-Club secured third place in the second division and thus also direct promotion to the 1st Bundesliga, finishing third ahead of Überlingen and third in the table. In contrast, the Hamburger Segel-Club, the Klub am Rupenhorn from Berlin and the Blankeneser Segel-Club von der Elbe, who finished this second league season in fourth to sixth place, will have to fight for promotion to the 1st Bundesliga on 1 November in Hamburg with the clubs that will be in 13th to 15th place after the Hamburg final.
The last six clubs in the final table have to fight for their second league existence: Segel-Club Münster, Yacht-Club Langenargen, Segel-Club Ville, Seglervereinigung 1903 Berlin, Duisburger Segel-Club and Yachtclub Strelasund as the bottom club have to fight for the six places in the 2nd Bundesliga in the relegation - at the same time qualification for the new league entrants - with probably 54 (!) competing clubs in October off Glücksburg.
Bundesliga co-founder Oliver Schwall was delighted with the outcome of the doubly exciting league weekend in Überlingen: "If there was still a spark for this Bundesliga that hadn't been lit, then it must be a glowing fire. What a great weekend it was! The fans were unbelievable and everywhere, creating a huge atmosphere with standing ovations, chants and large posters on land and on the water. The Überlingen hosts were extremely welcoming, extremely well prepared and professional in their organisation. You could feel so much dedication and passion everywhere. It was infectious."
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
