That was impressive: off Travemünde, the crew of the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein sailed as if they had an invisible outboard motor with them. Helmsman Tobias Schadewaldt, Klaas Höpcke, Daniel Reichart and Florian Weser took six wins, five second places and two third places in 16 races. There were hardly any runaways at the bottom. For the second time this season, an NRV quartet won with a 10-point lead (36 points) and took the three-time German club champions back to the top of the table. Second place was secured by the Württembergische Yacht-Club (46 points) ahead of the Chiemsee Yacht Club (47 points) at the league weekend during the Travemünder Woche. In the Bundesliga table, the two clubs - the other way round - are in second and third place behind the Hanseatic team from the Alster. Here, however, the top trio is closer together: The NRV leads with only 10 points on the league account ahead of the Chiemsee Yacht Club (11 points) and the Württemberg Yacht Club (15 points).
"The whole series went well. We had good starts and always got round the course well. The starts, perfect communication on board and the boat speed brought us to the front. The result is far better than we expected," said Tobias Schadewaldt. The otherwise successful team led by Jan Seekamp from Wassersport-Verein Hemelingen experienced the three days in Travemünde very differently. The team had already reported three races before the end of the series: "Yesterday was a pitch-black day for us. Lots of mistakes, bad luck and pig races left us in 17th place after 13 flights going into the final day. We only have three races left to make up for this disaster. Keep your fingers crossed for us." In the end, the Hemelingen team finished the regatta in 16th place.
On this long, midsummer league weekend, however, the winners of the 2nd Bundesliga matches held in parallel as part of the Travemünde Week achieved a double success for Hamburg: Simon Magnus, Till Krüger, Finn Olsen and Ole von Studnitz won the regatta for the Mühlenberger Segel-Club, beating Silke Basedow's crew from the Hamburger Segel-Club with Lamberto Cesari, Maren Hahlbrock and Luisa Kröger into second place. Third place went to the Schwerin Yacht Club. The local heroes from Lübecker Yacht-Club finished in mid-table in sixth place after a total of 48 races. Lübecker Segler-Verein came 14th, falling short of their own expectations.
Thousands of spectators watched the exciting races live on a big screen on the beach and in the SAP Sailors Lounge in a summery atmosphere. ZDF sports reporter Alexander Ruda and alternating co-commentators helped swimmers and onlooking non-sailors to understand the exciting sport of sailing with clear graphics and useful explanations.
The next stop for the 36 clubs in the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga is Berlin. From 24 to 26 August, the sailors will be competing at the host club Seglerhaus am Wannsee.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
