After two wins in a row, the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein has to hand over the championship trophy to the Deutscher Touring Yacht-Club (DTYC) in the third season of the still young Bundesliga. The Bavarian team led by helmsman Julian Stückl with Patrick Follmann, Phil Blinn and Luis Tarabochia secured third place in the league final on Hamburg's Outer Alster and the championship trophy, which now goes to Bavaria after two years in Hamburg. Olympic participant Patrick Follmann commented on the South Germans' recipe for success: "We were well positioned for all conditions. Our consistency has helped, and the club's concept of showing ambitious juniors new prospects by participating in the Bundesliga has paid off."
With an average age of 23.5 years, the DTYC crew was one of the youngest teams in the league. "The speed of the format and the intensity of the decision-making requires young and capable minds," said league manager Joachim Hellmich about this trend. The Bundesliga has revitalised the German club world in sailing. "The German clubs love this format," said Hellmich, who thanked not only the partners, but especially the volunteers in the clubs: "They carry the league, without them this level of performance in the league would not be possible. On the other hand, the clubs see what the league can do for them. All in all, it works really well!"
The Berlin Yacht Club (BYC) with helmsman Philipp Bruhns, Valentin Gebhardt, Max Wohlfeil and Max Nickel secured victory in the seventh and final premier league regatta of 2015 and thus also the runner-up championship. The crew from the Munich Yacht Club took second place in Hamburg. The two-time German club champions and final hosts from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein had to be satisfied with eighth place on their home turf, but that was enough to secure third place on the podium at the championship ceremony. The season ended on a conciliatory note for the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club, which moved up to fourth place in the final ranking of the 1st Bundesliga with seventh place in the Hanseatic city.
With the winners and runners-up of the Bundesliga, the participants in the 2016 Champions League have also been finalised: the German Touring Yacht Club, the Berlin Yacht Club and the North German Regatta Club will represent Germany at European level in next year's fast-growing Champions League. The clubs in 16th to 18th place have been relegated to the 2nd Bundesliga: Bodensee-Yacht-Club Überlingen, Konstanzer Yacht Club and Segelklub Bayer-Uerdingen will be in the second division next year.
Three other first division clubs - Düsseldorfer Yachtclub, Segelkameradschaft Wappen von Bremen and Jochen Schümann's Yachtclub Berlin-Grünau - will have to enter the relegation play-off, where they will face three second division clubs on Sunday and sail a maximum of twelve races for promotion or relegation. Only the best three clubs in this competition will be in first class in 2016. Because the weather forecast for Sunday had promised little to no wind, the decision would be postponed until the rescheduling in spring 2016 in the event of a possible cancellation of this one-day relegation.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
