The Bundesliga football season is almost over. Only HSV and Greuther Fürth have to sit in detention, tremble, fight and determine in the relegation play-off who will remain or be in the first division in future. For Germany's sailors, however, the Bundesliga is only just beginning next weekend. 18 club teams with league squads of up to 20 club members each will be sailing for the first points of the new season on Lake Starnberg from 16 to 18 May, hosted by the Bayerischer Yacht-Club.
Germany's most successful sailor Jochen Schümann is one of the initiators and says: "The new German Sailing League has heralded a real renaissance of team sailing in the clubs, which are now participating in a series together and with a great deal of enthusiasm. It's a kind of cultural revolution that is inspiring sailors and the media. Now we have to keep working to make the league even more attractive and consistent."
Both an honour and a burden
The Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) from Hamburg will start the series as the hunted top favourite to win the title, at the end of which the German Sailing Club Champion will be crowned after a total of six regattas, following the example of the German Football League. NRV team manager and tactician Klaus Lahme said: "The role of title defender is both an honour and a burden. You no longer get into the boat as an individual sailor, but for your club.
This season's co-favourites once again include major clubs such as the Württembergische Yacht-Club from Lake Constance, the Chiemsee Yacht-Club, the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club and Jochen Schümann's Yachtclub Berlin-Grünau. The three-time Olympic champion will be competing in the Berlin Bundesliga on the Wannsee from 22 to 24 August.
However, smaller clubs and newcomers from the relegation are not to be underestimated either. The team from Mühlernberger Segel-Club, with 25-time German sailing champion Frank Schönfeldt at the helm, has modest goals but is full of enthusiasm. "I still have one more German championship title than Bayern with their 24," joked the clown, "but seriously: as Hamburgers, we have learnt one thing above all from the footballers and handballers this season: just don't get relegated! We are travelling to Starnberg with awe, but also with ambition, to see how it goes against the Bavarians of sailing, i.e. the NRV, and the other greats. They were already in a class of their own when we trained together on the Alster ..."
The upper house of German sailing, which was launched last year by the Hamburg Concept Shipyard, the Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga GmbH in Hamburg and the German Sailing League Association (Vereinigung der Liga-Vereine) in co-operation with the German Sailing Association, has now also grown: 18 more clubs make up the 2nd league, which has already begun with the spring relegation off Flensburg.
The Champions League to follow
The German idea has already been copied in Denmark and implemented this year. Other countries want to follow suit. A European Champions League is being planned. An invitational regatta in the autumn should give a first taste of this. Leading European clubs will be invited to Germany to sail against the new German club champion.
The Starnberg opener will be followed in Germany by meetings in Travemünde, Berlin, Kiel and Friedrichshafen before the champions are crowned in Hamburg on 2 November. All regattas will be broadcast live on the Internet.
German Sailing League
Dates 2014
1st Sailing Bundesliga
1st National League Regatta (Starnberg, Bavarian Yacht Club): 16 - 18 May
2nd Bundesliga Regatta (Travemünde, Lübecker Yacht-Club): 19 - 21 July
3rd Bundesliga Regatta (Berlin, Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee): 22 - 24 August
4th Bundesliga Regatta (Kiel, Kieler Yacht-Club): 5 - 7 September
5th Bundesliga Regatta (Friedrichshafen, Württembergischer Yacht-Club), 26 - 28 September
6th Bundesliga Regatta (Hamburg, Norddeutscher Regatta Verein): 31 October to 2 November
2nd Sailing Bundesliga
Relegation/1st regatta (Flensburg, Flensburger Segel-Club), already sailed
2nd Regatta (Tutzing, Deutscher Touring Yacht-Club), 23 - 25 May
3rd regatta (Friedrichshafen, Konstanzer Yacht-Club), 26 - 28 September
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
