The favourites from Hamburger Segel-Club have been beaten in the battle for promotion. The YACHT champions around skipper Max Gurgel, who were among the favourites, had to bow to the strong competition on their home turf of all places.
"We sailed with a plank in front of our heads. There was certainly some nervousness involved. It seems to be our problem to sail under pressure," admitted helmsman Gurgel. The HSC team did not finish higher than fifth in the relegation on Hamburg's Outer Alster in the battle for the three remaining first division places and will now have to compete again in the Second German Sailing League in 2015.
The winners in Hamburg are the Düsseldorfer Yachtclub, the Chiemsee Yacht Club and the Segel- und Motorboot-Club Überlingen in first to third place.
Laser Radial European Champion Svenja Weger and her team from the Potsdam Yacht Club put in a strong final spurt, but it came too late after a botched start. Weger was unable to turn the tide for her Potsdamer Yacht-Club and sailed with the PYC team into the second division. The same applies to the Bavarian Yacht Club around helmsman Ilja Wolf, who bowed out of the 1st Sailing League in the 15th and final race with a second early start in this series.
The three victorious teams, on the other hand, were jubilant. While the Düsseldorfer Yachtclub and the Chiemsee Yacht Club managed to stay in their class, the relegation third-placed team and former second division team from SMCÜ were promoted to the First Sailing Bundesliga.
Jan-Philipp Hofmann sailed for the DYC with Patrick Treichel, Morten Bogacki and Matthias van Holt. Leopold Fricke, Nico Lutz, Florian Lautenschlager and Moritz Fricke were in action for the Chiemsee Yacht Club. Tino Mittelmeier, Christian Zittlau, Frederik and Henrik Schaal won the third and final first division ticket for Bodensee-Yacht-Club Überlingen.
What is striking is that two clubs from a town with a population of around 22,000, the Bodensee-Yacht-Club Überlingen and the Segel- und Motorboot-Club Überlingen, will be first-class teams in the future. In total, four future first division teams will come from Lake Constance (WYC, KYC, BYCÜ, SMCÜ), three from Berlin (VSaW, BYC, YCBG), six from northern Germany (champions NRV, SVI, KYC, FSC, SKWB, WSVH), three more from Bavaria (DTYC, MYC, CYC) and two from central Germany (SKBUe, DYC).
And here are the first division teams for the 2015 season - listed in order of their 2014 season, second division and relegation results:
- North German Regatta Club
- German Touring Yacht Club
- Association Seglerhaus am Wannsee
- Itzehoe Sailing Association
- Württemberg Yacht Club
- Constance Yacht Club
- Lake Constance Yacht Club Überlingen
- Kiel Yacht Club
- Berlin Yacht Club
- Flensburg Sailing Club
- Yacht Club Berlin-Grünau
- Sailing comradeship "Wappen von Bremen"
- Hemelingen Water Sports Club
- Bayer-Uerdingen Sailing Club
- Munich Yacht Club
- Düsseldorf Yacht Club
- Chiemsee Yacht Club
- Überlingen Sailing and Motorboat Club
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
