It began on Friday in a storm with two broken J80 masts and continued in a gentle breeze with the favourites marching through: the relegation to the German Sailing League had attracted 61 club teams and 244 active participants from all over Germany to the north of the republic. The three-day regatta with a total of 87 races got off to a furious start. For the 19 female sailors and 225 male sailors, no fewer than five free places in the 1st Bundesliga and all 18 free places in the newly founded 2nd Bundesliga are at stake in a maximum of ten group races each.
This clearly defined the goal for some of the larger clubs: A place in the top five was a must if the dream of starting in the first division was to become a reality. After the first two days and six races each (12 of the 61 crews had already completed seven races on Saturday evening), the leading Kieler Yacht-Club (KYC), Bodensee-Yacht-Club Überlingen (Andreas Buchert, Klaus-Peter Stengele, Jörg Munck, Joseph Pochhammer) are well on the way to achieving this, Seglervereinigung Itzehoe (Christian Soyka, Stefan Schimkowski, Sören Petersen, Hinnerk Müller), Hamburger Segel-Club (Max Gurgel, Karl Martin Gurgel, Thorben Strube, Daniel Zenker) and Düsseldorfer Yachtclub (Jan-Philipp Hoffmann, Julius Schrader, Patrik Treichel, Nils Henning Hofmann).
After a somewhat shaky start, the co-favourites from Kiel with helmsman Martin Menzner, Mikael Rolfs, Frank Lichte and 49er ace Julian Ramm shocked the competition on Saturday in light wind conditions with four victories in a row. The team from Überlingen with helmsman Steffen Hessberger have won three races so far. The SVI, HSC and DYC each secured two daily victories.
However, behind the leading quintet lurked an armada of other strong clubs before the final on Sunday, who have not yet given up their hopes of making it into the first division. These included large and well-known clubs such as Segelklub Bayer-Uerdingen (7th) and Segelkameradschaft "Das Wappen von Bremen" (12th). But also smaller ones such as the Akademischer Segel-Verein Warnemünde (8th) or the Plöner Segler-Verein von 1908 (10th).
Winds of around ten knots are forecast for the showdown on the J 70 and J 80 yachts, with gusts of up to 17 knots. 34 races are still on the programme until the final decision on the line-up for the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga is made. DSV President Andreas Lochbrunner, who visited the event under sail on Saturday, said: "I like it here among the many sailors very, very much. The organisation is right, the idea is accepted."
There was an exuberant atmosphere among the participating crews during the day and also in the evening when they celebrated together with DHH as their logistics partner. Joachim Hellmich, project manager of DSBL GmbH and relegation helmsman for the Westfälischer Yachtclub Delecke, said: "The standard here ranges from visibly very good to respect for the fact that they all bravely faced the storm on Friday. At our club, we were able to put together the 20-strong squad for the Bundesliga with ease. We were even able to recapture lost youngsters with the project. The youngsters are now on fire again."
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
