In the end, it turned out as everyone had expected. Under his white visor, Jochen Schümann surveyed the course and the competition in the final race with his usual skilful eye. His crew from the Yacht Club Berlin-Grünau (YCBG) performed like something out of a textbook. They needed second place in the final race to secure overall victory on the third league weekend of the year. And that's exactly what they got. 56 points were enough for Jochen Schümann, Gunnar Bahr, Ingo Borkowski and Erik Powilleit to triumph in their home city after a total of 45 races over three days.
And this despite the fact that the YCBG quartet had thoroughly messed up the start on Friday with a last place, initially not coping well at all with the light and patchy winds and comparatively high crew weights. On the final day, they even had an early start. But not even that could slow down the "Schümanator" and his fellow competitors.
Three-time Olympic champion and two-time America's Cup winner Schümann told YACHT online shortly before the award ceremony: "We just love sailing on Berlin waters, even if the sailing conditions were very, very difficult this weekend. Our well-rehearsed Olympic team, which has now been more than ten years apart, obviously still works very well. Despite an early start today, it went just as we wanted it to." The bad news for the competition: Schümann is now also considering a start at the final in Hamburg.
The Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV), based there, defended its lead in the standings in Berlin with second place and a total of 53 points. With third place on the Wannsee, the German Touring Yacht Club (48 points) from Bavaria moved up to second place in the table. The host club Seglerhaus am Wannsee (VSaW) is in third place in the table with 43 points after finishing seventh on its home waters. Flensburger Segel-Club moved up to fourth place. Behind them, the Württembergische Yacht-Club, the Yachtclub Berlin-Grünau and the Kieler Yacht-Club are lurking in fifth to seventh place, waiting for their chance to break into the top three.
Things did not go according to plan this weekend for the Mühlenberger Segel-Club (MSC) from the Hamburg Elbe. The young team had to be satisfied with 16th place in Berlin and took over the red lantern at the bottom of the table behind Chiemsee Yachtclub and Düsseldorfer Yachtclub in 16th and 17th place. Lübecker Yacht-Club improved to 14th place. Bodensee-Yacht-Club Überlingen achieved a strong fifth place in Berlin and moved up to tenth place in the table. Andreas Buchert from Bodensee-Yacht-Club Überlingen enthusiastically summarised what the German Sailing League is all about: "When we were promoted after the relegation, the whole town of Überlingen was upside down. When we train, there are always spectators on land. And the press is also very interested."
The fourth of a total of six regattas in the second Bundesliga season will take place off Kiel from 5 to 7 September. The still young championship series for Germany's best sailing clubs ends after the fifth regatta at the end of September off Friedrichshafen with the final weekend from 31 October to 1 November on Hamburg's Outer Alster with the defending champions NRV. The championship celebration of the first division teams also marks the end of a furious sailing week in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg, which begins the weekend before with the YACHT Championship of Champions and the opening of the Hanseboot.
1st German Sailing League, 3rd regatta in Berlin, top ten result:
- Yacht Club Berlin-Grünau (56 points)
- North German Regatta Club (54 points)
- German Touring Yacht Club (51 points)
- Kieler Yacht-Club (46 points)
- Bodensee-Yacht-Club Überlingen (44 points)
- Lübeck Yacht Club (42 points)
- Club Seglerhaus am Wannsee (41 points)
- Flensburger Segel-Club (41 points)
- Württemberg Yacht Club (41 points)
- Berlin Yacht Club (36 points)
Click here for the replay of the live programme on the final day:
Click here for the results of the 3rd Bundesliga regatta and the Bundesliga table at the halfway point of the season:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
