Report: DSV squadron trip to Helgoland takes cruising sailors in new directions
Ursula Meer
· 08.07.2025
To the applause of hundreds of guests, Claudia, Karl-Heinz and daughter Isabel accept their prize in the North Sea Hall, almost in disbelief. They have sailed to third place in the Capitell Cup Rund Helgoland! But that's not all: they sailed the Elbe and North Sea on their own keel for the first time. They reached Heligoland and sailed round it.
This is anything but a matter of course for the owners of a Hallberg Rassy 372, declared Baltic sailors moored in Neustadt. "I was quite shocked that we won the prize! We just sailed as we always do," says Karl-Heinz.
Also interesting:
They were able to do just that, as they raced together with a dozen other boats outside the classification of the other regattas at the traditional North Sea Week. "DSV-Geschwaderfahrt" is the name of the new format they have joined. A trip from Kiel-Schilksee to Helgoland and back, accompanied by a boat with a DSV crew. DSV President Mona Küppers calls it "supervised sailing" - more by mistake - in her laudatory speech at the award ceremony and immediately retracts the term apologetically. However, the last few days have shown that it applies in the best sense of the word.
Preparations for the squadron trip
For many, the voyage into the unknown began in Kiel-Holtenau. The huge lock and the Kiel Canal (NOK) behind it with its own navigation regulations require a little preparation. However, the DSV crew essentially takes care of this for the squadron. Every evening, Rainer Tatenhorst, head of the association's sailing department, explains the navigational peculiarities that await them, while others help unsure crews with their manoeuvres.
On the sunny Monday evening before Whitsun, everyone has a barbecue together in the harbour of the Rendsburg regatta club. Behind them are the first lock and canal trip, two of many points on the list of new sailing terrain to be successfully ticked off. It is the first social opportunity for the crews to get to know each other better. They are couples, families or friends, all more or less experienced sailors. However, there are still uncertainties about what to expect. They can be openly named, the atmosphere is characterised by a willingness to help, the participants are refreshingly unpretentious.
Wind and weather are an issue, and the forecasts are not too favourable for the first trip across the open North Sea. The flotilla ranges between a Bavaria 32 and a sporty Xp 44, skippered by former DSV president Andy Lochbrunner.
Karl "Kalle" Dehler and his D38c "Sporthotel" are also in the group. The next evening, the "Kick", a club-run Dubois 40, a real, albeit old, regatta yacht, will join them. It is to be expected that the squadron will not always sail within sight of each other after passing the NOK. Some crews are keeping their minds open as to whether they will actually cross over to Helgoland, and are feeling their way along stage by stage.
Welcome to the North Sea!
The following day, we first head to Brunsbüttel for a relaxed, sunny canal trip. One after the other, the boats moor in the evening in the small harbour next to the lock. Packets form, the standard for the next few days.
At the evening briefing, Rainer Tatenhorst explains the stage for the following day. The 15 miles or so to Cuxhaven are also the first in the tidal area for most of them. And so there is a lot of new information to consider: from the tide on the Elbe to the resulting departure time in the morning and the correct sailing behaviour on the busy river. The explanations save the crews a lot of research and planning.
Team spirit is evident in the lock the next morning. The jetties only have rings for mooring and are also very deep. Some courageously climb down and help the others. Hoisting them back on board later requires helping hands again.
A lock keeper watches the spectacle, seemingly bored, until he has his turn at the exit: "You can do it quicker!" he calls after the yachts, but behind a broad grin, a rough cordiality is revealed. Welcome to the North Sea!
The first clichés are already played out behind the lock gate with a stiff, cold breeze. The Bavaria 32 "Lisa" is the smallest boat in the fleet and trails behind the other boats high up in the wind. On board are three friends, Enno, Wolfgang and Stephan, who have been regularly chartering yachts together in the Mediterranean for a good 25 years. They still have vague plans to circumnavigate England on their own keel in the next few years or to take part in the Pantaenius Round Skagen Regatta. Starting today, they will be gathering their first experience.
If it weren't for the weather forecast
The ebb current on the Elbe causes the speed of the little "Lisa" to jump above ten knots for a few seconds before levelling off at a brisk seven to eight. The short trip to Cuxhaven seems almost too short a pleasure, until later in the morning gusts of 7 Beaufort bring the boats of the squadron into a bad lopsided position within seconds. All the boats were quickly reefed to a minimum cloth size, and many a crew would later recount in Cuxhaven how these capricious weather conditions had increased their respect for the trip to Helgoland.
Accompanied by the sound of heavy showers on a tent roof, Tatenhorst explains the course to get there in the evening. It wouldn't be very spectacular if it weren't for the weather forecast! South-westerly winds with strong gusts and showers on Thursday. Strong winds on Whit Monday, the day of the planned return journey. One crew finds it too unsafe and pulls out.
On Thursday morning, the other crews get ready to cast off. Only one of them pushes harbour trolleys with empty canisters across the jetty to his boat instead. "I've told my family a thousand times to look after it," explains the skipper, "and now I've filled the diesel tank with water myself!"
The fact that his journey is not over at this point is thanks to the quick help of the DSV team. They put him in touch with the shipyard, which provided empty canisters and took delivery of the watery diesel. Together, canisters are transported on and off board until this boat is also ready to go.
Team spirit for sailing challenges
Kalle Dehler's "Sporthotel" glides down the Elbe at high speed. He has already left plenty of nautical miles in the wake of ocean races. And now supervised sailing? "As a sailing pensioner, I no longer have to prove anything to myself," says Dehler with a wink. "We can take a very relaxed approach here."
Well, almost - the "Sporthotel" passes most of the squadron boats; the Dehler family motto "Go ahead, we'll wait for you" seems to be confirmed. Only the aged but still speedy racing yacht "Kick" cannot be caught up with and is the first to moor on Helgoland.
One by one, the other boats arrive and at the same time dark clouds with heavy showers and squalls unload. Despite the horizontally lashing rain, the crews on all the boats are ready to help. Lines are handed out, fenders adjusted and shrouds pushed away until the spook is over.
In the following days, a trip to the dune and a guided tour of the island's lower and upper land are on the programme. Up there, Enno from the "Lisa" summarises: "It was all new sailing territory for me. I didn't know the harbours from sailing, nor the tides. The learning curve from these five days is pretty steep." After all, he adds, the trip was organised, "but we did a lot of it ourselves. And that's the only way to gain experience."
Heart-stopping moments during the DSV squadron trip
Down in the harbour, the North Sea Week picks up speed. The boats of the feeder regattas fill the harbour basin, and in the evening there is a party. It's the kind of high seas regatta hustle and bustle that the participants in the squadron trip would hardly have ventured into on their own. But on Whitsun Sunday, in a sporty 18 to 25 knots of wind, they even sail their way up the ranks.
But above all, lasting memories: in a figure of eight, first around the island with its red cliffs and the striking "Lange Anna", then around Düne. In between, they join the fields of other yachts on the lanes. Heart-stopping moments that make you forget your initial worries.
Rainer Tatenhorst also wrote to them at the end of the trip: "You are all pioneers, and everyone has won in their own way. The squadron trip was an experiment and will certainly become an institution within the DSV thanks to your participation and enthusiasm."
The next joint cruise will take place in two years' time.
