Wooden boats are not just objects to be cherished. Even with their varnish, planks and decades of boatbuilding expertise, every metre is fiercely contested at the mark. Yet every manoeuvre is performed with a touch of respect, for these hulls embody years of labour and stories. At the wooden boat regatta in NRV That was exactly what we saw. Classic Dragons, 12-foot dinghies and H-jolles lined up at the start, making a total of 28 boats. Saturday brought wind, but not a gentle one. Wind speeds fluctuated between 8 and 23 knots across the course. It was precisely this range that characterised the races and put crews and boats to the test.
New race committee
For Alexander Prinz zu Schleswig-Holstein, it was a special edition. After many years, he was in charge of race management for the wooden boat regatta for the first time. The NRV Vice-Commodore thus took on a regatta with its own traditions and a field that knows exactly how this event should run. The fact that the change went almost unnoticed is a compliment in itself. When the wind is there, sailing takes place. When it failed to materialise on Sunday, the event was not artificially extended; instead, the prize-giving ceremony was held in a fitting setting.
The race committee made the most of the windy conditions on Saturday. In the end, three races were counted in the results for the Wooden Dragons, and four each for the 12-foot dinghies and H-jolies.
Clear results
In the wooden dragon class, Niklas Ganssauge, alongside Sven Kruse and Marcus Baur, left little to be desired. The team won the Julius Gahde Memorial Prize with four points, having finished first, first and second. Sönke Bruhns, together with Christiane Bruhns and Moritz Almes, finished second with eight points, whilst Jan-Christoph Maiwaldt, together with Stefan Hitschfel and Nils Bauer, came third with twelve points.
Torsten Keller came out on top in the Alster Cup for 12-foot dinghies. After four races and one discard, he finished top with five net points. It was a close contest behind him: Peer Stemmler and Dittmer Behrmann both finished on six net points. Stemmler came second, Behrmann third.
Real gems
In the H-Jolle class, Jan Korf and Oliver Wendt took first place. Max Augustin and David Heitzig, who are usually at home in the fast Melges 32 class, entered the competition with an H-Jolle they had bought on eBay and refurbished themselves. The “Juwel” not only has a lovely name, but sails just as well: second place on its debut. The H-Jolle skippered by Cecilia Ruppert and Lars Hückstädt followed in third place.
Sunday turned out to be the exact opposite of Saturday, just as forecast. The crews returned to the NRV, the race committee waited, but the Alster no longer provided a steady breeze. At the prize-giving ceremony, Alexander Prinz of Schleswig-Holstein spoke of a wonderful regatta with a very special atmosphere and this special bond among wooden boat enthusiasts.
