Warnemuender Woche concludes

Anne Hinton reports from the big winds final days of this regatta and enthuses about the venue

The last two days of Warnemuender Woche saw winds in excess of 18 knots, reaching 25+ on occasions. This followed a day when winds were so light and shifty that only the dinghies managed to get a race in. On the last two days some competitors stayed ashore, but others went on racing - to success and/or gear breakages.

The Yngling class was due to have a start at Warnemuender, but no one entered. All the Olympic boats are now in Greece. The class was also down to only three boats at Kieler Woche. A conflicting event laid on in Greece drew the Olympic contestants south. For the German team of Wagner, Hoell and Lochbrunner, who had instructions from the Deutsche Segel Verein to enter Kieler Woche, together with the rest of the German Olympic sailing team, this meant a frustrating time. Only two other Ynglings came to Kiel - the Olympic contestants from the Ukraine and Russia. With one of the Russian crew sick with chicken pox, they were left match racing the Ukranians in all but one race. Furthermore, bad weather cancelled some race days. Altogether not the best send-off from Germany for the Olympic Yngling crew - who have now joined their opposition in Greece.

The Stars were also away from Warnemuende and the 49ers at Lake Garda for their European Championships. All the other Olympic classes were present in Warnemuende, but, in the second half of the week, without current Olympic representatives.

Most competitors in the Olympic classes were German, but Britain did have a representative in the Finn class. Mark Andrews, from Largs, who started sailing a Finn less than a year ago. Andrews improved considerably on his performance from Kieler Woche to finish second in Warnemuende. His worst placing in the 30-strong fleet was a fourth - and that in the light and shifty conditions. The winner, local sailor Andre Budzien, had a worse placing to discard than Andrews. Andrews is clearly enjoying the Finn and is planning an Olympic campaign for 2008.

The OK dinghies had a strong and international fleet in Warnemuende, again with British presence. Gavin Walter finished eighth in the 30-strong fleet. His friend, and training partner in Warnemuende, Greg Wilcox, from New Zealand (World Champion two years ago) ended in sixth place. Neither Walter nor Wilcox enjoyed the first race, in light and variable winds, but both placed consistently higher thereafter. Wilcox was lying third (his
placing at Kieler Woche this year was also a third) going into the last race. On the final day he slammed into a wave in the moderate conditions and the main halyard on his borrowed boat gave way. Result: end of race for Wilcox and, with only one discard, a drop to sixth overall.

The OKs are now off to Poole for their World Championships. The first two placed boats at Warnemuende, Karsten Hitz (Germany) and Jorgen Lindthardtsen (Denmark) are both two-time OK World Champions and were using this event as a final tune-up for this year’s Worlds.

The Solings, a former Olympic class, were present in Warnemuende. The clear winners, with a string of only first placings, were Heiko Winkler, Stefan Wenzel and Jens Niemann. Winkler and co. have been sailing Solings for more than ten years and have been known to claim the scalp of multiple German Soling Olympic medallist Jochen Schuemann on occasion.

The International H-Boats were, as at Kiel, again present in force at Warnemuende. Leaders at the end of day one, with 2-1-2 placings, were the Henri Lloyd team from Berlin. However, things went pear-shaped for the trio on the final day. In race one their main traveller broke and in race two it was the jib that tore apart. Andre Schenten and crew from Essen were waiting in the wings and jumped on the opportunity to take first
overall, with two second placings in the last two races. Top boat on the last day, with two race wins, was the Kiel-based team skippered by Harald Wefers. This was enough to get them second overall, ahead of Kausen and co. on Henri Lloyd.

Next year things will change at Warnemuender Woche. A new marina and accompanying complex with hotels and flats is being built on the other side of the Warnow river from the pretty, old town. The locals find the marina charges very expensive. Since the yacht club is currently on the Alter Strom, on the west bank of the Warnow, the prospect of having many of the boats on the other side of the busy ferry port (ferries go regularly to Denmark, Sweden and Finland from Warnemuende), may change the atmosphere of the event. However, nothing can change the excellent sailing waters here - just off the open coast, no distance from shore.

All the many competitors to whom I spoke are agreed: this would make an excellent venue for Olympic sailing. Since the bid for 2012 has failed, one sign has already been altered to look towards this as the sailing venue for 2016. Former OK World Champion, and Judge at Kieler Woche this year, New Zealander Greg Wilcox commented “It would be a great venue for the Olympics. It’s generally really good. There’s hardly any current and it’s only wind-driven, which is the same as everywhere on the Baltic. The wind’s probably better than anywhere else. This is Germany’s best kept secret. Jochen Schuemann [the triple Olympic gold medallist] trained here. It’s a great venue. We’re going to hold the OK Worlds here in 2007, I hope.”

Sooner or later the Olympics MUST come here. The sailing waters, and shoreside facilities, are too good to miss!