A tricky day in Travemuende

Racing starts for the RS classes while German 18 foot skiff Grand Prix goes to Pindar Radii

The skiff classes at the 118th Travemuende Week are all dominated by British sailors so far. They won the opening races in five RS Eurocups and lead the German 18 Footer Grand Prix on Monday (23 July). Helge and Christian Sach from Zarnekau, Germany, scored another two bullets in the Olympic Tornado class holding back the Russian’s Chekrygin/Seleznev. The brothers are just about to celebrate their twelfth overall win.

The wind on the Bay of Luebeck had been fickle again on the third racing day. But a minimum one race could be finished in all classes before the wind died early afternoon and didn’t increase in time again. “It was partly cloudy so a constant sea breeze couldn’t build,” explained weather expert Meeno Schrader of WetterWelt in Kiel.

The direction of wind and the proximity to the beach spectator area meant the 20 storey high Hotel Maritim was going to play a big part in the shifty conditions of the day for the 18 foot Skiff racing close to shore.

Three races were run in anything between 6-12knots, but it was the shifts and velocity changes of the breeze which was to sort out the rankings. Pindar Radii (GBR), read the breeze well in the first race and added to their perfect score sheet of the previous day. Ed Browne in Gill / Wet and Wild Graphics (GBR) also consolidated their second place overall holding off the ever improving UTI (SUI) who they pipped into 2nd place.

In the second race GE Commercial Finance (GBR) pulled out a huge lead from the start never to be challenged, finally finding some of their form that won them the second round of the championship in Lake Garda in June. Pindar Radii however fought back from down the fleet after a poor first beat, and with a well judged first downwind leg slipped into second place. Gill / Wet and Wild kept their title hopes alive by pulling up to third.

The third race saw again Pindar Radii pull off a perfect committee boat end start to lead the fleet round the top mark, but this race was certainly a test of nerves with the dying breeze bringing with even larger oscillations. The lead changed half a dozen times down the first downwind leg, with eventually Bodotex (DEN) and GE Commercial Finance leading the fleet at the bottom mark. Pindar Radii managed to squeeze round in third, but after a well judged second beat managed to claw back into first place, this time not conceding the lead. The others held their places, with a surprise finish form the German team of GER5 popping in a championship best 4th place.

This now leaves Pindar Radii with a unassailable lead with two races to go, and gives them the German Grand Prix title. The fight for second place is a tight one with all to play for between GE Commercial Finance and Gill / Wet and Wild Graphics.

Results (6 races, 1 discard, 16 starters)

1st Pindar Radii (GBR) 5pts
2nd Gill / Wet and Wild Graphics (GBR) 13pts
3rd GE Commercial Finance (GBR) 14pts
4th UTI (SUI) 22pts
5th Bodotex (DEN) 25pts
6th GP Covers (DEN) 30 pts

In the European RS competitionr the late start (13.00) and the weather pattern caused difficulties. Due to lack of wind in the most athletic class, the RS 700, just four sailors finished in time.

Rob Chaplin established a large lead with only three fellow countrymen managing to cross the finish line within the limit of 20 minutes. The German sailors Christian Brandt and Max Doehler were among those who parked. “Finally the wind died completely,” said Brandt. “Shortening the course would have been saved our life but the race committee continued.”

The 20-year-old Grotelueschen saw the yellow flag on the final beat of Laser race four. Because he already got a penalty the day before he had to abandon the fourth race immediately scoring a DSQ. “The jury said I benefited by tacking too often in short sequences,” reported the current German Junior Champion. Because the disqualification couldn’t be discarded yet after four races the young sailor of the organizing Luebeck Yacht Club lost his overall lead. In the provisional result he his placed ninth. A fifth race was abandoned due to lack of wind but is scheduled for Tuesday (24 July) before the final medal race starts. Grotelueschen: “Hopefully there is enough wind for both.”

Helge and Christian Sach are happy after passing half of the Tornado competition. Finishing five races they are already seven points ahead of the second placed Russians Alexey Chekrygin/Valeriy Seleznev. The local heroes scored two bullets but only the second was predominant when the duo was seven minutes ahead.

The next races are scheduled for Tuesday (24 July) in all classes starting 11.30 h. Decisions: 470s, Laser, and Laser Radial, 420s, 18 Footer. Weather forecast is similar to Monday.

Results day 3 of the 118th Travemuende Week

RS 800 Eurocup
1st race: 1st Alastair and Penny Shires (UK), 2nd Andrew and Vicky Gould
(UK), 3rd Björn and Moana Munko (Wachtberg, Germany), 4th David
Holenweg/Laureline Chevalley (Switzerland), 5th Peter Barton/Bonnie Moody
(UK), 6th Graham Simmonds/Chris Doe (UK).

RS 700 Eurocup
1st race: 1st Rob Chaplin (UK), 2nd Jon Heissig (UK), 3rd Nigel Walbank
(UKn), 4. Mark Pollington (UK), all others missed the time limit.

RS 600 Eurocup
1st race: 1st David Annan (UK), 2nd Andy Heissig (UK), 3rd Richard Mayo
(UK), 4th Martin Fear (UK), 5th Tony Mitchell (UK), 6th John Archer (UK).

RS 400 Eurocup
1st race: 1st Stephen und Robertson (UK), 2nd Giles und Heather Chipperfield
(UK), 3rd Ian Robson/Sandy Johnson (UK), 4th Howard Farbrother/Louise Hosken
(UK), 5th Richard Graham-Enock/Roland Walker (UK), 6th Kevin O'Brien/Uel
Webb (UK).

RS 200 Eurocup
1st race: 1st Roy McCubbin/Kirsty McSeveney (UK), 2nd Nicholas
Charles/Juliet Kingsnorth (UK), 3rd Trudie Fell/Peter Cruikshank (UK), 4th
Ian Pickard/Lucy Matthews (UK), 5th Peter Vincent/Liz Madam Teague (UK), 6th
Paul Dorer/Ian Robertson (UK)

German Junior Championship Laser Class
Ranking after four races: 1st Malte Kamrath (Berlin, Germany) 11 points; 2nd
Danny Redlich (Berlin, Germany) 19; 3rd Frithjof Schwerdt (Berlin, Germany)
19; 4th Philipp Tanger (Samtens, Germany) 27; 5th Jan Kowalski (Berlin,
Germany) 29; 6th Johannes Glitzky (Berlin, Germany) 34.

German Grand Prix 18 Footer
Ranking after six races: 1st Richards/Fairley/Richards (Switzerland) 5
points; 2nd Browne/Tait/Oliver (UK) 13; 3rd Woodworth/Brown/Hamilton (UK)
14; 4th Rueger/Marti/Schürch (Switzerland) 22; 5th
Broendum/Holst/Friderichsen (Denmark) 25; 6th Clausen/Ebler/Clausen
(Denmark) 30.

Olympic classes

470
Overall ranking after five races: 1st Veit Hemmeter/Martin Hostenkamp
(Lindau, Germany) 7 points; 2nd Kristof Doffing/Jan Kaminski (Darmstadt,
Germany) 9; 3rd Monica Rodal/Veronica Vold (Norway) 11; 4th Inga und Kristin
Runge (Stuttgart, Germany) 15; 5th Neele Hiller/Catrin Janssen (Oldenburg,
Germany) 17; 6th Nina Beckmann/Alexander Körner (Steinheim, Germany) 18.

Laser Radial
Overall ranking after four races: 1st Matthias Brühl (Hamburg, Germany) 8
points; 2nd Raisa Chekashkina (Russia) 11; 3rd Jonathan Töpfer (Hamburg,
Germany) 15; 4th Moritz Student (Stockelsdorf, Germany) 16; 5th Carsten
Beister (Berlin, Germany) 16; 6th Julian Kaduk (Luebeck, Germany) 23.

Laser
Overall ranking after four races: 1st Malte Kamrath (Berlin, Germany) 13
points; 2nd Alexander Schlonski (Rostock, Germany) 19; 3rd Frithjof Schwerdt
(Berlin, Germany) 22; 4th Danny Redlich (Berlin, Germany) 23; 5th Philipp
Tanger (Samtens, Germany) 33; 6th Jan Kowalski (Berlin, Germany) 34.

Laser U19
Overall ranking after four races: 1st Jan Kowalski (Berlin, Germany) 17
points; 2nd Michael Zittlau (Owingen, Germany) 18; 3rd Oltmann Thyen
(Luebeck, Germany) 19; 4th Johannes Glitzky (Berlin, Germany) 20; 5th Max
Eysholdt (Berlin, Germany) 30; 6th Tobias Feuerherdt (Brandenburg, Germany)
31.

Tornado
Overall ranking after five races: 1st Helge und Christian Sach (Zarnekau,
Germany) 4 points; 2nd Alexey Chekrygin/Valeriy Seleznev (Russia) 11; 3rd
Nils Bunkenburg/Susanne Hahn (Surendorf, Germany) 12; 4th Pavel
Sozykin/Vitaly Russu (Russia) 12; 5th Christina und Florian Loweg
(Stuttgart, Germany) 19; 6th Swen Schnell/Michaela Kirsten (Grossensee,
Germany) 29.