Tough conditions

Wednesday saw the 18 foot skiffs finish racing while the RS classes are getting into their stride at Travemuende Week

Wednesday at Travemuende Week was the final day of the German 18ft Skiff Grand Prix brought with it finally some sunny skies and promise of a decent breeze - however on the horizon was the possibility of some storms so the race officer got the fleet out early to try and squeeze in the two remaining races.

Pindar Radii (GBR) having sewn up the series already were just spectators for the real battle taking place for second overall between Gill / Wet and Wild Graphics (GBR) and GE Commercial Finance (GBR). In the pre-start of the first race, a classic americas dial-up began between the two, both of them using the spectator fleet and committee boat to their full advantage in trying to get on each others tail - GE had the better discard so it was in their interest to get Gill down the fleet, however after a few minutes of duelling, it was Gill who came out on top even managing to get a penalty on GE for a simple port/starboard infringement. This left GE off the back of the start while Gill managed to get away mid fleet.

At the top mark it was the ever present Bodotex (DEN) who led the fleet, followed by Pindar Radii. On the downwind however they overhauled the Danes to take the lead and were only challenged near the end, taking their 6 th bullet of the series and re-inforcing their lead at the top of the rankings. GE raced through the field but only managed to get up to 5th, and meanwhile Gill had managed to creep up to 2nd, therefore ensuring the second place overall.

With black clouds on the horizon, the race comittee wisely decided to send everyone ashore, and sure enough 30 mins later a torrential downpour with associated lighting and thunder duly arrived. So the end of another eventful series - Pindar Radii stamping their authority on the event while the series contenders GE Commercial and Gill and to make do with runner up podium positions.

Next event starts this Thursday for Round 4 in Sonderborg, Denmark.

Results ( 7 races, 1 discard, 16 starters)
1st Pindar Radii (GBR) 6 pts
2nd Gill / Wet and Wild Graphics (GBR) 15 pts
3rd GE Commercial Finance (GBR) 19 pts
4th UTI (SUI) 25 pts
5th Bodotex (DEN) 31 pts
6th PICA (GBR) 36 pts

In the RS Classes breathtaking manoeuvres and capsizing could be seen on the course area Foxtrot. The fast RS skiffs fought with the choppy waves off the coast off Brodten and for some crews the force five to six was already too much and they stayed ashore.

Others had broken rudders and problems with the sails. But the top sailors of the class were pretty happy with the strong wind after two difficult days at the beginning of the sailing week with just one race in light conditions. “That’s what we were dreaming of,” said Christian Brandt from Hamburg, Germany, who is one of those getting the fleet to sail in Travemuende.

Brandt, who sails one of the ambitious RS 700 boats capsized once, managed all three races and placed overall sixth (16 points). The English sailors Rob Chaplin and Nigel Walbank are tied on the first place both having four points. “They are simply the best in the fleet,” said Brandt. Also in the classes RS 200, 400, 600 and 800 the British sailors demonstrated their pre-eminence.

Day six on Thursday marks a change of classes on the water. Eleven new classes including the Formula 18 catamarans with the title holders Helge und Christian Sach and several more skiffs start their Travemuende Week. The RS sailors are going finish the Eurocup.

The 18-year-old Tania Tammling from Heist, Germany is the new international German Junior Champion of the Europe class. She won her competition on Monday (25 July) at the 118th Travemuende Week but it was pretty tight. The brothers Helge and Christian Sach from Zarnekau, Germany marked their twelfth Travemuende Week victory, this time in the Olympic Tornado class. In fresh to strong winds the RS skiffs showed spectacular Eurocup races.

"I actually prefer light winds. But anyway, also in strong gusts when it was really exhausting, I had fun”, said Tammling after the eighth race finishing seventh. And that was necessary, because her tough chaser, Fabian Kirchhoff from Herford (Germany) placed third and was tied all over sudden. Finally the girl won due to her two bullets the days before.

Two well-known sailors have been greeted during the prize giving of the Tornado class by race officer Peter Ramcke. The local heroes Helge and Christian Sach from Zarnekau, Germany were on the top of the podium twelve times now. “It seems to be taken for granted but it was again a tough fight,” said the brothers after their triumph. In the end, they were four points ahead of the Russians Alexey Chekrygin and Valeriy Seleznev but didn’ t score another bullet in three strong wind races.

International German Junior Championship Europe
Final result after eight races: 1st Tania Tammling (Heist, Germany) 19
points; 2nd Fabian Kirchhoff (Herford, Germany) 19; 3rd Julian Carlsdotter
(Heikendorf, Germany) 23; 4th Philipp Rosenberg (Hamburg, Germany) 33; 5th
Jasper Fischer (Holzwickede, Germany) 35; 6th Stefanie Holste (Ritterhude,
Germany) 39.

RS 800 Eurocup
Overall ranking after four races: 1st Peter Barton/Bonnie Moody (UK) 4
points; 2. Andy Cornah/Orwin Murray (UK) 6; 3rd Graham Simmonds/Chris Doe
(UK) 8; 4th Andrew Gould/Vicky Gould (UK) 13; 5th Alastair Shires/Penny
Shires (UK) 14; 6th Daniel Hare/Jamie Hare (UK) 15.

RS 700 Eurocup
Overall ranking after four races: 1st Rob Chaplin (UK) 4 points; 2nd Nigel
Walbank (UK) 4; 3rd Jon Heissig (UK) 15; 4th Ian Nolan (UK) 15; 5th Mark
Pollington (UK) 15; 6th Christian Brandt (Hamburg, Germany) 16.

RS 600 Eurocup
Overall ranking after four races: 1st David Annan (UK) 4 points; 2nd Andy
Heissig (UK) 5; 3rd Martin Fear (UK) 9; 4th Tony Mitchell (UK) 9; 5th John
Archer (UK) 17; 6th Richard Mayo (UK) 19.

RS 400 Eurocup
Overall ranking after four races: 1st Ian Robson/Sandy Johnson (UK) 3
points; 2nd Howard Farbrother/Louise Hosken (UK) 8; 3rd Giles
Chipperfield/Heather Chipperfield (UK) 9; 4th John Cooper/Becci Wigley (UK)
13; 5th Bill Handley/Lynda Handley (UK) 14; 6th Simon Horsefield/Lea Herod
(Korbeke, Germany) 18.

RS 200 Eurocup
Overall ranking after four races: 1st Ian Pickard/Lucy Matthews (UK) 4
points; 2nd Nicholas Charles/Juliet Kingsnorth (UK) 5; 3rd Trudie Fell/Peter
Cruikshank (UK) 8; 4th Paul Dorer/Ian Robertson (UK) 12; 5th Andy
Robertson/Chris Witty (UK) 12; 6th Roy McCubbin/Kirsty McSeveney (UK) 15.

Tornado
Final result after eight races: 1st Helge Sach/Christian Sach (Zarnekau,
Germany) 8 points; 2nd Alexey Chekrygin/ Valeriy Seleznev (Russian
Federation) 12; 3rd Nils Bunkenberg/Susanne Hahn (Surendorf, Germany) 13;
4th Pavel Sozykin/ Vitaly Russu (Russian Federation) 23; 5th Christina
Loweg/Florian Loweg (Stuttgart, Germany) 29; 6. Eckart Kaphengst/Jens Piepke
(Soeren, Germany) 34.

Dyas
Final result after eight races: 1st Holger Sueße/Frank Bender (Cologne,
Germany) 9 points; 2. Lothar Schmidt/Ingo Schleicher (Munich, Germany) 15;
3. Carlo Seyfarth/Norbert Schmidt (Hoehr-Grenzhausen, Germany) 21; 4. Jens
Leicher/Andreas Happich (Koblenz, Germany) 30; 5. Dirk Grotebrune/Hannes
Stricker (Hamburg, Germany) 38; 6. Eckhard Meyer/Joerg Muerau (Ochsenfurt,
Germany) 42.

Trias
Final result after eight races: 1st Roderich/Buenten/Stoffels (Simmrath,
Germany) 8 points; 2nd Stamm/Reeh/Glaeser (Berlin, Germany) 9; 3rd
Hanisch/Hallensleben/Broy (Berlin, Germany) 23; 4th Assheuer/Zeller/Gaede
(Cologne, Germany) 24; 5. Bergner/Billig/Jumpertz (Schwabach, Germany) 31;
6th Stansch/Detlefs/Ullrich (Berlin, Germany) 33.