Kiel boats dominate at Rolex Baltic Week

News from the race week in Neustadt

"Three firsts“ was the spontaneous reply L+M Hispaniola tactician Thomas Jungblut gave when asked about his day’s work at the Rolex Baltic Week on Monday evening.

Although there were no official results of the International German Offshore Championships (Internationale Deutsche Meisterschaft, IDM) at the time, the Hamburg sailmaker should be proved right. Three races, three wins - the Rodman 42 of Kiel-based owner Horst Mann is the undisputed overall leader at Rolex Baltic Week, having already won the long-distance race the day before in the premium class IMS 1. The same holds true for No Limits of the Kiel brothers Lars and Sven Christensen, who surprisingly won all IMS 3/4 class races. Lollipop of Jan Hinrichs from Berlin and Peter Süselbeck’s Westwind in IMS 2, however, raced neck-to-neck and are now tied.

In a fresh and building easterly breeze and under a searing sun, the 48 yachts out on the water today, including six Swans, had all they could possibly wish for off Neustadt. "It was like Palma North today“, raved Albert Schweitzer from Bremen, even though the Hanseatic Lloyd tactician had come only second in the IMS 1 class. "The Hispaniola guys are simply better than us and make less mistakes“, said the sailmaker confessing that in the second race of the day, they had been been deprived of their lead when tacking towards the finish line.

"Now that it’s going so well,“ said the eager Christensen brothers of the No Limits crew, "we certainly want to get the title.“ With third, fourth and second placed finishes, last year’s champion Froschkönig (Detlef Amlong/Schwedeneck) will have a hard time catching up with No Limits to not only defend the IMS 3/4 title, but also get the winner's Rolex timepiece. Leading him by half a point ahead is also Cala Ventinove of Bremen's Uwe Wenzel.

The IMS 2 competition is still open, as the offshore race winner, Westwind, with Kai von Berg (Neumünster) at the helm, let favourite Lollipop (seventh in the offshore race) come level with them. "We’re all set to make up for it, but it just wasn’t our day today“, said Westwind crewman Till Behrend. The IDM will end on Tuesday with three more scheduled races.

In the third race, it was an already familiar picture with the big Swan yachts: Swan 56 Chrila of Claus Bressler in front of Ronny Wulff’s chartered Babs by two minutes. "Tomorrow, we’ll get her,“ promised Wulff before the finals. In Group 2, the third day produced the third winner. Thyros by Bremerhaven’s Jochen Charlet jumped to second rank overall behind Axel Junge’s Panini from Lübeck, that is still leading by one point.

Results of the Rolex Baltic Week (day 3):

IMS 1
1. L+M Hispaniola, Horst Mann (Kiel) 4,5 points
2. Hanseatic Lloyd, Christian Plump, Bremen 10,5
3. Alice, Volker Kriegel (Kiel) 14
4. Sixtie 4, Alv Gundlach (Rendsburg) 24

IMS 2
1. Lollipop, Jan Hinrichs (Berlin) 16,5
2. Westwind, Peter Süselbeck (Oberhausen) 16,5
3. Patent 2, Ulrich Tesch (Hamburg) 18
4. Rosablau, Oliver Leu (Heiligenhafen) 20,5

IMS 3/4
1. No Limits, Lars und Sven Christensen (Kiel) 4,5
2. Cala Ventinove, Uwe Wenzel (Bremen) 11,5
3. Froschkönig, Detlef Amlong (Schwedeneck) 12
4. Chinock, Johann Friedrichsen (Flensburg) 17

Swan Regatta

Overall results after three races
Group 1
1. Chrila, Claus Bressler (Hamburg) 3 points
2. Babs, Ronald Wulff (Hamburg) 6

Group 2
1. Panini, Axel Junge (Lübeck) 6 points
2. Thyros, Jochen Charlet (Bremerhaven) 7
3. Jazz, Mathias Preuße (Hamburg) 7
4. Niomé, Burghard Schwarz-Rohwedder (Bremen) 10