Danish teams to top H-Boat Worlds

Anne Hinton reports on this year's World Championship in Denmark

Always one of the strongest nations in the International H-Boat class, Denmark hosted the World Championships this year. A total of 60 boats competed in the week-long event, which was held in the beautiful weather conditions of an Indian Summer. Winds were between 2-8 metres/second, so light to moderate breezes prevailed throughout.

Many of the sailors have been sailing continuously in the class for more than a decade; others have dabbled in the class for at least that long - sailing other boats, but returning for major events. One newer sailor to the class this year was Dane Jørgen Schönherr, the winner of the 2004 Dragon Gold Cup. Normally a Dragon sailor, Schönherr missed the Dragon Europeans in Estonia to compete instead at the H-Boat Worlds. He also recruited the talent of Theis Palm, yet another former H-Boat World Champion, on to his crew, to get the best possible introduction to the class. Schoenherr is also a former 505 and Flying Dutchman world champion.

Vincent Hoesch, H-Boat World Champion from the event on Ammersee, Germany, in 2003, normally sails Dragons. Unlike Schönherr, he decided to do both events, catching a plane from Tallin to Copenhagen immediately after winning (as crew for Harm Mueller-Spreer from Hamburg) the Dragon Europeans. The H-Boat Worlds were 2003 World Champion (and three-time previous winner) Hoesch’s only event in the class this year - and one of his rare occasions as helmsman, as he normally crews these days.

At Kieler Woche this year, which saw moderate to very strong breezes, two Danish sailors ended up tied on points at the top. Herluf Jørgensen beat Morten Nielsen on count-back to take the win at Kieler Woche. This time it was pay-back time!

In very close racing the title wasn’t decided until the last day. Four boats were still in the hunt until the very end. The final finishing order was Morten Nielsen, a stalwart of the class for more than a quarter of a century (he won the Worlds in Hankø, Norway, in 1984), followed by Bo Selko, another Dane who has been sailing in the class for more than a decade, and Jan Gustafson from Sweden, who has been sailing in the class for about as long as Nielsen, and is also a former world champion. Herluf Jørgensen finished fourth on this occasion; 2003 world champion, Hoesch, was seventh and top German boat. However, Hoesch was one point and one place behind his Dragon nemesis, Schönherr. Slotting in in fifth place was Swiss sailor, Christian Schilling.

Nielsen uses Høj Jensen sails; ironically his sailmaker, Claus, son of Poul-Richard, the double Olympic gold medallist, was crewing for Bo Selko and finished runner-up to Nielsen. Nielsen felt that the top two boats had distinctly better boatspeed than the others in the fleet due to their rig and sail set-up. However, former champion, Vincent Hoesch, who uses Fritz sails, disagreed, saying “They (Nielsen and his crew) just sailed really well - perfect!”.

Nielsen was delighted to win the World Championship for a second time - especially 20 years after his first victory, and in his home country. “It’s much better than the first time”, said Nielsen. “To be at the top of the class for 20 years is quite something.” He does admit that he doesn’t always come out on top at his home club in Roskilde; maybe that’s what has kept him in the class and so competitive for so long?

Nielsen is not a professional sailor, unlike a number of others in the top finishers. He works for the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde. Like Hoesch, he had a big event just before the start of the World Championships. On 4 September, Queen Margrethe of Denmark came to the museum to launch a full-sized Viking ship. In the coming years the boat will be rowed around the British Isles, following the routes of the Vikings of yor. Maybe they will stop off and give the International H-Boat fleet on the Firth of
Forth some sailing competition…

Results – top 10 places

1. Morten Nielsen, Niels Borch, Per K. Hansen, (DEN) 35pts
2. Bo Selko, Claus Hoj Jensen, Claus Rossing, (DEN) 39pts
3. Jan Gustafson, Karl Kristensen, Lars Kristensen, (SWE) 64pts
4. Herluf Jørgensen, Christian Pasbjerg, Christian Justesen, (DEN) 72pts
5. Christian Schilling, Roman Juchli, Torsten Müller, (SUI) 81pts
6. Jørgen Schönherr, Finn Nikolajsen, Theis Palm, (DEN) 96 pts
7. Vincent Hoesch, Michael Lipp, Willi Gerlinger, (GER) 97pts
8=. Jacob Jacobson, Andreas Fristedt, Pontus Johnson, (SWE) 98pts
8=. Steffen Stegger, Lars Christiansen, Carsten Pedersen, (DEN) 98pts
10. Wolfgang Döring, Thomas Kausen, Jani Funk, (GER) 116pts