Big day on the Alster

As six teams go through to the final of the European Match Racing Championship in Hamburg

Today a strong southwesterly wind challenged the 12 teams taking part in the European Match Racing Championship on Hamburg’s river Alster. Only the best six teams qualified for the next round, while the Polish crew broke their mast.

Switzerland, Poland, Italy, Sweden and Finland made their way into the next Round Robin easily. But the final run for the last empty space in the top six was highly competitive: The skipper of the Danish team, Peter Wibroe needed a victory against the Germans in their last race to be ranked before the Croatians. But Andreas Willim, who only won two out of ten matches so far, accelerated in his last race and gained the crown against the 21 year old Dane. And Team Croatia moved on to the next stage instead. The German crew was pretty disappointed about their leaving the competition as well. They have sailed a good season and ranked 17th in the world, started as one of the favourites in the European Championship. “We did not have a good run, nothing worked out. It is a pity because we wanted to sail especially well here, where we are at home”,
stated Willim.

Eric Monnin, 31, from Switzerland did not have to sail one single race on Monday. On Sunday he had already proceeded to the next Round Robin with nine wins in 11 races. "We like to be in the favourites position," he said. “We sailed a lot in the last days and feel very comfortable with the boat now. But we hope, that on Tuesday the wind will not be that strong, because we are a little light weight.” Monnin sails with his brothers
Jean-Claude and Marc. Although they scored nine victories in the first Round Robin, the counting starts from zero on the final day.

Autumn showed its true face on Monday, when strong gusts blew over the Alster. Half of the races had to be sailed without spinnakers. The Italians bent their pole and had two sails needing to be sewn up – but the worst luck was experienced by the Polish team: Marek Stanczyk from Danzig and his crew had to be towed into the harbour after the mast of their Streamline broke. “After tacking, a gust struck us and the windward shroud broke”, he explained. The mast collapsed immediately and bowman Dominik Niskiewisz went into the water. “It was a strange situation, but it does not get us down”, Stanczyk said. The boat will be fitted with a new mast until tomorrow and six of the Streamline Keelboats are ready for the final day of racing. But after the mast came down, the race committee decided to postpone racing until the next day due to the strong
winds.

Thrilling races could be watched from the shore and brought the spirit of match race sailing to the spectators in Hamburg. As tomorrow is a holiday in Germany, a lot of visitors are expected to watch.

On Tuesday, the top six teams will sail a second Round Robin, before the petit final and the grand final takes place in the afternoon. The new European Champion will be honoured at the prize giving around five p.m.


Results from October 2nd – after Round Robin 1

Moving on:
SUI- Eric Monnin - 9
SWE - Björn Hansen - 8
POL - Marek Stanczyk - 8
ITA - Matteo Simoncelli - 7
FIN - Staffan Lindberg - 7
CRO - Dario Kliba - 5

Out:
DEN - Peter Wibroe - 4
GBR - Nick Cherry - 4
RUS - Maxim Tarnov - 4
FRA - Pierre-Antoine Morvan - 3,5
GER - Andreas Willim - 3
SLO Jure Orel 2,5