Star and IMS fleets gather

93 Stars and 50 IMS boats to race at Rolex Baltic Week

The world's sailing elite are gathering off Neustadt on the Baltic coast for the Monday, 7th August start of the IMS Worlds and the European Championships of the Olympic Star boat class. With an entry list featuring 93 Star boats and 50 IMS yachts, the third Rolex Baltic Week is lining up to be a highly competitive regatta week.

Thumbing through the three page long entry list for the open Star boat European Championship puts a satisfied smile on the face of Michael Ilgenstein of the organizing club, Norddeutscher Regatta Verein in Hamburg: "93 boats from 26 nations - that's quite a number, higher than at previous championships," he states. With 34 boats entered German boats comprise the biggest proportion of the Star fleet. "That's not much of a surprise, as alongside the Americans, we are the number one fleet worldwide," continues Ilgenstein, who also runs the Hamburg Star boat fleet, and will himself be racing with his crew Lutz Boguhn.

The Star class return for top level competition and the warm atmosphere of Rolex Baltic Week in this a special year. As Ilgenstein explains: "We are celebrating our fleet's 75th anniversary this year, and so we are very proud to hold the 2006 National Championships in Hamburg and the International Championships in Neustadt." This is the second time the Europeans have taken place on the Bay of Luebeck, since the championship was held here in 1989.

The Star boat Europeans, forming part of the Rolex Baltic Week, is studded with first class sailors. Apart from five time Olympic medallist Brazilian Torben Grael and British title holders Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell, none of the names in this elite and longest-standing of all Olympic classes is missing. Ilgenstein reckons ten teams capable of winning this year.

Among the favourites are three time Olympic Laser medallist, Robert Scheidt (Brazil), who switched over to the keelboat after winning Gold in Athens and the French World Champions Xavier Rohart/Pascal Rambeau. Then there are the America's Cup sailors - Italian Franceso Bruni, part of the afterguard of Luna Rossa Challenge, the New Zealand tactician Hamish Pepper, who has just won at Travemuende Week.

Polish two time Finn Olympic medallist, Mateusz Kusnierewicz, who has also made the transition in the Star, was second to Pepper at Travemuende this year with Dominik Zycki as crew. Then there is the ever strong American entries, Kiel Week winners Mark Mendelblatt/Mark Strube (USA) and George Szabo, who with Eric Monroe, is currently ranked no.1 in the world by the International Sailing Federation. Swede Freddie Loof winner of the class' World and European championship in 2004 also has podium potential having recently won the class' national championship in Sweden.

So what about the Germans? "Marc Pickel and Ingo Borkowski will certainly have a say in the fight for the title," Ilgenstein is sure. The boat builder from Kiel and the lawyer from Babelsberg returned to the Star for the Bacardi Cup off Florida earlier this year, only their second joint regatta since May 2004, and have since finished fourth at Kiel Week. Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen from Rostock have meanwhile secured their qualification for the 2007 Worlds in Cascais, Portugal by coming fifth in Travemuende.

The first of the scheduled eight races for the Star Europeans will start on Monday.

The entry lists for the first IMS World Championships on the Bay of Luebeck are also impressive. 26 yachts from eight nations will be racing for the title in Division 1 for the bigger yachts, while 24 boats from six countries will compete in Division 2. A hot candidate for winning in Division 1 is the Norwegian Al Cap One of Einar Sissener (Oslo), who lost her IMS 600 World Championship title at last year's Rolex Baltic Week after a breach of the rules. Christian Plump from Bremen stands a good chance with his new Evento 46 Hanseatic Lloyd, while another favourite is the Grand Soleil 42 R Yugtranzit, of experienced Russian Olympic skipper Sergej Schevtsov, winner of this year's Kiel Week.

"The Neustadt Worlds are definitely the high point of the season for us," explains sailing the Russian team manager Serguei Kotsiouba. "We will do whatever we can to get to the top. A lot will depend on to the long-distance race which has a split scoring at a gate and at the finish," adds tactician Albert Schweizer.

The IMS Worlds start on Tuesday, 8th August with the overnight long-distance race.

To see the pdf of IMS entries - click here
To see the pdf of Star boat entries - click here