RORC Commodore readies for Travemeunde Week

A preview of Germany's Baltic regatta which starts week Friday

With the start of 57 offshore yachts challenging the fourth international Baltic Sprint Cup the 119th Travemuende Week takes off to a top class regatta program escorted by a festive party onshore.

From July 18 to 27 nearly 2000 sailors out of 17 nations will race on six courses, and about one million guests are expected to visit Travemuende. Among the sportive highlights of one of the world’s most beautiful sailing regattas is the German Championship of the Olympic Tornado class and the racing for the national title of the traditional Folkeboat class.

After the closing of the entry list 39 catamarans have been listed and bring a record fleet to Travemuende in the last year of the class’ Olympic status. With 58 keel boats the Folkeboats will be the biggest fleet of the TW 2008.

“The members of the class association woke up and try their best now”, says local Helge Sach, who aims for his 14th Travemuende victory overall this time in the Tornado with his brother Christian as crew. For the Tornados it will be the last national championship as an Olympic class for the time being. And they decided to sail their competition in one of their home waters, as in 2006 the class had already been fighting for the European title during the Travemuende Week.

A much criticised decision of the world sailing association ISAF has excluded the multi-hulls from the Olympic sailing program for the 2012 Games. “The top teams seemed to be pretty self-satisfied and started their promotion activities too late”, states Sach, a former vice-world champion. While the German Olympic team Johannes Polgar and Florian Spalteholz will be absent, the grass roots of the class want to show their will to reclaim their Olympic status.

While the Tornados start on course Delta from Sunday on, the season’s highlight for the Folkeboats begins a day later on course Foxtrot. The very competitive fleet of the traditional three-crew boat promises thrilling races and gathers some of the nations best sailors, including four national title winners. The year before the classic design proved its potential in six to seven Beaufort winds.

The crews of the fourth Baltic Sprint Cup also gather some of the best sailors as. Among the favourites are the new Rogers 46 Guts N’Glory, sailed by Christopher Wuttke, who invites his competitors to a big start-up party the evening before the start to the two-week race across the Baltic. At 3 p. m. on the first TW Saturday the fleet will embark on their 216 mile-leg to Karlskrona, Sweden. The next legs will lead them to Lithuania (Klaipeda), Poland (Gdansk/Gdynia) and the final port of destination, Roenne on the Danish Island of Bornholm.

Several racing yachts will try to keep pace with Wuttke's Rogers 46, like the 60-footer Ambersail from Lithuania. The former Assa Abloy came second in the Volvo Ocean Race 2001-2002 Around the World. David Asher, Commodore of the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) from London will start with his Yeoman XXXII, another Rogers 46. She is already berthed in Travemuende and ready to go. And Tilmar Hansen from Kiel, Germany sails his “hot” Elliott 52 Outsider. The fastest rating will surely show 25-metre Calypso owned by Gerd Clausen (Hamburg, Germany). The maxi-racer was formerly known under the name of Wild Thing.

When the Travemuende Week will be officially opened on Friday 18 July at 6 p.m. by the Mayor of Luebeck Bernd Saxe, the German Federal Minister of Transport Wolfgang Tiefensee will be at his side. His visit underlines the relevance of the Travemuende Week, as Tiefensee will stay until Saturday and spend a day out on the water to watch the racing.

Mayor Saxe himself will put his sailing skills to the test on Wednesday. Saxe invited the First Mayor of Hamburg, Ole von Beust to challenge him in the match race style “Rotspon Cup”. The race will take place in the two Dragon class boats of Manuel Cadmus, President of the Norddeutsche Regatta Verein (NRV) in Hamburg and Rolf Ewert, President of the Luebeck Yacht Club.

Live commentary accompanies the action on course Beach, which can be watched best from shore. The A-Cats, as well as the International Canoes will sail here in front of the public. And during the second half of the week, even more skiffs show their spectacular manoeuvres in front of the beach. The 18-footers are worth a special mention as their class includes Travemuende into their German Grand Prix program, which comprises four events all in all.

The multi-hull section is completed by the German Open of the Topcat classes, starting on course Delta from Thursday on, together with the Formula 18 cats. Last but not least, with 29 entries the Olympic Finn class promises a great comeback to the Travemuende Week. The Eurocup of the Javelin sees 25 competitors with favourites coming from Great Britain and the Netherlands.

This year sailors and visitors have to get used to a new set up onshore and on the water. “We have reserved the Tornado lawn for the boats and will lead the visitors along the outside of these grounds”, explains Claus-Dieter Stolze, who builds the organising head together with Karin Boege. And in the Bay of Luebeck, a favourite sailing area with the sailors, racing will this year concentrate on six courses. “The tightened division guarantees efficient racing and shorter travelling times to the courses”, adds principle race officer Walter Mielke.

While the sportive program takes place on the water, a premium shore program with a lot of musical entertainment and culinary highlights can be enjoyed onshore. A quality program of live music will meet everyone’s tastes. The huge festival stage in the Bruegmanngarten offers a mix of pop, rock and reggae.

A special highlight in the true sense of the word will once again be the illumination of the Travemuende landmark, the four-mast bark Passat. Her silhouette will shine in a very special laser performance from Monday through Saturday. This visual and acoustic event marks the end of every Travemuende Week day from 10.45 p. m. until Saturday (26 July) before the final day on Sunday, 27 July, when an amazing firework will highlight the sky over Travemuende.

For more information see: http://www.travemuender-woche.de