126th Travemünder Woche 2015 - Day 4
by Travemünder Woche Media 22 Jul 2015 23:57 BST
18-26 July 2015
The gusts vigorously shook the tents of the exhibitors at the Travemuender Woche and the wind whipped over the Bay of Lübeck. Windproof clothing was needed onshore and good seamanship on the water at the half-way point of the sailing and festival week. Following the departure of the heavy showers in the morning, the sun shone on the visitors and sailors, and winds of up to 30 knots made for a busy day of racing. Brian Schweder, the overall race director, summed it up in the evening: "All went well!"
However, some RS Feva sailors could regard this judgement of the general overview with some drawbacks. The young participants from 19 countries had to fiercely fight with the conditions for their world championship. Rustling gennaker sailing alternated with several capsizes. But the wind could not hinder the top teams from the UK. They dominated the field on the course and lead the overall rankings in a quartet. With five wins in six races, Iain Bird/Jake Hardmann are in the lead, ahead of Fin and Dan Armstrong as well as Jack Lewis/Tristan Payne. "The wind was challenging for the crews. I was a little worried there. But the race director Andy Schorr has designed the course well below the Brodtener Ufer. This provided a bit of wind coverage", Brian Schweder reported.
After the first two TW days, the RS Feva have completed their qualifying races. Sailing will continue in the gold, silver and bronze fleets from Wednesday onwards. With this, the 54 crews of the gold fleet will work out the world championship title among themselves. The best German teams had to settle for reaching the silver fleet. Finn Lasse Andresen/Jannes Marquardsen from Flensburg are the top of the German teams in 69th place, after gaining a fifth-place finish in the strong wind. In contrast, there was too much wind for the experienced Feva sisters Svenja and Anne Steinborn from Würzburg, who slid down to 72nd place after they had fancied their chances of reaching the gold fleet on the first day. Justus Sauer/Maurice Brost from Lübeck, who recently entered the class, completely fulfilled their hopes by reaching 84th position and the silver fleet. "We were very happy after the eight-place finish in the final race of the first day. But given the wind forecast, we knew that it would be difficult", father Axel Brost reported. The reason: the duo have only been sailing in the RS Feva for two weeks, it is also still very lightweight for the gennaker boat.
The J/22 class had to fight with strong winds to kick off their world championship – the Marinepool J/22 Worlds. Three races had been planned for the first day but, with winds on the course of up to 30 knots, the teams were sent back to the harbour after two races. "That is never an easy decision, since the keelboats can stand a lot. Ultimately, the decision had to be made locally", Brian Schweder said. And locally, the leading crew with helmsman Martin Menzner (Kiel) were "very happy" to end the day after two races. "That wind doesn't actually suit us, we are 40 kilograms too light for it", said Menzner, who even went on a tune-up session on the water with his teammates Frank Lichte and Christian Drews in the morning. "We have a new boat; we are not satisfied with it and have still worked on the set-up. It went in the right direction. But it is not ideal. We are the slowest of the front teams at the intersection. Downwind we clinched the victory in the first race and second place in the second race." Menzner and crew are followed by the US world champion favourites with Christopher Doyle and the Lübeck crew of Svend Hartog.
In the continental title competition of the IC Canoe, the British demonstrated their superiority, just like with the Fevas. The country's initials "GBR" stand in places one to four. Gareth Caldwell is in the lead ahead of Christopher Hampe and Robin Wood. Arne Stahl from Mardorf is the best sailor from the host country in sixth position.
A sailor from northern Germany is in the lead of the German championship of the Typhoon canoe. Claudius Junge from Preetz has his bow at the front after five races here, followed by Christopher Ossenkopp (Hildesheim) and Niklas Steimann from Bad Segeberg.
The performance by Sören Leinert (Storkow) is very impressive in the Laser Radial class. After four races with four wins in different wind conditions, the sailor from Brandenburg has everything under control among the 63 sailors in his class. Christian Demleitner (Weiden) and Leonhard Hanisch (Detmold) follow behind with a respectful distance in this international German junior championship.
It is considerably closer at the top of the Laser 4.7, which are made with slightly smaller sails for the younger sailors, who will also determine their best juniors. Nico Naujock (Berlin) and the Welshman Benno Marstaller are joint first. After two of five days, Lasse Kaack from Kiel in third place still has a good chance of gaining a medal.
Meanwhile, the Travemuender Woche has ended for the ranking regattas of the Finns and the Trias. Both classes could present themselves close to the spectators on the SAP Media Race Course and selected their best sailors under expert moderation. The family crew of Holger, Uwe and Jan Köhne from Potsdam were only beaten once in the seven races of the Trias. But this fourth-place finish on the penultimate day can be wiped out. With another win, the sixth in the course of the TW, they made a fitting goodbye to Travemünde.
Ulli Kurfeld also dominated his competition almost at will. The sailor from Wismar led the field as the winner six times in eight races and came second twice. He therefore came a whopping 19 points ahead of second-placed Ralf Behrens (Wolfsburg) at the end.
Tomorrow the politics will be put aside for the Volksbank Rotspon Cup. The rivals in this year are TW patron Torsten Albig and Lübeck's mayor Bernd Saxe. After a victory at the TW anniversary last year, Bernd Saxe improved his track record in the Volksbank Rotspon Cup. But still there are seven defeats against four wins. Saxe and Albig competed against one another already in 2011 when Albig was still the mayor of Kiel. This did not help him one bit and Saxe won the race. "I'm happy to see Torsten Albig here, who was already at the opening of the Travemuender Woche. For me, this highlights the greet esteem of the state for this great sailing event with the most beautiful sailing area in the world, which inspires sailors and the public year after year with sailing close enough to touch."
The Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken Schleswig-Holstein will start the Volksbank Rotspon Cup together with the Lübecker Yacht-Club tomorrow at midday. Board director Dr Michael Brandt proudly announced: "As a regional bank, we are delighted about this active presence at the Travemuender Woche. Our sponsorship shows the local residents and tourists a commitment directly from the home town." The Volksbank Rotspon Cup will be held on the River Trave and historical boats that have already sailed in the America Cup will be sailed. The directors of Volksbank Lübeck, Dr Michael Brandt and Roger Pawellek, make up the teams. Spectators have the best view of the duel from the Trave promenade.
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