Adecco Maxi OD - Kiel Week Overall

Ludde Ingvall sailed Skandia to a second victory Ludde Ingvall¹ Skandia did not have to sail Kieler Woche last race to win the second event of the Adecco World Championship. The European maxi came back to the harbour after her second place in the first course today. French and New Zealand teams could match race for both second places in the event and in the championship. Krantz' boat breaks her mast during the long race

Six courses have been raced for the 1999 Kiel week in Germany. The event began on Monday 21st with the Fehmarn Race, a 186 miles long race. With an average speed around 11,5 knots, the eight Maxi One Designs sailed a speed race better than a tactic one. "There was few upwind legs" during this navigation in the Baltic Sea remembered Pierre Mas, Défi Bouygues Telecom Transiciel' skipper. Then, the most experienced team were the faster to come back in Germany. Skandia (EUR), North Sea Regatta winner, arrived first, few minutes ahead of RF Yachting (NZL) and French boat.

But the first offshore race of the Kieler Woche will be remembered as the Team Henri Lloyd dismasting race. "We were in second position, sailing upwind around Longeland island, we eared numerous bang and the mast fell down." Said Gunnar Krantz, Swedish entry skipper when he came back in Kiel and moored his maxi in the military harbour. Immediately, Pierre Fehlmann and Maxi One Design technical team inspected the damaged carbon tube. Andy Steiner who conceived and built them discovered the fault : the forestay attachment was responsible of the accident.

It was decided to check all the other masts and they discovered that three other masts had to be modified. "We can't possibly put anyone at risk until we are perfectly certain that the accident will not be repeated" said Pierre Fehlmann. Then the Kieler Woche was momentary stopped. Another race against the time started to repair Krantz' boat before his local race, the Gotland Race which starts on July 4th. For the Kieler Woche, race comity decided to count him an average point following his fourth place in Scheveningen.

Maxi One Designs on Eurosport TV

Sailing, Eurosport TV broadcast, will present the Adecco World Championship on Wednesday June 30th. Bernard Schopfer from DCP TV Geneva, realised a twenty minutes report about the first races of the championship. DCP TV follows the entire competition with its team (Valerie Perriraz, Henri Guareschi and Yves Pouliquen) who works aboard the boats during races. Do not miss these fantastic and exiting images. All the footage is free of rights and available for any TV channels.

Adecco World Championship provisional ranking two races:

    Boat         Skipper            NSR KW pts rank 
EUR Skandia       Ludde Ingvall      1  1  20    1 
NZL RF Yachting   Ross Field         3  2  14.5  2 
FRA Le Defi       Jules Mazar        2  3  14.5  3 
SWE Henri Lloyd   Gunnar Krantz      4  4* 10    4 
RSA Rainbow Magic Geoff Meek         5  4   9    5 
BEL Synphony      Hans Bouscholte    7  5   6    6 
SUI Alinghimax    Ernesto Bertarelli 6  6   6    7 
ITA Seac Banche   Guido Maisto       8  7   3    8 

* same place than for NSR

Website: www.adecco-championship.com