Laser 5000 at the Jollen Cup, Munich
by Iain Lewis 21 Jun 2004 19:40 BST
19 June 2004
The Laser 5000 fleet stop off for the Jollen Cup in Munich on their way to Lake Garda © Iain Lewis
June 19th found the UK Laser5000 fleet on transit to Grada and on the way competing at the Jollen Cup at Sailing Club Prienam Chiemsee in Munich. After a mammoth drive throughout Friday night the fleet launched in only 5 knots of Breeze with a forecast of thunder and gusts of 20knots.
The schedule of 4 races on Saturday and 2 on Sunday was daunting but better then spending more time in cars driving to Garda. The four race schedule of which 3 were sailed found Alex and Andy McKee showing their usual form but the local team of Stefan Hammermueller and Stefan Seidel pulling out in front.
Race 1 found the McKee’s out of practice and capsizing on their first tack. This caused chaos as they worked their way through the fleet. On the final downwind leg they managed to predict the building breeze on the left hand side of the course to scream past the 2 most well established German teams. Putting in their first bullet and leading the event.
The second race in the series again proved that the Laser5000 is still the boat to sail with boat handling and gybe angles proving crucial and all boats rounded the top and bottom marks within 30 seconds of each other. The Lewis brothers pulled something special out of the bag pulling up 6 places in the second beat but threw it all away on the gybe to oblivion. The McKees again showed their form by placing a bullet with Stephane Hammermueller and Stephane Seidel showing consistency by coming third.
With the breeze fading and the gusts becoming more unpredictable sailing was becoming increasingly difficult. Again the McKee’s caused chaos by trying to shoot the top mark and again finding themselves swimming. With boats above and below them they valiantly righted the boat in good time and placed a 5th. The most notable performance has to be given to infocube.net by sailing conservatively and placing a second.
Once ashore the lack of performance by the Lewis brothers was explained by them emptying 15 litres of water from a damaged boat.
The hostipality of Sailing Club Prienam Chiemsee will the tested on the first night with an evening of FREE beer and wine tasting. All racing was abandoned on the Sunday leving the local team of Stefan Hammermueller and Stefan Seidel to pick up the Jollen Cup.
Overall Results:
1. Stefan Hammermueller, Stefan Seidel, 6 pts
2. Andy Mckee, Alex McKee, 7 pts
3. Marcus Woehrer, Florian Woehrer, 10 pts