HSH Nordbank Blue Race - Finish

Fireworks and tears of joy

Outsider is first ship home. The team of Parsifal III was forced to quit the HSH Nordbank blue race. Taonga has ripped her main and has also withdrawn from the race.

The 24 yachts of the HSH Nordbank blue race went through a lot of turbulences this past weekend, causing good and bad news of the race. The crew of the Outsider was welcomed with great cheers as first ship home in Cuxhaven. „Welcome home“ was written across the T-shirts worn by the welcome committee that came to greet them, and the coast guard vessel Hermann Helms sent water fountains into the grey skies across the Elbe estuary. The victorious crew even saw fireworks being lighted in their honour, when their silvery yacht crossed the finish line off Steubenhöft at 16.14 hours local time. More than a hundred friends and relatives had gathered to welcome the Atlantic sailors after their exhausting journey. It had taken the German-New Zealand crew 14 days, 20 hours, 14 minutes and 10 seconds to complete the course from Newport on the US-American East Coast to Cuxhaven (Germany).

The big welcome will be in Hamburg. Even though the weather put a brake on skipper Tilmar Hansen’s breath-taking final spurt and made his Outsider tack across the finish line, they were greeted with big cheers: The two-times winner of the Admirals Cup from Kiel won the title of First Ship Home by being the first yacht to cross the finish line at the end of the 3,600-nautical mile race across the North Atlantic. The calculated winner will be announced at the end of the race.

Five fair-haired young ladies squeezed and hugged the 57-year old skipper mercilessly: The Hansen daughters welcomed back their father. All smiles despite the strain that showed through on his face, Hansen commented his first trans-Atlantic race: “I’m ever so happy. Our goal was to make the trip in two weeks. It has taken us a bit longer, but it was a great time. I’m glad to have such a fabulous crew. At the moment we are also first on corrected time, and all the others still have to finish the race,“ says Hansen. Yacht designer Greg Elliott from New Zealand is evidently happy with the result of his canting keel carbon racer launched in November 2006.

Stefanie Scheel from Berlin shed tears of joy on their arrival. „I was excited and really edgy,“ said the 26-year old sailor who was glad to be reunited with her boy-friend Gunnar Bahr. „It was worse than I thought, but great at the same time,“ added the 32-old Bahr (also from Berlin), who had won the Olympic silver medal as part of Jochen Schümann’s crew in the Soling in 2000. Navigator Ole Sartori (42, from Kiel), who had been responsible for taking the right course in cooperation with weather expert Meeno Schrader from Kiel, was met by his spouse Susi and their eight-month old daughter Luca. A cold beer and a warm shower were the direst needs Christian Stoffers (22, Kiel) felt after enjoying the first welcoming hugs. After spending two weeks in a saltwater dripstone cave, the sailors are looking forward to nice food, fresh water and a dry and cosy bed.

Meanwhile low spirits prevailed on the biggest yacht of the fleet. A chain of unlucky events forced the crew of the Parsifal III to quit the race. The boom was damaged during a jibe, a halyard winch was ripped off, and so was the mizzen footrope. „We are unable to use neither main nor mizzen anymore, so we can’t haul the sails close any more,“ reported a team member in an Email from on board. Unable to repair the damage, Parsifal III cannot continue on the race course around Scotland. Instead, the 54-meter Yacht will now motor through the English Channel towards Cuxhaven. „As much as we regret the decision we had to take, the safety of the crew and the ship come first,“ concluded the crew.

The Marten 49 Taonga from Jochen Claussen (Hohenaspe/Germany) also transmitted bad news on Sunday: “The main is ripped for a couple of meters at the leech, so we have to change course to Belfast and find a sailmaker. The race is over for us“.

21 yachts are still out at sea fighting for a victory in the HSH Nordbank blue race. Even though the Outsider is first ship home, she is not yet the overall winner of the race, as the victory depends on the corrected time that will be calculated on each yacht’s handicap factor. Americas Cup veteran Ken Read (Newport/USA) and his Rambler crew, who started in the second group on Saturday 23 June, are currently rushing along east of the main fleet, and are at the top of the leader board.