Kieler Woche - Day 9
by Hermann Hell 30 Jun 2013 22:40 BST
22-30 June 2013
Hunger & Kleiner make it exciting
Winners from eight nations
The last race day at the Kiel Week provided some unexpected thrilling moments in the international classes. The message about the 21. Kiel Week victory of Wolfgang Hunger had to be retained until the last race. But at the end the experienced five-time 505 World Champion and record Kiel Week winner came out on top. He gained the title for the sixth time in the high-class fleet of the 505 together with his crew Julien Kleiner (Munich). German athletes could also win in nine more of the 17 international classes, eight titles were granted to international sailors. Altogether more than 4000 sailors from 48 nations in 32 classes did show up in Kiel and have managed altogether more than 420 races.
The first Kiel Week in sole charge of Chief Organiser Peter Ramcke is a reason for him to rejoice: "We have to do something about the temperature though, but we have managed a challenging program with more than 400 races in nine days. We especially had a high number of entries in the youth classes and are on the right track to bring the sailors more into the focus of the event. We will continue to pursue this goal."
Spectators were holding their breath during the last race of the 505 class. Hunger/Kleiner capsized in the second to last race after a very confident series, had some technical problems and could not finish the race. So the decision was postponed until the final race. But with rank three in the last race, they were back to their inherent Kiel Week position. Christian Kellner/Martin Schoeler (Hechendorf), who aroused interest with three day victories in the second part of the Kiel Week, found themselves on rank two in the end. Among those being beaten were some prominent names. European Champion Meike Schomaeker/Holger Jess (Kiel/Eckernfoerde) became fifth, the World Champion Claas Lehmann/Leon Oehme (Hamburg/Kiel) only eighth.
The best series of all in the 17 international classes has been done by the brothers Helge and Christian Sach (Zarnekau) in the Formula 18 catamaran. Helmsman Helge Sach only said good things about the organisers: "The sailor is again much more in the centre of the event. It is really awesome to sail here."
Christoph Nielsen (Berlin) could skip the last race in the Folkboat and could crown his 40. participation at the Kiel Week with a fourth victory in front of Schilksee.
André Budzien proved to be a new strong participant in the OK. He won the German Championship and the World Title Races the year before. This year, he could gain the Kiel Week title, demonstrating a confident strong series.
The local heroes had to admit defeat at the rehersal for the European Championship of the 29er at the Kiel Week next year. The Frenchmen Lucas Rual/Emile Amoros continued their impressive series of victories with twelve victories and two seconds in 14 races. Jasper Steffens and Tom Lennart Brauckmann from Kiel could find themselves on rank three.
The success of Peer Kock (Hamburg) was also surprising. On the last race day of the J/24, he could overtake the First in the World Ranking Mike Ingham from the USA.
In six further classes, there were international winners. Norwegian Lars Johan Brodtkorb could sail all by himself in the top position in the Europe. Becoming first in eight of the ten races, he was a class of his own. In the H-Boat Danish teams could place themselves on rank one and two. Morten Nielsen triumphed before Steffen Stegger. The Danish flag also marked the top position in the Laser Radial. Christian Guldberg Post had dominated here.
In the single-handed skiff class Musto Skiff, it was a Swiss, who could take rank one. Roger Oswald celebrated the Kiel Week victory, followed by Paul Dijkstra (Niederlande) and Iver Ahlmann (Büdelsdorf). In the small fleet of the Stars, the Denis Khashina/Dmitry Mechetin from the Ukraine did win the Kiel Week. And the winner in the Contender even came from Down Under. Australian Mark Bulka pushed himself in the second to last race to the top and could defend the position.
The next edition of the Kiel Week will be 21-29 June 2014.
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