NORD/LB Baltic Sprint Cup 2005 - Leg 6 start

The Bornholm decision: Going North or South?

24 July 2005, Start of the longest leg of the NORD/LB Baltic Sprint Cup from Gdansk, Poland to Copenhagen, Denmark: X-442 "Emil Reiseschwein" is leading the fleet as "temporary winner overall", but one-off "Inschallah VI", J-109 "Brinkmann & Partner" and Comfortina 42 "Meltemi" follow hard on their heels. Shall they round the Danish island Bornholm to port or to starboard? That's the question that will divide the fleet and is probably critical enough to make up winners and looser.

Wind from the southwest up to three Beaufort saw the fleet of now 41 yachts lining up at the start in Gdansk with a lot of excitement. Although having the longest leg of the race with 260 nautical miles in front the crews where fighting for every inch at the line. "Meltemi", sailed by Harald Graf Saurma-Jeltsch from Eckernfoerde, Germany was a bit too fast and started over early. The blue Comfortina 42 had to restart before heading for Copenhagen. With a lot of shouting onboard the A class yachts approached the line afterwards. DK 46 "Tutima" by Thomas Ebert, Frankfurt, Germany took of best. Only Volker Andreae with "Inschallah VI" sailed faster, but also too fast as the race committee decided and sent him back behind the line again. With a spontaneous sailing parade, the sailors waved goodbye to their Gdansk hosts at midday. And the beautiful skyline of the old town offered a very nice background. The sailors had been warmly welcomed and felt very comfortable in the Polish city. "It is a pity that our stopover in Gdansk was very short", many of them remarked.

Leg six of the NORD/LB Baltic Sprint Cup is the longest of the whole regatta. The course is leading west now, 260 miles against the wind. And the most important question for the strategists is weather to round the Danish island Bornholm to port or to starboard. This leg will be decided by the best weather tactics.

It is the X-442 "Emil Reiseschwein" by Stefan Hummelt, Buxtehude, Germany flying the yellow flag fort he "temporary winner overall". But including the two discards which officially count after leg seven it is "Inschallah VI" that has to be watched closer. The Racetracker on the event website www.NordLBCup.com will show how the crews will decide the Bornholm question.

The blue Luffe 48 "Thila" did not made it to the start this time and has to take a break for one leg. Skipper Marcus Schiermann from Hamburg, Germany took the dicision because of electrical problems. He hopes to join the fleet in Copenhagen back again. The first yachts will be expected in Copenhagen on Tuesday night.