126th Travemünder Woche 2015 - Day 7
by Travemünder Woche Media 25 Jul 2015 21:39 BST
18-26 July 2015
The Travemuender Woche has already ignited fireworks for the championship deciders ahead of the final weekend with the pyrotechnic spectacle on Sunday at 11 p.m. Titles and medals were awarded at all levels in five classes on Friday.
The British cleared up well, collecting the complete set of gold, silver and bronze medals in the world championship of the RS Feva as well as the Euro Cup of the IC Canoe. Furthermore, Benno Marstaller, a Brit with a German father, showed his dominance in the International German Junior Championship of the Laser 4.7 class. But the host country kept to themselves in the Laser Radial and Typhoon canoes and celebrated their national champions.
An Olympic format was chosen for the championship decider of the junior Laser class. Only the top ten enter into the medal race in the Laser Radial and the Laser 4.7, and determine the places on the podium under the observation of the cameras on the SAP Media Race Course. Sören Leinert (Storkow) made the most of his tactical advantage in the final of the top ten to go into the races with a good lead and focus on his remaining rival in the fight for the title – Leonhard Hanisch (Hamburg). "In theory, there was still a chance of him overtaking me. That's why I kept an eye on him. Later on, I was doing well enough in the race to rely on results", Leinert reported. With a second-place finish in this medal race, he confidently defended the lead in the overall rankings. A strong finish in the junior class for the Brandenburger, who actually switched back to the Olympic Laser Standard and now, at the age of 16, took the opportunity to sail in the Radial class for the junior championship again. "I had hope for a position in the top five. The wind was just right for me in the first four races. I made the most of that. Afterwards, I was pretty nervous and also had a few poor results but luckily was able to defend my position." In the end, he won gold ahead of Leonhard Hanisch (Hamburg) and Christian Demleitner (Weiden).
The results before the final were considerably closer in the Laser 4.7 and the overall rankings were shuffled once again in the final race. Nico Naujock from Berlin gambled with his position at the top in the International German Junior Championship with eighth place in the race. With this, the 15-year-old Marstaller from the UK took third place at the end, thereby snatching the gold medal from Naujock. There was also a change in the bronze medal position. Julia Büsselberg (Berlin), who gained attention with her victory at the Kieler Woche four weeks ago, got off to a perfect start in the final, sailed in front the whole time and crossed the finishing line as the winner. Thus, Lasse Kaack from Dänischenhagen, who had been in third place since the second day but got off to a cautious start in the final, had to settle with the thankless fourth place.
Claudius Junge finally reached the top of the Typhoon canoe. The sailor from Preetz entered this class at the age of twelve. Now aged 46, he can celebrate his first German title. "That felt great. I was congratulated straight away on the water from Christopher Ossenkopp in second place. That is handled very nicely in our class", the happy winner said after he had taken a shower for the award ceremony. The investment in a new boat was worth it for Claudius Junge, he wants to sail a few more regattas in autumn. Niklas Steimann (Bad Segeberg), in third place behind the silver medallist Ossenkopp (Hildesheim), showed what good work is being done in this class in Schleswig-Holstein.
Most impressive is the performance density of the British in the construction class IC Canoe. A trio from the UK stood on the podium for the continental championship – the Euro Cup. The Welshman Robin Wood, who took the lead on the third day with a series of four wins in a row, was no longer reachable at the top with a third place in the final, taking the title ahead of Gareth Caldwell and Philip Robin. Fourth place was also taken by a Brit. The Australian Charlie Chandler finished ahead of the best German, Arne Stahl from Marburg.
The world championship of the RS Feva, which was the largest field of the 126th Travemuender Woche with 162 boats at the start, only had to determine which British team would be at the top. The other competitors from a total of 19 countries created an international crowd on the course but had nothing to do with the decider. Iain Bird/Jake Hardman, who had lost their lead to Fin and Dan Armstrong after a nearly flawless first round, came back in the last of all twelve races with another day win while the Armstrong brothers fell into the silver medal position with a sixth-place finish. Jack Lewis/Lucas Marshall came in third despite a false-start disqualification. The best German in 68th place were Justus Sauer and Maurice Brost from Lübeck, who had just switched from the Opti to the two-man boat and had not previously sailed together.
The leaders are comfortably at the top in the three ongoing world championships. The Dutchman Jean-Michel Lautier and his crew scored ranks 2, 1 and 3, thereby keeping the American favourite Christopher Doyle at a safe distance. The Kiel team with Martin Menzner already had a severe dampener on their hopes for a placement at the top. By now, the aim for the best Germans is to secure third place, which is being attacked with extremely hard punches by the world bronze medallist from last year, Mike Farrington (Cayman Islands). Another contender for third place is Rainer Brockerhoff (Duisberg), who has sneaked up on the medal positions with solid results.
Lisa Buddemeier/Matthias Düwel from Hamburg had sailed on the course to victory back in 2011, when the Laser II held their world championship in Travemünde. With seven wins in eight races, they have left Michael and Laura-Kristin Koch (Stössensee) and the defending champions Niels Krenz/Christian Gerdum (Hamburg) clearly in the wake.
Equally untouchable so far is Nick Craig in the D-One class. The British all-rounder, who is active in various classes and has won the world championship in the OK-Jolle class as well as the Gold Cup title in the D-One class, is rushing from victory to victory in Travemünde. After six races, he has five first-place finishes in the bag and is not likely to drift from his course by Sunday.
The Laser Standard ended its rankings regatta with the sixth race. Leah Noel Gonseth from NRV Hamburg secured the victor with the first-place finish in the final race ahead of club mate Eric Malach.
Four other classes can enjoy the regatta festival until Sunday. The J/24 started its German Open and Till Pomarius has taken the lead after the first two races. He has also kept Ian Southworth from the UK at bay, who has the German national coach David Howlett on board.
The Folkboats were also represented on the course. They have Siegfried Busse in the top position after two races. The Kiel local thus has the national champion title, which is determined at the TW, in sight. For the Kielzugvögel, Manfred Brändle from Duisburg has his bow in the lead.
Despite the late start, the F18 catamarans got underway with four races on Friday. Robert Schütz/Sönke Kühl look like the clear favourites with four wins. This also pushed them to the front of the overall rankings – ahead of the reigning German champions in the Nacra 17 class, Finn Heeg and Merle Baars (Flensburg) as well as the record winners at the Travemuender Woche, Helge and Christian Sach from Zarnekau.
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