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Musto Skiff German Open at Potsdamer Yacht Club

by Jan Busch (translation by Iver Ahlmann) 31 Oct 2015 15:48 GMT 8-11 October 2015
Musto Skiff German Open © Sören Hese / Sailpower Blog

Ahlmann wins on count back

The Wannsee in Berlin was the stage of the duel between possibly the strongest German sailors in the Musto Skiff - Frithjof Schwerdt and Iver Ahlmann. The Potsdamer Yacht Club, Schwerdts home club, hosted this year's German Open. It was, however, Ahlmann, who coped better on the first day with very shifty easterly winds, drizzly rain and cold temperatures - he managed to get bullets in all four races. The second day was dominated by weak easterly winds, some 90 degree shifts, the field getting diced up repeatedly. The right tactics and precise boat and body control were the key to success, Ahlmann and Schwerdt managed two line honours each.

On Saturday, the third day, it was real champagne sailing with a bright blue sky, crisp cold temperatures and strong easterly winds. The fourteen Mustos were chasing each other with flying gennakers along Peacock Island and offered numerous weekend sailors a fantastic scenery. Schwerdt trumped now and offered an impeccable performance and perfect boat control, gaineing four bullets and moved to within a point of the leading Iver Ahlmann.

With 12 races under the belt, it had to be the Sunday with another couple of races, to decide the German Open winner. It was a cold night and the frost had to be shaken off the boat covers in the morning. In a leading group of four Skiffs, with fierce gusts up to 26 knots, it was Schwerdt getting line honours in the first race of the day, Ahlmann third, Schwerdt was now one point ahead.

It was the last race that had to decide the winner. In still brisk conditions Ahlmann went hard left off the line and took the lead around the windward mark, closely followed by Schwerdt who then suffered a brief swim after avoiding Wannsee traffic. Two full laps later at the final windward mark, it was Schwerdt, Ahlmann and Junis Rindermann coming into the windward mark within a handful of boat lengths to each other. Ahlmann managed to find the best line and defended his position into the finish just ahead of Schwerdt. Ahlmann and Schwerdt were now on equal points, same discards, both with 7 wins, 4 seconds and 3 thirds so it was the result of the last race to decide Ahlmann as the German Open Champion.

Potsdamer Yacht Club, many thanks for a perfect organisation and a great race committee, making it worth coming back. We also thank Musto represented by the German general importer Peter Frisch, the designer of the MustoSkiff Joachim Harprecht and the company Advertisers Müller from Lübeck for the support of the creation of Event Shirts. All results and lots of great photos can be found on the Facebook group "Musto Skiff GER / SUI / AUT".

With this season's highlight an eventful 2015 season comes to an end. Also next year the MustoSkiffs will again be in Berlin. In May the popular annual Berlin Skiff Bash will be held at the Müggelsee. The German Open 2016 will be held as part of the Travemuender Woche in July.

Full results can be found here.

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