NRV women's team crowned Helga Cup 2024 champions

NRV women's team crowned Helga Cup 2024 champions © Sven Jurgensen

The Helga Cup is the largest women-only regatta and yet, or perhaps because of that, it is a sailing event for "every woman". Whether young or old, whether you are a cruising, leisure, or regatta sailor, and whether you have offshore or inshore experience - the regatta attracted women sailors from all over Europe, the USA, and Australia!

The regatta was sailed on the gorgeous Alster Lake is located right in the city center of Hamburg and attracts large numbers of spectators. Hardly any other place offers such a wonderful opportunity to present sailing in the middle of a big city. Hamburg's latest landmark the Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall and St. Michaels' Church spire can be seen in the background.

Norddeutscher Regatta Verein again hosted the Helga Cup in J/70 one-design class sailboats. The J/70 is very popular with women sailors in Europe since it's such an easy boat to sail and boat handling is easy with lightweight loads on the jib, main, and asymmetric spinnaker.

The seventh edition of the Helga Cup was once again a complete success in good wind conditions and exciting right up to the end. Sixty-three teams sailed in the J/70 class with 350 women sailors! In total, 84 races were sailed by women's teams from nine nations (Germany, Finland, Canada, USA, Ukraine, Switzerland, France, Australia, Poland).

The participants were happy about the good sailing conditions with moderate wind conditions on the first two racing days and somewhat more challenging on the final day. The atmosphere was very good on the water as well as on land and characterized by perfect cooperation among the women.

The teams in class J/70 had exciting races right up to the last minute. The eventual winners from the "NRV Women's Team" (Julia Kühn, Birte Berger, Luisa Krüger, Nina Erbach) mastered the qualification for the final quite confidently and took first place alone. In the final, the start was initially a bit bumpy for the NRV women when they had to sail back again after an early start. But they successfully worked their way back to the front of the field and crossed the finish line in fourth place.

"We knew it wouldn't be easy. A final with ten boats automatically creates more pressure, and the Alster can be tricky. It was very gusty at times. It was a nerve-racking final, and we are super happy about the victory - and in our home club too. It was a great three days of regatta," said the team immediately after crossing the finish line.

The "Mammazentrum Foundation Team" (Juliane Zepp, Marion Rommel, Maren Hahlbrock, Lea Beele) from the Hamburg Sailing Club sailed to second place. The "Südseeperlen" (Lena Deike, Ida Bachschmidt, Ellen Bauer, Rosane Schnetz) from the Württemberg Yacht Club came third.

"We had good sailing conditions and were able to hold 101 races," said NRV club manager Klaus Lahme, "I would like to thank the more than 60 volunteers, our race management, Tina Buch and Jens Hahlbrock with their teams, the umpire chief Svenja Hünsch and her team. They all did a great job!"

During the award ceremony, Christoph Holstein, State Councilor of the Department of the Interior and Sport, praised the good cooperation and solidarity among the participating sailors and emphasized how important this is for today's society.

Helga Cup patron Kristina Vogel, former German track cyclist and two-time Olympic champion, highlighted the great atmosphere among the participating women and the aspect of how naturally women of very different sailing levels sail together on the regatta course at the Helga Cup. She is already looking forward to taking over the patronage of the Helga Cup next year.

The eighth edition of the Helga Cup will take place from June 12th to 15th, 2025 on Hamburg's Alster Lake.

The Helga Cup 2024 was supported by: Hamburg Active City, Eberhardt Wienholt Foundation, Heinz Kettler Foundation, REWE, Fleischgroßmarkt Hamburg, Unser Norden Foundation, Salzbrenner Würstchen, Torqeedo, Akquinet, Peter Frisch GmbH, Von der Linden, Pantaenius.

• Full results here
• More information here