Travemuende: Sailing like off Mallorca

“That was the best day of sailing I ever had in Germany. It was like off Mallorca,” raved Johannes POLGAR on Thursday, 29 July.

The Kiel sailor and his spare crew member Phillip WETZIG gave a dream-like performance with six wins and one discard. They are now leading in the Tornado class at the 115th Travemuende Week, ahead of the Austrians Thomas ZAJAC and Thomas CZAJKA. Beautiful sunshine at 25 degrees Celsius and a strong sea breeze of up to six Beaufort made for perfect sailing conditions in the afternoon.

In the mornings, it almost seemed as it was going to be one of these typical days of calm on which the promised wind never sets in. But it turned out for the best and the afternoon wind brought about a couple of capsizes during landing for the fickle International 14 dinghies, an interesting spectacle for the several thousand visitors who watched them from the beach. Oliver Voss from Mielkendorf and Jens Holscher from Luebeck are still placed first in the German Open of this class. “Weather and wind conditions are predicted to be stable,” was the promising outlook that race director Walter Mielke gave for the next days.

The classic 5.5mR yachts were a truly aesthetic sight among the white caps on the blue waters of Luebeck Bay. From the first race, their Open German were clearly dominated by Swiss sailors with Stefan Zlot, Geneva, leading ahead of Felix Bibus, Altendorf. Hans Koester from Flensburg and his crew are the best placed Germans.

When the breeze set in in the afternoon, it was high time for the local sailors. Simon GROTELUESCHEN from Luebeck Yacht Club won two races and took the lead in the Olympic Laser class at the same score as Tobias Schadewaldt from Wilhelmshaven, Germany. “That was real sailing today, not like the dilly-dallying in light winds we had yesterday,” laughed the 17-year old, aiming at his first Travemuende Week victory.

And then there are others who already have their tenth victory in sight: It looks like no-one can take it away from Helge and Christian SACH from nearby Zarnekau, even though the second placed Arne Gosche and Martin Bach from Bremen, Germany, had not come worse than second in any race of the Formula 18 catamarans. So the Sach brothers even had to discard one of their seven wins. “After the Worlds in Italy (rank 14, the editor), we have changed the spinnaker and are much faster now,” explained Helge Sach what made the difference.

Full results are available on the event website at the address below.