| TRAVEMUENDE, GERMANY-(24-7-2005) The long offshore race of the international German offshore championships
was over at Sunday midday (24 July). But the jury was still in an hearing
late evening caused by several protests filed. It was the `royal` IMS I
class keeping the judges busy. At 21:00 local time it was still uncertain
weather Norwegian entry `Al Cap One III` helmed by Peer Moberg from Oslo
would be the winner as calculated by the taken finishing times. Despite this
matters a total of 102 single races in 21 classes were done in moderate to
fresh breeze after the first weekend of the 116th Travemuende Week.
The new Scandinavian Grand Soleigh 42 Racing with Europe ace Moberg on the
wheel had beaten the Rodman 42 `Hanseatic Lloyd` owned by Bremen-based
businessman Christian Plump by a margin of eight seconds. But it was third
placed LV 42 `L+M Hispaniola` (Horst Mann, Kiel) who left the final results
in the IMS I class open for quite a while. `The government buoy nominated
for the finish line was wrong. And we had trouble at night when a gate boat
was not in place when we approached it`, explained tactician Thomas Jungblut
from Hamburg.
Whilst the IMS I sailors were still waiting for the last decisions the
others were already enjoying and celebrating themselves. Top scorer in both
IMS II and III/IV were the winners of last years championships. The Dehler
39 `Lollipop` from Jan Hinrichs (Berlin) took not only line honours but also
the victory on corrected times. And Flensburg based brothers Lars and Sven
Christensen raced well on their X-332 `No Limits` showing the chasing pack
not more but their stern.
Only Germans standing on the podium - this would be the fact if the
international German 505 championships would have been finished on Sunday.
Top favourites Howald Hamlin and Cam Lewis (USA) set a bullet point in race
six but struggled before. On rank four in the overall list they miss twelve
points to Wolfgang Hunger and Holger Jess from North Germany. The two times
world champions did not sailed very well but good enough to extent their
lead over local fellows Claas Lehmann/Martin Schöler (Hamburg) by two
points. `It was very tricky today with wind shifts of 40 degrees`, explained
Hunger, `therefore you also need some luck.`
The Olympic Tornado class is dictated by Russians Andrey Kirilyuk/Valery
Ushkov leading by two points over their British rivals Hugh Styles/Graham
Vials. Four times Olympic competitor and bronze medallist in 2000, Roland
Gäbler, fought hard to not loose the contact to the top of the leader board.
His crew Gunnar Struckmann from Kiel said: `We needed to pay attention every
single moment. There were ladders and snakes everywhere and all the time.`
The highest decorated surfer Christoph Sieber from Austria, who won a
Olympic gold medal in the Mistral One-Design class, had no chance to defend
the lead in the 49er class with his crew Clemens Kruse when German newcomers
Thomas Rein and Patrick Boehmer from Kiel scored a triple win in a row. The
470 class sees a temporary female leader with Annina Wagner and Anneli
Hartmann from Berlin whilst Alexander Schlonski (Rostock, Germany) still
holds the number one in the Laser class.
Overall results after day two of the 116th Travemuende Week
International German Offshore Championships, Long offshore race:
IMS I: Uncertain due to ongoing protests and hearings (19:00 UTC).
IMS II: 1. Lollipop (Jan Hinrichs/Berlin), 2. Vihula (Gerhard
Schulz/Papenburg), 3. Patent³ (Jürgen Klinghardt/Bremen).
IMS III/VI: 1. No Limits (Lars and Sven Christensen/Flensburg), 2. Chinook
(Johann Friedrichsen/Flensburg), 3. Cala Ventinove (Uwe Wenzel/Bremen).
International German 505 championships: 1. Hunger/Jess (Strande) 16 points,
2. Lehmann/Schöler (Hamburg) 23, 3. Kellner/Stammerjohann (Hechendorf) 23.
470: 1. Wagner/Hartmann (Berlin) 5 points, 2. Doffing/Kaminski (Darmstadt)
8; 3. van den Hout-Nolte/Nolte (Delligsen) 13.
49er: 1. Rein/Boehmer (Kiel) 8 points, 2. Sieber/Kruse (Austria) 16, 3.
Lewin/Lewin (Barkelsby) 25.
Laser: 1. Alexander Schlonski (Rostock) 6 points; 2. Tobias Schadewaldt
(Kiel) 9, 3. Mathias Rieck (Rostock) 16.
Tornado: 1. Kirilyuk/Ushkov (Russia) 9 points, 2. Style/Vials (Great
Britain) 11, 3. Gäbler/Struckmann (Tinglev) 15.
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