Saturday, July 12, 2014

J/24 Kiel Week Ends With Tie-breaker!

J/24s sailing at Kieler Woche- GermanySchonfeldt Triumphs Over Feuerherdt
(Kiel, Germany)- This year’s J/24 fleet in Kiel Week had one of its best showings in recent years with 38 teams in attendance sailing from June 21st to June 24th.  After sailing five races the top two teams ended up in a tie-breaker at 31 pts each.  In the end, it was Frank Schonfeldt’s team (Nicklas Feuerstein, Finn Moller, Till Kruger & Thorsten Sperl) from Mühlenberger Segel-Club that was determined to be the winner after countbacks on 1sts, 2nds and 3rds.  Losing the tie-break was Tobias Feuerherdt’s crew (Jan-Marc Ulrich, Wolle Panuschka, Tobias Peters & Justus Kellner) from Blankeneser Segel Club.

Crossing the Atlantic and sailing for Rochester YC was the American Mike Ingham, sailing fast in a chartered boat to take third overall. His international crew consisted of Marianne Schoke from Sweden and three Germans- Max Holzer, Scott Ikle & Klaus Walkusch.

Women sailing at Kieler WochePerhaps the “Cinderella story” of the event was the remarkable performance of one of Germany’s top women J/24 teams.  Having worked hard over the years and attended many of the top European J/24 regattas, it was clear all the efforts and training paid off in this year’s Kiel Week for Stephanie Kopcke and crew from Mühlenberger Segel-Club.  Taking 4th overall, Stephanie’s team of Silke Hahlbrock, Ann-Katrin Brugge, Amelie Panuschka, Nele-Marie Bock and Insa Lindauer sailed a beautiful series over the three day event; it was their first top five finish in such a major J/24 event.

Rounding out the top five was Jan Kahler and team (Olaf Zietz, Roland Bohm and Ole Harder) from Altonaer Segel-Club.   For more J/24 Kiel Week sailing information