(Flensburg, Germany)- The J/80 German Open this year had several
notable highlights both for the class and for sailing. First, it looked
like summer never left, with fantastic weather, warm, sunny and with
good breeze! Second, the German J/80 class should be proud to have
produced twenty-three boats on the line-- cheers to all who made that
happen! Finally, in addition to the usual suspects, there were many new
faces both young and old in our fleet-- that's good news and healthy
for the class!In addition to the pleasant temperatures, the sailing conditions were typical for Flensburg-- with large round hills along the shoreline, the surrounding forests affect the wind a lot-- very shifty with gusts coming from everywhere, over hills and across the fields! So, the wind was going to keep tacticians heads "smoking" from too much electrical activity on the brain! It sure makes for fun, exciting racing! Just like they say about operas, "it's not over until its over"-- something about "fat lady divas", right?!
After eight races and three days of amazing sailing, Martin Menzner and his PIKE crew sailed into a comfortable lead in first place. Taking second was Soren Hadeler's VIVACE DIVA who had an exciting match race with Sven Vagt's CAMPAIGN, winning in the end by just one point by virtue of scoring a 1-2 in the last two races. Fourth was Bjorn Beilken's PROCEDES DIVA and fifth was Hauke Kruss's TAK FOR TUREN. Top boat from Denmark was Flemming Djernaes's PROJECT 2 in eighth overall. For more J/80 Germany sailing information
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