(Berlin, Germany)- What began as a dream and passion to grow sailing
across Germany became, for even the most diehard detractors, one of the
most successful sailing projects ever launched in European sailing
history. Some may point to the Extreme 40 catamaran sailing series or
RC-44 one-design series as examples of how to grow participation in
sailing amongst the elite of the sailing world. However, no one has
demonstrated, until this year, how to grow sailing at a grass-roots
level that was “all-inclusive” and fun! Perhaps more importantly, make
it a remarkable learning experience with many of Europe’s best sailors
participating (e.g. Olympic Medallists and World Champions) and get
everyone cheering enthusiastically for their respective sailing clubs to
win! That was the secret of the inaugural J/70 Deutsche
Segel-Bundesliga sailing series held in five locations across Germany
this past summer.The exciting conclusion of the series on Berlin’s Wansee saw a bunch of northern “Hamburgers” trounce their “southern” friends from Berlin and points south in Germany. And in the end, the eighteen sailing clubs/ yacht clubs and hundreds of sailors that participated from across Germany were all the real winners; each club saw tremendous interest grow in the event all summer long with many wishing to participate the next time around!
The finale on the Wansee took place in about as picturesque and dramatic a city lake-front as anyone could imagine. It served as tremendous theater for the finalists to battle for not just the Berliner regatta honors, but the overall series honors as well.
The
Berlin/ Wansee regatta saw tough competition, especially from the host
club sailors that demonstrated excellent local knowledge of the tricky
wind conditions. Indeed, the first two places went to the locals, with
the Schweriner YC team comprised of Ingo Koehn, Torsten Haverland, Lars
Haverland and Uwe Thielemann winning an impressive series with seven
finishes in the top three! They were followed by their colleagues at
Verein Seglerhaus am Wansee with the team of Malte Kamrath, Ulrike
Schumann, Frithjof Kleen and Nils Schröder. Taking third was Lindauer
Segler-Club, fourth was Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and fifth was
Muhlenberger Segel-Club.
As
a result of their fourth place finish in the Berlin/Wansee Regatta, the
Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) team from Hamburg were declared the
overall winners of the inaugural Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga series! The
NRV team that consisted of Johannes Polgar, Florian Spalteholz, Klaas
Höpcke and Niklas of Meyerinck sailed a remarkably consistent series
over the course of the five regattas, consistently finishing in the top
five— (Tutzing- 5th, Travemunde- 2nd, Hamburg- 1st, Friedrichshafen-
4th, Berlin- 5th). Their skipper, Johannes Polgar, said “we could hardly
believe our luck! It was a crazy season for us! Fantastic that we were
able to bring the trophy to our friends and members in Hamburg!”Behind NRV in the overall standings and taking second prize for the series were the Wurttembergischer YC team. While sailing fast and smart in Tutzing (4th), Travemunde (5th) and Friedrichshafen (1st), their team members didn’t quite hit the ground running in championship form in Hamburg (7th) and in the Berliner finale (9th).
The
biggest battle happened to be for the final position on the podium for
the series with at least four teams vying for the coveted bronze
medal. By sailing their hearts out in Berlin, the local favorites
(Verein Seglerhaus am Wansee with skipper Malte Kamrath), rode their
second place onto podium by a whisker! The VSaW team started the series
slowly in Tutzing, but closed with a flourish at Friedrichshafen (2nd)
and Berlin (2nd) to claim the bronze for the overall series. The balance of the top five were quite close, finishing just two and three points behind VSaW, respectively. After starting the series quite strongly - Tutzing (1st), Travemunde (3rd), Hamburg (3rd)- the proverbial “wheels fell of the silverware shopping trolley” for YC Berlin-Grunau’s team. The last two events for YC B-G were tough pills to swallow, having to count the Friedrichshafen (9th) and Berlin (12th) to finish fourth. Just one point back was the very consistent team from Chiemsee YC, counting a Hamburg (2nd), a 5th and three 6th places to hang in for fifth overall.
After five months, it is quite clear the concept of the first Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga has been a great success. The acceptance of the first nation-wide club competition in Germany is very high amongst the sailing community. The five events that were held in the first year were dominated by local patriotism, passion, camaraderie and fairness between the sailors. So far, there are now more than 30 other clubs that are interested in participating for the 2014 sailing season!
Many happy memories were recorded for all of the sailors, the organizers, sponsors and the host clubs. Below are the links to the photos and some nice sailing videos for each one of the events.
June 7-9- Tutzing/ Starnberger See
http://segelbundesliga.de/fotogalerien/tutzing/
http://segelbundesliga.de/fotogalerien/tutzing-tag-2/
http://segelbundesliga.de/fotogalerien/tutzing-tag-3/
July 19-21- Travemunde
http://segelbundesliga.de/mediathek/fotogalerien/travemuende/
Day 2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfhhFYNsXTU
Day 3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30Wikkt8jGk
August 30— September 1- Hamburg
http://segelbundesliga.de/mediathek/fotogalerien/hamburg/
Day 1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u974BNOD0H8
Day 2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyZKlCmAuqg
Day 3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u974BNOD0H8
September 27-29- Friedrichshafen
http://segelbundesliga.de/mediathek/fotogalerien/friedrichshafen/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QToUl73acWY
November 8-10- Berlin finale
http://segelbundesliga.de/mediathek/fotogalerien/berlin/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZDIhI9WUr4
For more Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga sailing information
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