(Copenhagen, Denmark) – Twenty-three clubs from fourteen nations
competed over three days (October 17-19) off the spectacular Copenhagen
city waterfront. The sailing featured incredibly tight-racing at a
world-class level, boats rapidly changing positions from mark-to-mark as
wind-shifts and tactics came into play on the tight 10-13 minute race
course. While the premiere of the SAILING Champions League may have
ended on a cloudy, drizzly day, the atmosphere was absolutely brilliant
amongst the teams competing in fleet of identically-matched J/70s. In
total, 45 races were sailed over the long weekend. Fortunately, there
was good breeze each day and the spectators in front of the world-famous
“Little Mermaid” were treated to front-row seats in a true
“stadium-sailing” format, the boats were often tacking just 20-30 feet
off the seawalls! No wonder, among the 92 sailors were more than 22
Olympic sailing medalists, multiple World Champions from various classes
and even Volvo Ocean Race winners!
The
sought-after silver bowl from Robbe & Berking will stay with the
hosts from the Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub in Copenhagen, it was their KDY
Team in the end that won by a mere 0.5 points difference over the second
place team- Circolo Canottiere Aniene (Italy). Third was the Oman Sail
Team that notably sailed in the top three virtually all three days!In the “Sail for Charity” campaign, where technology partner SAP donated 25,000 Euro to the World Childhood Foundation, it was the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein Team (Germany) that won that “charity race”, raising the most money of any of the teams participating.
The final outcome of the regatta was not settled amongst the top three clubs until the very last race. At the end, the Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub (KDY) with helmsman Michael Hestbæk (participant at the Olympics in the Star 2012 in London), Joachim Aschenbrenner, Lucas Lier and Frederik Berg took the lead with their J/70 and made their mark in the history books by winning the first SAILING Champions League.
“It feels fantastic to win on home waters. We felt the pressure before the last race. We had a little advantage at the start and it worked out for us”, explained a very happy Michael Hestbæk after his arrival ashore. Their team was excited to lift the five kilogram silver bowl from Robbe & Berking – the Robbe & Berking SAILING Champions League Trophy – into the air (fortunately, no one went swimming, as is the tradition after winning regattas).
The
Italian team from Circolo Canottiere Aniene in Rome (consisting of
pro-sailor Lorenzo Bressani, Offshore World Champions Matteo Mason and
Samuele Nicolettis and Michele Paoletti) started off the series with an
astounding record of six 1sts and two 2nds in their first nine races!
But then, the “wheels went flying off their shopping trolley” in the
10th race on the second day. Whatever “magic dust” they were using
seemingly disappeared. As the winds went more west and the fleet could
sail longer courses, it seems the Italians kept “jogging right” when
everyone else was “going left”. Posting a second to last in that last
race clearly killed their momentum and confidence. During the grand
finale Sunday, the CCA team struggled to finish mid-fleet in the
championship round of all the top teams. In the last race, KDY finished
4th while CCA took a 5th, just enough for KDY to take the championship.
In the “Sail for Charity” campaign, fans of the 23 international clubs helped “vote” for the favorite teams; as a result, technology partner SAP donated 25,000 Euros to the World Childhood Foundation (Childhood) founded by the Sweden’s Queen Silvia. “SAP is very happy to collaborate with Childhood. It’s an honor to help Childhood to do great things,” said Sofia Hesselkilde, Senior Marketing Manager of SAP Denmark. Susanne Labonde, Executive Director of the World Childhood Foundation in Germany adds, “I’m excited to be here at this great regatta. Special thanks to SAP for the donation and to all the supporters, who voted for their club. The journey will go on in 2015 and I’m looking forward to it.”
The
KDY raised the bar quite high for clubs hosting the event in the
future. Ashore and on the water, sixty volunteers arranged a perfectly
organized event. “I am proud that we hosted the premiere of the SAILING
Champions League here in Copenhagen. To be honest, I didn’t think that
it is possible in such a short period of time. We are ready for next
year and hope to be part of the SCL again,” said Lars Ive, Vice
Commodore of the KDY.The organizers of the SAILING Champions League– the German “Segel-Bundesliga”, the Danish “Sejlsportsligaen” and the Royal Danish Yacht Club– did an extraordinary job managing the entire program of 45 races (15 for each club). After experiencing close racing in a spectator-friendly format, it was clear the sailing “Bundesliga” has caught fire and a number of other countries will soon be copying the format and introducing their national sailing leagues in the near future. For more SAILING Champions League regatta information
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