Sailing Champions League Growing Across Europe

(Hamburg, Germany)- The concept of “sailing leagues” is taking Europe by storm.  It’s an idea that mimics exactly how American college sailing works; multiple teams are rotated into a small fleet of boats in order to permit more sailing clubs to participate.  In the case of Germany’s Segel-Bundesliga, the format is 18 teams rotating into 6 matched J/70 one-design; at any given time, 12 teams are on the sidelines watching their friends and foes dueling for top positions on the water and learning best practices for tactics/ strategy the next time they go out.  The formula has worked extremely well and is an “all-inclusive” event.  Everyone is welcome to participate and, in the case of Germany, the number of clubs applying to sail in their league far outstrips what they can accommodate.

Since the introduction of the German league in 2013, other countries have jumped in with both feet.  In particular, Denmark was the first to join the “sailing league club” and host the first Sailing Champions League event in Copenhagen in the fall of 2014.  The excitement surrounding the format has meant that young and old alike are competing side-by-side with Olympic and World Champions, all representing their sailing club.  Countries that have started their own leagues include Sweden, Poland, Russia, Italy (the Lega Italiana Vela), Norway and now Finland.  The boat of choice has generally been J/70s due to its simplicity, ease of trailering, and ease of use by all skills of sailors.

SWEDEN Report
At the end of May, the first Swedish Sailing League (called  “Allsvenskan”) started in Saltsjöbaden. 18 clubs came to sail against each other. The weekend offered summer and sun, but very challenging conditions.  The winner after 11 flights overall was the host club- KSSS (the Royal Swedish YC).

On Friday, all teams were nervous, and eager to see what the competition had to offer. But soon it was clear which clubs would dominate the weekend. Ekolns Sailing Club from Uppsala surprised everyone by winning five heats in a row before posting an OCS (over the line in the start) and proved to be human. Stockholms 606 Klubb were favorites in the polls but had a tough start. They worked hard and sailed better and better throughout the regatta. Also, the two west coast clubs, Hjuviks Båtklubb and Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club, showed that their pre-season training was well spent.

However, at the end, it was the Royal Swedish Yacht Club (KSSS) that maximized the advantage of home waters as well as many hours of training in the J/70. The winning KSSS team consisted of Rodney Ardern, Sandra Sandqvist, Ingemar Sundstedt, and Mikael Lindqvist (pictured here). They managed to win 8 out of 11 races. Behind them in second place was Stockholms 606 Klubb and in third overall Ekolns SegelKlubb, also from the Stockholm area.  The balance of the top five included Hjuviks Båtklubb in fourth and Royal Gothenburg YC in fifth.

Sandra Sandqvist, who is also working on sailing in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, had this to say about their winning performance: "We had some favorites pressure on us, so we definitely felt that pressure. But, we have been given roles in the team to work well together. It's always fun to win!”

The next Tour stops for Allsvenskan 2015 include:

•  August 14-16- the MSS, the Western Harbour, Malmo
•  August 28-30- HjBK/CCYC, Grötö, Gothenburg archipelago
•  September 17-19- the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, Italy

Check out their Swedish Sailing Facebook page here.  To learn more about the Swedish Sailing League.

NORWAY Report
After the Danish, the Swedish and the Finnish, the Norwegians are now the last Scandinavian country in the North of Europe to start with their own national sailing league this year.

Two regattas are planned for 2015, which will also be qualifiers for the 2016 sailing league season. Next year 15 clubs will sail four regattas. In both years, the races are being sailed in brand new J/70s offered by the Norwegian Sailing Association.

DENMARK Updates
After the tremendously successful inaugural Sailing Champions League regatta in Copenhagen in the fall of 2014, the Danish Sejlsportsligaen have started off their 2015 season with 36 highly motivated clubs! As a result of this enormous enthusiasm, the Sejlsportsligaen is split into two “flights” (1 and 2) so that 18 teams can compete in each regatta on their 6 boats.  At the end of the season will be grand finale for the top eight teams from each flight.

After the first event held in northern Denmark at Skive on the Skivefjord, it was the Frederikshavn Sejlklub from northern Denmark that is leading in League 1 and in League 2 it was the Bogense Sejlklub from the Isle Fuenen that dominated their fleet.

The regatta saw three intense days of wind, lots of drama, high speed and lots of teams learning how to keep their boat underneath the spinnaker after a huge gust of wind.  On Sunday, especially, the sailing was at its best and most challenging.  The teams sailed in 10-12 m/s winds throughout the day with puffs in excess of 15-16 m/s; creating some spectacular planes for some teams and some spectacular broaches for others— must to the delight of the enthusiastic crowd roaring encouragement from the sidelines.

The event was dominated all three days by Frederikshavn, Aarhus and Skovshoved. The first two came with experienced sprit boat crews and Skovshoved was also heavily stacked, including Olympic bronze medalist Peter Lang in the boat.

During Sunday races, Frederikshavn gradually increased their lead and ended with 74 points - after having picked up nine first places and five third places in 14 races! There’s was a consistent, top performance that none of the other competitors were able to match.

"With so much wind, technique and boat handling were critical to our success.  Everyone had to know their roles and execute them well," said Frederikshavn skipper Chris Houmann.  "Tactically, we sailed a good event. But it is also easier to make the right decisions if you are ahead with good speed and boat handling. "

Frederikshavn’s goal is to become the league winner!  Surprise, surprise.  However, with such a convincing start to their season in the Skive regatta, they may well achieve their goal quickly. "We did not expect to win here. Next time, we come with the same crew and hope to make our presence felt in the fleet again. But, there are also events later in the year where we cannot be represented with our strongest team," said Houmann.

Aarhus Sailing Club, with Peter Warrer as skipper, finished with 70 points in second place after staying close to Frederikshavn through most of the regatta. Third place went to Skovshoved Yacht Club who had Lars Nordbjerg as skipper.

Apparently, there was some “panic” taking place amongst one of Denmark’s leading sailing clubs.  It was a result of the fact that KDY (the Royal Danish YC) is now currently last in League 1.  The general view was that something had to be wrong with their team since they were the winners of the SAILING Champions League 2014.  Now, they are way behind at the first event this season. In 14 races, the KDY finished last eight times; and in the other six races they received a penalty. In short, everyone hopes there is still room for improvement for their team!  The next event for the Danish Sejlsportsligaen will take place in Horsens 12th-14th June.

Danish Skive | Sejlsportsligaen 2015 sailing video highlights
Day 2- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_6yrCjhBdA
Day 3- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP1vkyPjzOs

Check out the Danish Sejlsportsligaen Facebook page here.   For more Danish Sejlsportsligaen sailing information

SWISS SAILING LEAGUE
The successful German Sailing League (“Segel-Bundesliga”) and the international SAILING Champions League were the driving force behind the Swiss Sailing League. 33 sailing clubs from Switzerland applied to be at the starting line for their inaugural series in 2015.  23 clubs were chosen to participate in the Swiss Sailing League 2015, while the others are invited to compete in a qualifier regatta to participate in the 2016 League.

The goal of the Swiss Sailing League is to nominate the best Swiss sailing club in the end.  The clubs will send their best sailors to the event and they also hope to qualify for one of the two spots for the international SAILING Champions League to be held in September at YC Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo, Sardinia. All the teams will be sailing matched one-design J/70s supplied by the Swiss Sailing League in cooperation with the Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga.

The big interest in the Swiss Sailing League makes it possible to run two leagues in 2016 – a Swiss Sailing Super League and a Swiss Sailing Challenge League. Furthermore, there will be a qualifier regatta at the end of October 2015, where all non-set clubs can qualify for the 1st or 2nd league.

The following events are scheduled for 2015:

•  Act 1: 24th to 26th April 2015 in Thun (Thunersee Yacht Club)
•  Act 2: 2nd to 4th October 2015 in Kreuzlingen (Yachtclub Kreuzlingen)
•  2016 Qualifers- October 2015 on Lake Constance

For more Sailing Champions League sailing information