(Starnberg, Germany)- On a beautiful lake in Bavaria, 25 kilometers
southwest of Munich, will begin the 2016 season for the Deutsche
Segel-Bundesliga (DSBL). The fifth largest lake in Germany, it is most
notorious for the scandalous drowning death of King Ludwig II in 1886.
While this bit of trivia may be lost on the sailors, there is no
question the 36 teams and nearly 200 sailors participating in DSBL’s
inaugural 2016 event will try to avoid tragic performances themselves as
they all seek the coveted silver plate, emblematic of the Overall DSBL
Championship. The long weekend starts with a qualification series from April 27th to 28th for six teams on the DSBL’s matched fleet of International One-Design J/70 class sailboats. The pressure is immense since it is the only time these teams can hope to participate in the “premiere” division of the DSBL- League I.
The
Düsseldorf Yacht Club (13th), the Segelkameradschaft (14th place) and
the Yacht Club Berlin-Grünau (15th place) want to confirm their status
in the Bundesliga I. Their competitors from the Bundesliga II division
want to replace them! That includes the Hamburger Segel-Club (No. 4),
the club at Rupenhorn (No. 5) and the Blankeneser Sailing Club (6th
place). Every point will count and no one will give a millimeter as the
teams fight to either stay in, or climb into, League I. The Hamburger Segel-Club (HSC) is a “repeat offender” for the start of the season. For the second year in a row, the club from Alster Lake is in the qualification round and has to fight for the rite to be in League I. The second time, they hope, things should finally work out:
"We
have trained hard on the Alster Lake and, yet, we are completely
relaxed. I think we have a good chance in light winds. Since we have two
league newcomers to the Starnberg qualifiers, we will still need for
better coordination in our crew, but we are getting better. This past
weekend, we practiced one last time our maneuvers. Now, it’s time to
get serious. We know that the other clubs have also trained and at the
end, little things will decide how we place. It is an intense
competition, a fight to the end that will be exciting and something we
look forward to,” said HSC skipper- Silke Basedow.The qualification races start on Wednesday, 27 April at 1100 hrs in front of Munich YC in on Starnberg Lake. Twelve races are planned. The minimum number of five races must be completed to ensure the qualification to be officially valid. If there is no official rating, the table from last season remains. Thursday, April 28 is scheduled as a make-up day, just in case.
Then, from Friday through Sunday, the League I teams will be sailing as many races as weather permits! Truly, the “horses will be on the track” working hard and hoping to establish an early pecking order amongst the top sailing clubs throughout Germany.
The Sailing Instructions, the schedule and, most importantly, LIVE SAP SAILING Analytics Tracking can be found here. For more Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga sailing information
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