Wind dies down: O'pen skiffs ride the Warnemünde wave

Around midnight, the last gusts of nearly 40 knots swept over Warnemünde. As the storm slowly moved towards the Baltic Sea, the wind subsided somewhat during early Thursday morning. Once again, a post-storm weather pattern dominated the sailing day at the mouth of the Warnow River: northwesterly winds averaging 18 to 22 knots. Finally, no rain, plenty of sunshine, and blue skies.

The O'pen Skiff class has only been able to sail two races so far. The stormy weather on Tuesday prevented any more from taking place yesterday. Therefore, the race committee scheduled four races for the skiff sailors today. Races could still be started in the class until 4:00 PM, but the weather window was expected to close again in the afternoon, as the forecast predicted a return of strong winds.

Consequently, at precisely 10:00 a.m. the signal to set sail for the O'pen skiff sailors rose from the flagpole at the central pier, so that at exactly 11:05 a.m. the starting signal for the first race was given.

“We had really consistent winds that were almost fixed at 190 degrees, so we didn’t have to move the buoys much and were able to start four short races in fairly quick succession,” says race director Svenja Herziger.

Four races in challenging conditions, with still quite a lot of wind and high, steep waves, demanded considerable skill and strength from the young sailors on the water. Especially in the first race, the sailors had to familiarize themselves with the Warnemünde waves. However, the wind subsided somewhat, and the subsequent races proceeded without major problems.

"The kids really gave it their all and did a fantastic job out there. They sailed really well!", Herziger summarizes the sporting ambition of the young generation.

In the end, Pawel Sitko from Poland prevailed over India's Rehaan Dar in the U17 category. Sitko only left the top three in the individual races for his discard, delivering a solid performance with two first-place, two second-place, and one third-place finish. American Zahaan Hemrajani rounded out the podium just behind Dar.

The best German result was achieved by Florian Schlupp with fourth place overall, while Mila Weniger finished sixth. Warnemünder Woche completed.

All four planned races in the U13 class were able to take place. In the youngest class, there were some significant changes in the standings. Here, Poland's Milej Krzysztof emerged victorious after a total of six races. He finished seventh on the first day, but came back strong after yesterday's break and dominated the fleet today: three first-place finishes and one second-place finish – a well-deserved win.

Behind him, Henryk Glaza from Poland and Benedikt Becker from Germany completed the podium.

Zoom8

For the sailors in the Zoom8 class, the start this morning was definitely uncertain. A maximum of 22 knots was considered the possible wind window. Since even the average wind was still within this range, a start in the Boys and Girls Championships today was more than questionable.

The wind was expected to die down somewhat around midday before picking up again in the afternoon. A narrow weather window for the small boat class. After a start delay of almost two hours, a start was finally achieved within the anticipated weather window, which was sufficient for the two planned races.

After the first day of racing, Dane Safina Linnau leads ahead of Austrian Jakob Gsell and Estonian Toomas Pärenson.

The wind is expected to weaken further and shift back to westerly tomorrow, Thursday. The three scheduled races in the class should therefore be able to take place.

Kielzugvogel

In the Kielzugvogel class, the wind limit is 23 knots. Since the gusts remained above this limit throughout the morning, several starts for the 25 crews were postponed. However, they wanted to at least try a race, and so ten sailors set off in the early afternoon on their course east of the eastern breakwater. With a still strong northwesterly wind, the finish line vessel also started a race. However, due to problems on and with the course, although some boats could be scored, the decision was then made to cancel the race.

The Kielzugvögel (a German sailing dinghy) will therefore not start their first races until Thursday, July 9, 2026. To compensate for the cancellation of the previous day, three races are planned instead of two.