Top teams defend top positions
Day two of the Warnemünde Week Regattas again brought challenging conditions. The wind did decrease in strength, but some gusts still exceeded the 20 knot mark. The waves had also increased in strength. With the wind turning to the southwest and a current coming from the opposite direction, a swell of around one meter built up.
Day two of the Warnemünde Week Regattas again brought challenging conditions. The wind did decrease in strength, but some gusts still exceeded the 20 knot mark. The waves had also increased in strength. With a wind turning to the southwest and a current coming from the opposite direction, a swell of around one meter built up. This put the powerful athletes in a strong position, and the leaders from the previous day almost without exception confirmed their position. Only in the Ilca6 Euro Cup was there a change in leadership: World Champion Anne-Marie Rindom overtook her Danish compatriot Anna Munch with two daily victories.
The Danish women's team in the Ilca6 is heading for the Olympics: After Anne-Marie Rindom had to take a break due to an arm injury and therefore also skipped the Kiel Week, she is now sailing again largely pain-free. The 33-year-old dominated the action in her group, winning both races. In the parallel group, colleague Anna Munch came in second twice and is now lurking in the first chasing position in the overall rankings - just one point behind. "It feels good again. The Warnemünder Woche is the last regatta test before the Olympic Games. On Wednesday we'll go home for a day and then we'll travel on to Marseille."
Hannah Anderssohn lost some ground on her home turf. With sixth and third place, she remains in the lead in fourth place overall. Morten Ben Borchardt, a student from Kiel, moved up to the current bronze position with a first and fifth place. "Stronger wind is generally good for me, the waves are not so important then, even if they were a bit harder today than yesterday. I'm happy with third place. It would be great to defend it. But I'm not stressing too much about it."
In his wake, Morten Ben Borchardt has other strong athletes in addition to Hannah Anderssohn. The Finnish Monika Mikkola, winner of the Kiel Week a week ago, is one of them. The Olympic participant is currently sixth. Another starter for Marseille still has to get used to the rough European conditions. Vaimo 'Oi'A Ripley from the Pacific island state of Samoa has slipped to 65th place. She received a wildcard for the Olympic Games and is preparing in northern Germany. After the Kiel Week, she trained in Hamburg and then traveled on to Warnemünde.
The leader of the Ilca7 class is sticking to his course of consistently achieving top placings. The Dane Andreas Krabbe-Christensen has not yet won a day in the four races so far, but as the competition is struggling with fluctuating results, he extended his lead with two more second places. The Swede Ludvig Lindqvist had the strongest day with two daily victories. However, he is still lurking in third place overall, behind the American Daniel Escudero.
In Ilca4, the junior class of the Olympic disciplines, the Czech Jiri Tomes remains the benchmark. His record so far: four starts, four wins! Nothing changed behind him on the second day either. The Cypriot Anatoli Zoubovski remains second ahead of Beáta Dokoupilová (Czech Republic).
In the 505, the Frenchmen Philippe Boite/Marin Carnot suffered a "slip-up". After four wins in a row, they had to settle for second place in the fifth race. But the Fivens are unlikely to be able to shake off their overall victory on the final Monday. "The conditions are great. We are used to such winds from our home waters in La Rochelle. However, the waves are not as strong there," reported foredecker Carnot. He and his helmsman are in Warnemünde for the third time and are pleased with the strong field. "This is good preparation for the World Championships in Sweden in August."
The duo finished fifth in the World Championships last year. But helmsman Boite has more in mind. He has already been world champion four times in the former Olympic Tempest class - including in 2007, when the World Championships were sailed off Warnemünde.
Tim and Finn Böger (Hamburg) moved up to second place in the 505s with their daily victory in the fifth race. They have thus pushed Lutz Stengel/Frank Feller (Rostock) into third place for the time being.
