Boite/Carnot win 505 EuroCup

A long wait, a late start and an award ceremony: In a gentle breeze, the sailors of the Warnemünder Woche a lot of patience was required. After several postponements of the start, the decision was finally made in the afternoon that no more starts would be made on the dinghy courses. For the 505s, this meant that the Frenchmen Philippe Boite/Marin Carnot were the winners of the EuroCup. For the Fiven, Monday was already the final day of their regattas. For the Ilca classes, the final is tomorrow, Tuesday. And the Zoom8 have postponed their start in the World Championship by one day. But that is not a problem, because the title fight includes a reserve day.

But sailing did finally take place on Monday. The race management of the Seebahn found a light breeze to send the yachts on the course for the long-distance regatta around Bornholm. It will probably be a really long race, because shortening the 280 nautical mile long course was not up for debate.

In contrast to the other classes, the offshore sailors were ordered to the Baltic Sea early on Monday. They were supposed to wait there for the chance to start. And that was finally achieved - despite a delay of around an hour. "First of all, we had no wind or only a light breeze from various directions. We constantly monitored the development and waited for a more constant wind. When the wind then prevailed from the north to the northwest, we sent the fleet on course," reported race director Laura Kühlewind. It was not a rapid start, but Kühlewind was able to say: "They are sailing!"

DSV President Mona Küppers gave the starting signal for the 26 crews in two groups, and after just a few miles the fleet spread out and sailed northeast along the coast of Darß like a long string of pearls. As expected, the former winning boat in the Volvo Ocean Race, the "Illbruck" skippered by Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt, took the lead.

In the other classes, however, the wait for the wind was not rewarded. Hour after hour, the regatta management, led by chief race officer Peter Ramcke, hoped that the hoped-for breeze would arrive. In the afternoon, however, the participants in the 505s, the three Ilca classes and the Zoom8 were no longer to be tortured by waiting. With the decision to abandon the race, however, the focus was also on the next day. "That looks better. We should have a wind that is suitable for sailing," said Ramcke optimistically, giving the rest of the regatta a thumbs up.

The 505s were already allowed to go to the awards ceremony. They were supposed to sail two more races on Monday. But that didn't happen. So the organizers called an awards ceremony in the engine shed in the early afternoon. The interim result from Sunday was therefore also the final result. The Frenchmen Philippe Boite/Marin Carnot were pleased with their strong performance in Warnemünde. In the heavy gusts of the first day and in the champagne conditions on Sunday, they had impressively demonstrated their strength with four wins and a second place in the five races. "We are very happy. We had a great few days here in Warnemünde and we hope that we can come here again soon with a world championship," said Philippe Boite.

Tim and Finn Böger, who were able to snatch at least one victory in the series from the French in the last race, were happy with silver overall. Lutz Stengel/Frank Feller from Rostock were also happy with bronze on their home turf. "We had actually hoped that there wouldn't be quite so much wind. That doesn't really suit us. But we did quite well," said helmsman Stengel, and his foredeck crew added: "On Saturday it was very rough - almost impossible to sail. We had to take the spinnaker down on the windward leg every now and then. We were happy that we didn't tip over during the race. But afterwards it caught up with us. But yesterday the conditions were perfect. We were sliding nicely on the water. A dream for every sailor."

While many 505 crews are now planning the World Championships in Sweden, Stengel/Feller are setting their next season highlight in the autumn for the German Championships on Lake Chiemsee – then probably with less wind.