A Mini 6.50 near Bornholm: On course for a professional career
“We just brought the boat back to Germany and that’s when she appeared to us Warnemünder Woche perfect for training and material testing. Around Bornholm is the only major offshore event in the area. In addition, Warnemünde is almost on my doorstep because I study in Stralsund. I was there once a few years ago Warnemünder Woche at the start, back then as a crew member on an M34,” explains Marc-Eric Siewert.
The 25-year-old has not regretted his decision to come to Warnemünde. “The atmosphere here is great. “Everything is very relaxed and uncomplicated,” he said happily before the start of the regatta. He prepared intensively with his foreman Maurice Oster the day before the Rund Bornholm start, went through all the weather data and material adjustments again, and worked on finding the best course for the race.
At the age of four, Marc-Eric Siewert sat in an Opti for the first time on the Hamburg Alster. This was followed by several years in Opti and later in Laser, accompanied by victories in city and state championships. In addition, the Hamburg native has dreamed since his teenage days of one day competing in offshore regattas and taking part in the Mini Transat solo across the Atlantic regatta. He got his start in offshore sailing through ocean tours with his parents and the Hamburg sailing club in his early youth. Siewert now lives in Stralsund, where he has been studying motorsport engineering and then industrial engineering for electrical engineering since 2016.
He successfully completed the Mini Transat project in 2021. In order to achieve the desired goal, Marc-Eric Siewert founded the Absolute Sailing Team together with his father in 2018. At the beginning of 2019, the two bought the six-year-old prototype Mini “614”, which has already competed in the Atlantic regatta three times. The father-son team consciously chose a boat that they could further optimize. “It was clear from the start that it had to be a prototype. This is due to the enthusiasm for technology and innovations in the team. We can play a lot more with the prototype to make the boat a little faster,” is the team motto. The Mini 6.50 is the boat with which the young sailor will take part in the opening weekend of the 84th. Warnemünder Woche took part in the bathing regatta and with whom he is currently competing in the Bornholm regatta. And what happens next for the aspiring professional sailor? He can't say anything specific before the end of the season, but the Mini 6.50 glider makes it exciting. “One goal is definitely to sail as many more miles as possible in the coming months. And then at the end of the season the decision is made as to what the next challenge is,” reveals the student. In any case, the desire to become a sailing professional is still current. “This is still my dream and one that I’m working hard on,” assures the ambitious sailor. Anyone who listens carefully to Marc-Eric Siewert will realize that he probably won't be satisfied with small goals. So it remains exciting to see what sailing challenge the Hamburg native will face next.
