First 18 European Championship: Everyone is chasing the Slovenians

July 7, 2021
Sailing

On the tenth anniversary of First/Seascape 18, the European Championship will take place in Germany for the first time. At the Warnemünder Woche The top favorites come with defending champion Dejan Presen from Slovenia. Who can stand up to the match race ace from today?

Winners of the First 18: Thomas JUNGBLUT and Axel SOLBACH. Photo Pepe Hartmann.

Dejan Presen narrowly missed the podium twice with his Lumba Match Race Team at Match Race Germany, the only German Grade 1 event. The Slovenian is unconditionally number one in the First/Seascape 18. At the European Championships during the Warnemünder Woche The defending champion “absolutely wants to start,” the helmsman assured the German KV boss Thomas Hummels (Yacht-Club Seeshaupt).

This means that the other medal candidates have also announced their arrival. 19 teams have registered for the European Championships in Warnemünde, including three Slovenian, one Serbian and one Austrian crew. In pandemic-free years there would have been twice as many. But even some German skippers have recently received warnings from their employers not to expose themselves to the risk of infection, says the chairman of by far the largest national class association, which is keeping both type names after selling the shipyard to the Benéteau Group.

560 examples have been sold worldwide with different branding and names, but all identical in construction, which benefits the standard class. The current First 18 SE is 5,55 meters long and weighs 500 kilograms with a short keel. With a gennaker she can reach a boat speed of more than twelve knots. Participants must decide whether they want to compete in pairs or three, with advantages and disadvantages depending on wind strength.

Thomas Hummels starts with Michael Müller as second in the 2019 rankings. In front of them was only the three-man crew of Thomas Jungblut, who was also on the 82nd. Warnemünder Woche won. Also first in the rankings was Tobias Rieger from Schwerin, who, along with Getrud Rieger and Ronald Schulz, is considered an insider tip.

New to the First/Seascape 18 sailing program for the first time at a German regatta are two coastal races to Kühlungsborn, where a two-hour break is planned, and back to Warnemünde. The schedule for this is kept flexible so that the race committee can wait for ideal east or west winds and sail short distances up and down on the other days.