Exciting Racing in Stormy Gusts for Race Six at the Europeans
Rough weather with stormy gusts on the Bay of Neustadt caused spectacular sailing conditions for the Melges 24 sailors of the Rolex Baltic Week on Tuesday (21 August). Some of the 74 teams competing in the European Championship suffered material damages, but no major injuries. The “Blu Moon” from Switzerland with America’s Cup helmsman Flavio Favini (Italy) defended the overall lead by nine points ahead of the Italian “Uka Uka” skippered by Lorenzo Bressani. The “Lenny” crew and skipper Toenu Toeniste from Estonia remained the leading Corinthian team. The best German is Dietrich Scheder-Bieschin from Hamburg with his boat “MACS”. He finished ninth in Tuesday’s race and is 21st overall.
“It was really rough, but we were able to sail in these conditions,” said the vice president of the Estonian sailing association, Toeniste, when he arrived safely ashore. “We just had to ease the spinnaker’s sheet once, when the wind pressure got too strong. It would have been a pity if the race hadn’t taken place.” The winner of two Olympic medals in the 470 class finished twelfth in the open ranking and defended the lead in the competition for the Corinthian Trophy at five points ahead of Mario Ziliani’s “Gullisara” from Italy. The German helmsman of the Swiss Melges 24 “Sonnenkoenig”, Hendrik Witzmann, had to manage a man overboard manoeuvre and couldn’t finish the race. He dropped to position three on the leader board for the Corinthian Trophy.
Among the professional crews were also some prominent „victims“. The 2006 World Champion Nicola Celon (Italy) on “Bete Bessini’” lost his keel. Speaking after sailing Nicola Celon said it was the fastest he had ever sailed in the boat and unfortunately, for as yet unknown reasons, the bulb broke off from the fin. The boat turned upside down and most of the crew found themselves in the water and fortunately were rescued and towed back to the harbour. Five other yachts lost their masts in manoeuvres – including Stuart Simpson’s “Team Barbarians”, one of the favourites. After being disqualified black flagged a day ago, the Brits have now dropped far behind. One sailor suffered a bruised back when he fell in the boat loosing his balance in the heavy seas and had to get medical treatment, but fortunately is safely back home tonight.
Prior to taking the decision whether to send the Melges 24s out, Walter Mielke consulted the International Melges 24 Chairman Henri Samuel, who is racing at the regatta. At that time the wind was 21-22 knots with gusts of no more than 26-27 knots and a decision to race was taken. By the time the boats were starting Walter Mielke reported after the race “We had an average wind speed of 25 to 28 knots, and up to 35 knots in gusts,”. After one of the windiest Melges 24 races ever sailed all boats were sent immediately back to the harbour and no attempt to start a second race was made.
One of the top favourites, Sandro Montefusco, had to pull out of the race right after the start. His boat “Airis” got black flagged when he crossed the line too early. Montefusco dropped to overall third. The day’s race winner Luca Valerio on board “Alina – Helly Hansen” from Italy had the most fun of all, of course, and improved to overall fourth. His intention is to move further up during the remaining two days of the Rolex Baltic Week.
The weather situation worsened during the night along the Baltic Sea. “A depression which had moved from the Netherlands towards Eastern Germany suddenly returned,” explained weather expert Meeno Schrader from “WetterWelt” in Kiel, Germany. As a consequence, the Southern Baltic saw gale force winds. Schrader: “In the squalls, it was blowing at a speed of up to 40 knots.”