A Very Special Thank You!

The IMCA and the competitors at the 2007 Melges 24 Europeans at Baltic Race Week would like to say a very special thank you to the support boat crews who assisted competitors during yesterday's bad weather. In particular we would like to thank the crew of the HSH Nordbank Rescue Team who have been supporting competitors throughout the regatta with spares and service and who immediately became a rescue boat when conditions deteriorated yesterday.

The boat, a specially fitted out large RIB which you can see coming to the assistance of the capsized Bete Bossini above, is sponsored by the HSH Nordbank and carries a huge range of spares and equipment as well as full safety and cutting gear. It has been out on the water for every day of racing and is availble to all competitors completely without charge - surely one of the most comprehensive and impressive regatta services we have ever seen!

Yesterday when the weather conditions worsened dramatically and many teams found themselves in need of assistance the HSH Nordbank crew of Thomas Zankel, Horst Breurer and David Jager immediately went into action and came to the assistance of numerous crews who had damaged sails or lost their rigs.

In particular the crew of Bete Bossini would like to thank the team for the special assistance they gave them when their keel fell off. The HSH Nordbank boat was with them within moments of the incident helping to pull people up out of the water, right the boat, sort out the broken rig and then tow them back into port with the assistance of several other RIBs.