Helge and Christian Sach, German Tornado champions

by Andreas Kling on 24 Jul 2008 The Bay of Luebeck in the Baltic Sea was very flat for a long time on Wednesday and any racing on the fifth day of the 119th Travemuende Week had to wait until the later afternoon. The International German Championship of the still Olympic Tornado class was decided without any further races.

Helge and Christian Sach from Zarnekau, Germany became International German Champions and celebrated their 14th Travemuende Week victory. 'Silver' went to Martin Rusterholz and Sebastian Moser from Switzerland.

'We are very happy to finish with a clear first place having scored five bullets in five races', said helmsman Helge Sach, 'but we would have liked to challenge our competitors once more'. The last possible starting time was declared for 2 p.m. and as the wind never showed up until then – the championship was decided without further races.

For Helge Sach it was a good demonstration that the fast and spectacular catamaran class had been taken out of the Olympic program only by a big mistake. 'I think we again showed spectacular manoeuvres and made quite clear that the wrong class was thrown out. Our races were fantastic, especially in strong winds.' A very controversial decision by the International Sailing Federation ISAF decided that no multihull class will be presented in the Olympic Games in 2012 in Weymouth, Great Britain.

'We Tornado sailors need to show with ongoing activities that we want to get back into the Olympic program', he added. 38 teams from seven nations in Travemuende were a good start to reach this goal. Helge Sach will be flying to Qingdao, China in August to present the interests of the International Tornado Association (ITA) and do some lobbying. 'Our interests have not been presented enough up to now, otherwise this decision would not have been possible', Sach said.

The political discussions had been put aside, when two mayors sailed a match race against each other on Wednesday in the inner waters of Travemuende on the river Trave. It was the First Mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Ole von Beust, who won the match against defender Bernd Saxe, Mayor of the Hanseatic City of Luebeck. The winner of the traditional Rotspon Cup receives a six litre bottle of red wine and all the honour. The head of the government of Hamburg steered his dragon to a 2:1 victory. And he agreed to start again in the 120th anniversary of the Travemuende Week next year. 'It was a great atmosphere and I am happy to sail again next time', von Beust said.

The first race in the 470 class that will not lose its Olympic status in 2012 went to the Danish team Henriette Koch and Lene Sommer, followed by Jan-Jasper Wagner and Lennart Scheufler from Berlin, Germany. Daria Blaschkiewitz and Kerstin Beucke (Luebeck, Germany) became third.

In the 420 fleet Anna Goryszewska/Wiktoria Szmit from Poland scored a bullet, with Fabian Boerger/Swantje Kopetsch from Luebeck, Germany coming up second. The team from Berlin Axel Oberemm and Gerd Linnemann could win the first race in the Korsar class.

The 119th Travemuende Week will see 15 classes on the water on Thursday (24 July) and sailing can be watched on all six courses. The wind should pick up earlier on the six day of racing, says the weather forecast.