Platu 25 World Championship 2011 preview

by Sabrina Bonaiti on 29 May 2011 The countdown for the Platu 25 World Championship is on, and just one day before the first race. Around fifty crews are expected from all over Europe in Gmunden, on the Traunsee Lake, where from the 28th of May to the 3 of June the most important event of the Platu 25 season will take place.

The crews are getting ready to face the difficult conditions of the Traunsee Lake. Almost all of them expect the changeable an shift wind typical of the area. However, there is a local crew that knows this lake like the back of its hand. We are talking about 'La Burra' helmed by Thomas Laherstorfer, a very competitive boat that won three editions of the Alpencup (2007, 2008 and 2010) and keeps the top of the Austrian Platu 25 ranking list for 5 consecutive years. Thomas Laherstorfer, 37 years young; owner of the boat and skipper; is a very expert sailor. He has been regatta sailing for more than 25 years on Laser, Trias, Starboot, Dragon and Platu 25.

The 'La Burra' team is composed of Oliver Hartl, genoa trimmer and beertender; Daniel Knauer bowman; Toni Berner:at spinnaker and pit and Peter Steinkogler, 47 years old, tactitian, the ace in the hole. As Thomas Laherstorfer remarked: 'Peter comes from Ebensee, but this doesn´t matter; he is sailing for more than 39 years in Laser, Tornado, Asso and a lot of other classes. He is the local sailing hero of lake Traunsee and we hope that he will show us the best way between the marks' .

'La Burra' crew is from Lake Traunsee, so Thomas Laherstorfer and his team know the conditions of the lake quite well. That could be an advantage against very strong adversaries. As he confirmed: 'We expect a very tough competition; especially from the Spanish and Italian boats (Ravioli and Montefusco), who won the first two acts of the Alpencup 2011; but also Superbüsi from Switzerland performed very well at Gardasee and Ebensee and don´t forget the Austrian Michael and Julia Farthofer (AUT 99), who succeeded in the Traunseeweek last year ; but my personal favourite is the team Kyra from Germany with Lars Baehr at the helm'

Thomas Laherstorfer expects a tough competition in the next days here in Gmunden. 'It’s definitly our goal to be in Gmunden on the podium! But there will be 12 tough and exciting races and in Gmunden anything is possible; we will know more on Friday evening' He gets ready to do the home honors: ' It will be definitely one of the best Worlds with lot's of side events and some 'specialities' .We did our best to make it an unforgettable and enjoyable week in our beautiful Gmunden on Lake Traunsee'

Young and talented, also the Swiss 'Superbüsi' team guys are in a favorable condition. They grew up sailing on their lake, in Luzern and they got used to fickle wind. 'Superbüsi-Like a Vergin' managed very well in the last months. They have shown their state of grace during the First Act of the Alpen Cup in Malcesine, Lake of Garda: they won the first day of races and arrived second in the final ranking. In Ebensee, in the Second Act of the Alpen Cup they conquered the sixth place. So, it’s a boat to keep under observation. With Mathias Bermejo, the 'Superbüsi' team was created three years ago and it is formed by Erich Buholzer at main sail, Dave Erismann at the Spi, Markus Rindlisbacher at the Piano and Roland Kunz as a tactician They have all the possibilities to conquer a podium position but Mathias Bermejo doesn’t want to make forecats 'Our ambition is just to do better every time. Step by step we are improving and our goal is to sail better than last year'.

Another favourite for the top ten is Sui 009 with Markus Bohren at the helm.. He is very experienced and he is also a strong match race sailor. The team has already trained hard.

Also 'Satika IV' helmed by Thomas Meseck could also have some good results. Meseck used to sail many years in the Star class. He twice won the Suisse Championship on Star and he also had good results in European Championships. 'Satika IV' went for one week to Palma for training.

The most numerous fleet will be the German one with almost 20 boats. The probability that one among them will conquer the podium is pretty high. The boats to keep under watch are at least five. One of the most competitive is 'Falkone' owned by Falko Knabe and helmed by Cornelius Heeschen with a new very talented team . The team could train in Valencia for three weekends and it started its preparation for the Worlds four days ago, here in Gmunden. This year 'Falkone' has already obtained a good placement in the Primo Cup in Montecarlo, conquering the second place behind the Italian 'Nanuk', one of the super favourites of the Worlds’ event. Falkone' also won the Princess Sofia Trophy, the Kiel week, and it arrived second in the German National Championship. The boat was built by XSP in Singapore and for the other crews that will come in Gmunden, it will be the occasion to see it in action.

As Ole von Studnitz, the Falkone’s Headsailtrim and upwind tactic remarked: 'Our crew was born in November 2010. We bought a new XSP and started our project in Monaco at Primo Cup this year. The main part of our crew sailed the last years together on another Platu. Altogether we have more than 30 years experience in the class'.

All the members of the crew come from North Germany: Cornelius Heeschen, Falko Knabe and Ole Von Studnitz come from Hamburg, Frank Wegener (Cockpit) from Kiel and Thorben Nowak (Bow), from Lübeck. So all of them got used to sail in difficult conditions. But they will face strong adversaries and an inconstant wind, as Ole Von Studnitz underlined 'We think there are some really good crews from Italy, Spain, Germany and of course Austria who will be able to reach the podium. The area is beautiful but nevertheless tricky to sail. We got used to sail on lakes mainly in Hamburg, Berlin and Italy. Regarding the tricky and shifty wind-conditions it is hard to give a statement concerning our own performance. '.

Another very competitive team is 'Farrbar' helmed by Jens Ahlgrimm with Enrico Täufer as a main trimmer, Mathias Gedrange at Genua-Spi, Stephan Mölle at Pit and Carsten Wernecke at bow. They collected a lot of podiums in the last years, like a first place in the 2008 Central European Cup just in Gmunden on the Trunseee Lake, a first place in the 2010 Primo Cup in Monaco. They are also second in the 2010 German ranking list.

In Gmunden there will be also 'Kyra'owned by Hermann Müller and helmed by Lars Bähr, he is German Champion 2010 and leader of the German ranking list in 2009 and 2010. 'Murtfeldt' helmed by André Teutenberg is an other German boat that must not be understimate. Third at the last Kiel Week and third in the 2010 German ranking list, its team is very experienced. Also 'Randale' helmed by Ingo Lochmann is a competitive boat. It obtained the first place in the 2010 German Cup and the Second place in the 2010 Kiel Week .

Provisional list of enrolled boats Here
www.platu25.com" target="_blank">Paltu 25 website

English edited by Kev Sott (Thailand NCA)