Please select your home edition
Edition
Cyclops Marine 2023 November - LEADERBOARD

Kiel Week 2019 - Day 6: Maelle overboard hands Nacra lead back to Kohlhoff

by Andy Rice 27 Jun 2019 12:20 PDT 22-30 June 2019
Bissaro and Frascari (ITA) during Kiel Week part 2 © Kiel Week / Sascha Klahn

Italy's world-beating Nacra 17 sailors were leading the race and the regatta until a woman overboard incident that has handed the advantage back to a local team....

Woman overboard

It was a breezy, shifty and cooler day on the race course that made consistent sailing difficult to achieve on the frisky foiling 17ft catamaran, although Vittorio Bissaro and Maelle Frascari seemed to have the best handle on the conditions. The Italians came from behind to win the first race of the morning and were in command until half way through race two. Foiling into a routine gybe on the second downwind leg, Frascari failed to hook on to her new trapeze securely and fell overboard. Now singlehanded with the gennaker still flying, Bissaro put on a strong display of great seamanship to turn the catamaran around and sail back upwind to Frascari who was swimming towards the boat as fast as she could.

Once back aboard, the onboard live camera showed that Frascari was in some pain. Her foot had clipped the razor sharp edge of the rudder as the boat sailed past. It looked like the Italians would have to retire from the rest of the day, as Kohlhoff and Stuhlemmer powered their way to victory in the second race.

Hyperspace upwind

Despite the earlier setback, the Italians were back for the start of the third race and sailed well to record a fourth at the finish. Making the early running after another successful port-tack start underneath the starboard-starting fleet, Tara Pacheco and Florian Trittel held the lead for a lap and a half until a big split on the second windward leg. Kohlhoff found more breeze and a good shift. Seeing his opportunity, the tall German hit a rarely-employed turbo button as he and Stuhlemmer stepped backwards and kicked the boat up on to the foils. The only boat to foil upwind all day, the Germans hit hyperspace and in just 30 seconds of foiling managed to put 200 metres of distance on the Spaniards. From there the Germans extended to cross the finish line 500 metres in front of the second-placed boat, which was the Austrian crew of Thomas Zajac and Barbara Matz who had also passed the Spanish.

After a dramatic day, Kohlhoff and Stuhlemmer keep the leaders' yellow jerseys, staying two points of the Italians who currently are discarding their DNF [Did Not Finish] from their results, but who can't afford any more slip-ups. Frascari went to hospital after coming ashore today, keen to ensure the injured foot is good enough to make it through the rest of the regatta. The Austrians have scored a string of 2nds and 3rds which puts Zajac/Matz in third overall.

Queen Victoria

It was a good day out for German crews in the 49erFX fleet, for Victoria Jurczok and Annika Lorenz in particular. Scores of 3,1,2 lift the Germans to first overall, two points ahead of the reigning World Champions from the Netherlands, Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz. Tied on points with the Dutch are yesterday's leaders, the young Swedish team of Vilma Bobeck and Malin Tengström who started well with a race win but then slipped up with a 19th and 10th. Bobeck was laughing at her own ineptitude today. "We couldn't do anything right, we forgot how to sail," she said, with enormous overstatement but also highlighting how ambitious she is after such a short time at the front of the senior fleet.

Kiwis on the rise

The Antipodeans continue to stamp their authority on the Men's 49er fleet, and it was the irrepressible Kiwis, Pete Burling and Blair Tuke, who enjoyed a solid day with a 3,1,2 from their qualifying fleet. This lifts the reigning Olympic Champions to first overall, two points ahead of yesterday's stand-out crew, Will and Sam Phillips from Australia. Tim Fischer and Fabian Graf were racing in the same red fleet as Burling and Tuke yet scored an even better 2,2,1 from the breezy day, which sees the Germans rise to third overall, just in front of two other New Zealand teams. Reigning World Champions, Šime and Mihovil Fantela from Croatia sit in 12th overall.

In the Finn, Australia's Jake Lilley scored two wins from three races to rise to first overall, although just a point in front of Philip Kasueske from Germany.

Josefin Olsson maintains the top spot in the Laser Radials ahead of training partner, Tuula Tenkanen from Finland with Japan's Manami Doi in third overall. The top three in the Laser Men is currently held by three British sailors: Daniel Whiteley, Jack Cookson and Sam Whaley.

The breeze is forecast to be lighter for Friday, so that could see a change in the pecking order.

Kieler Woche, which takes place from 22 to 30 June, divides into two halves. The first half focuses on the international classes and is mostly about keen amateur sailors competing against each other. The second half shifts its gaze to the Olympic events. Across the whole nine days, Kieler Woche hosts more than 4,000 sailors from 60 nations, competing in more than 1,900 sailing boats.

www.kieler-woche.de/en

Related Articles

Kieler Woche Day 9
Hosts without Sailing Grand Slam medals, but leading in five classes The final six medals in the mixed classes of the Olympic Sailing Grand Slam (SGS) at Kieler Woche will be awarded on Sunday (June 29) without any German contenders. Posted today at 3:23 am
Kieler Woche Day 8
Mourniac & Retornaz take the lead in the Nacra 17 class A dream day ahead of the second weekend at the Kieler Woche regatta off Schilksee: Moderate to fresh westerly winds with strong gusts, alternating sun and clouds, provided ideal sailing conditions for all participants on Friday. Posted on 27 Jun
Kieler Woche Day 7
British mixed dominance in dinghy and catamaran After the second day of the Sailing Grand Slam in the Olympic mixed classes, Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris are leading the 470 class even more dominantly than John Gimson and Anna Burnet in the Nacra 17 on Thursday (June 26). Posted on 26 Jun
Kieler Woche Day 6
Double gold for France in Olympic classes Perfect sailing conditions marked the final of Kieler Woche in the Olympic skiff, dinghy, and surf classes: On Wednesday, June 25, the waters off Schilksee offered fresh to strong, challenging winds with flat waves. Posted on 25 Jun
Kieler Woche Day 5
Tuesday served as a warm-up for the hot finale of Kieler Woche Sophie Steinlein and Catherine Bartelheimer from Bavaria in the skiff, as well as Kiel native Fabian Wolf on the foiling windsurf board, will enter Wednesday's (June 25) medal races as leaders. Posted on 24 Jun
Kieler Woche Day 4
IDM Inshore Gold to Flensburg and Denmark The weather conditions during Kieler Woche on Tuesday continued just as they had on Monday: sustained winds well over 20 knots and gusts exceeding 30. Posted on 24 Jun
Kieler Woche Day 3
A Tough Test for Athletes and Equipment Fresh to strong south-westerly winds with stormy squalls pushed participants to their limits on Monday at Kieler Woche. Posted on 23 Jun
Kieler Woche Day 2
The Olympic skiffs sorted themselves into gold and silver fleets after four daily races Subtropical sailing conditions with a light but sufficient breeze delighted the athletes on Sunday (June 22) on the second regatta day of Kieler Woche. Posted on 22 Jun
Kieler Woche Day 1
German frontrunners in the 49er and 49er FX classes Fantastic summer weather with light but quite variable winds meant a reduced sailing program for more than 2000 participants at the start of Kieler Woche on Saturday (21 June). Posted on 22 Jun
The oldest video footage of Kiel Week
A look back into our video archive at the Kieler Woche of the 60s and early 70s In our series of articles looking back in time through our video archive, we visit Germany. Kiel Week is been a crucial event on the world circuit, and here we look back at the Kieler Woche of the 60s and early 70s. Posted on 15 Jun
C-Tech 2021 (Spars-QFX Racer) 728x90 BOTTOMSea Sure 2025Switch One Design