Glide in, take off, fly - swim
by Kieler Woche 6 Sep 00:11 PDT
4-12 September 2021
Fly like an eagle: Kiel-based Adrien-Paul Farien is second at the Waszp competition - 2021 Kieler Woche Regatta © ChristianBeeck.de
Moderate to fresh easterly winds provided all classes with at least four challenging races on Sunday (5 September) for the second day of Kiel Week. For half of the field in the foiling Waszps, the waves of up to one and a half metres in six races were already too much to handle. They did not finished all their five races. Mathilde B. Robertstad from Denmark is leading by one point only ahead of Adrien-Paul Farien, Vice European Champion from Kiel. Serial winner Wolfgang Hunger is heading for his 24th Kiel Week victory with Holger Jess after three victories on the day in the 505.
Hunger and Jess' home venue is just the way they like it when the wind blows from the east. "We are also the only ones who have trained properly for this over the past few weeks," says Jess, "it pays when there is more wind." Only at the start of the day did they let themselves be beaten by the overall runners-up, German fellows Jan-Philipp Hofmann and Felix Brockerhoff. After that, the successful duo, which was in front in 2019 and 2020, set three flawless daily victories. Jess: "Once we beat ourselves. But our new boat is really fast." Seven points behind are Frenchmen Philippe Boite and Marin Carnot, two points ahead of Jan Saugmann and Christian Limbrecht Mogensen from Denmark.
The Europe class is firmly in Scandinavian hands with Sebastian Knaack at the top. The Swede leads the field after six races without a single win on the day with four points ahead of two Danes. Simon Christoffersen is second ahead of Simon Christiansen. The best German is Tania Tamling from Hamburg in fifth place behind Frenchman Cyril Rychard.
Batbold Gruner came a big step closer to successfully defending his title in the ILCA 4. The 17-year-old from Germany followed up a day's victory with two second and one third place and built up an eleven-point lead in the internal club duel against Paul Ulrich. Croatian Dora Gomercic is already another nine points behind despite a win in the last race of the day. The best German woman at the halfway point of Kiel Week 2021 is Hannah Marie Breitenstein in fourth place, still within striking distance of Gomercic.
Glide, take off, fly was the class goal of the active sailors on the small foilers. While Farien and the Dane were really in their element in the Waszp, René Schwall had to pay tribute to the demanding conditions. "It was more of a bathing event," the Sydney 2000 bronze medallist in the Tornado told us, "the wind was still going, but the choppy wave put me under the water more than I flew over the top." The first two races the doctor from Kiel did not make the time limit due to the many capsizes. Then a wing broke and Schwall had to be brought ashore by a safety team. "Fortunately, the damage is repairable, so hopefully I can still finish one race," said the 50-year-old.
For Monday, graduate meteorologist Meeno Schrader predicted much more difficult conditions. "It will be mostly flat between two high-pressure areas with little air pressure opposition," he said from Kiel. The first starts are nevertheless scheduled for 11 am.
Information and interesting facts about Kiel Week can be found at www.kieler-woche.de.