The "Hamburger Girls" crush J/70 Women's SAILING Champions League Finale
by J/Boats 23 Sep 2023 08:21 PDT
J/70 Women's SAILING Champions League Finale © Frederik Sivertsen
For several months, women's teams from across Europe, especially Scandinavia, were focused and determined to perform well in the J/70 Women's SAILING Champions League finale that took place last week off Sundby, Denmark.
After a series of qualifying events, thirty-two women's teams from fifteen nations participated in the regatta held in the northwestern reaches of the Baltic Sea.
Playing host to the 150+ women sailors was the Royal Danish YC (KNS) off their facility in Sundby, Denmark. The fleet was treated to three amazing days of sailing, enabling the KNS Race Committee and PRO team to conduct a total of eleven races. Thereafter, the top four teams sailed a two-race finale for the overall title.
In the end, the Women's SAILING Champions League finale saw an incredible performance by the Hamburg Segel-Club, securing victory with a 1-1 in their Final Four races. Their dominance from the preliminary rounds remained unmatched, sailing "head & shoulders" above the rest of their competition. The HSC Team consisted of Silke Basedow as skipper, with a crew of Maren Hahlbrock, Juliane Zepp, and Anke Nowak.
The team from the Hamburger Segel-Club (HSC), which only found time for training together on the J/70 shortly before the final event, was impressive... demonstrating near-perfect crew interaction, tactics, and boat handling over three days.
Silke Basedow, one of the most experienced German sailors in the Sailing Bundesliga, was at the helm and, especially with her sister Maren, is a well-rehearsed team. Together with Anke Nowak, they formed a highly professional women's match race trio in 2010 and fought for a starting place at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Now it was a matter of building on previous successes in the Women's SAILING Champions League final.
The shared experience led to victory
"The victory in this important competition is primarily the result of our shared experiences in different crew constellations," says Anke Nowak, who qualified twice for the 420 World Championships and then went straight into the Olympic match race campaign. "Silke, Maren, Juli, and I have sailed together a lot before and have logged a lot of hours in the water. At the finale, the well-rehearsed boat handling and the close coordination on board were immediately present again, and we were able to concentrate perfectly on the individual races."
Bundesliga and SAILING Champions League initiator Oliver Schwall, who was only able to follow his employee Anke Nowak's final victory via social media during the fourth Sailing Bundesliga match day in Konstanz, was one of the first to congratulate. "With Anke, we have an excellent sailor in the Bundesliga team, who very quickly earned the respect of all league teams thanks to her great sailing know-how and her detailed knowledge of the J/70," emphasizes Oliver Schwall. Anke Nowak Joined the league organizers team in 2018. "With her experience from an Olympic campaign and numerous top international events, she is the perfect leader for the international league activities."
Three German teams in the final round
The conditions on the three final days before Copenhagen were very demanding. With currents, wind against waves, and a mix of total calm and strong gusts of up to 15 knots, the sailors had to make quick, tactical decisions. The high level of the German league sailors was evident on the final day: There were three German clubs in the round of the four best clubs; in addition to the HSC, the women from the Berlin Yacht Club (BYC) and the North German Regatta Association (NRV) also took part qualified for the final round.
In a tight battle for second place, Yacht Club Szczecin from Poland (Agnieszka Skrzypulec, Magdalena Kwasna, Jolanta Ogar, and Anna Brzozowska) showcased their sailing prowess with a 2-2 tally, followed closely by the Berliner Yacht-Club (Carla Gerlach, Ann Zoe Riethmeister, Marie Hochkirch, & Charlotte Graffunder) with a 4-3 score sheet. The Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (Julia Kuhn, Laura Bo Voss, Laura Fischer, & Luisa Kruger) took a commendable fourth place losing the tie-breaker for third with a 3-4 tally.
Said SAILING Champions League founder- Oliver Schwall- "a huge round of applause to all participating teams for their skill, dedication, and sportsmanship. It's been a thrilling journey, and we can't wait to see what the future holds for women's sailing!
"The Women's SAILING Champions League is an excellent opportunity for all German clubs to form a team with the best sailors and take on this regatta format. "The German sailors were well represented at the finals this year with eight German teams," says Anke Nowak.
The concept of league sailing on uniform boats is one of the guarantees of success of the Women's SAILING Champions League. Due to the wide distribution of the J/70, strong training communities can be found in numerous areas, and due to many class regattas outside of league sailing, the performance density of the J/70 sailors continues to increase.
Strong increase in regattas for women worldwide
"We are experiencing an immense influx and an increasing number of registrations for women's regattas worldwide," says league manager Anke Nowak. "For the first time this year, there was a waiting list for the Women's SCL final, so we increased the number of participants to 32 so that more clubs can take part."
According to the former competitive athlete, it is important, in addition to the popular sport, that promotes women's sailing internationally, especially with the Women on Water (WoW) concept, to increasingly offer international racing formats at a high level for highly competitive sailing women. Female sailors in particular who have ended their Olympic careers are increasingly demanding international, regatta formats.
Multi-stage promotion of women's sailing
For Anke Nowak, the successful Women's SAILING Champions League is just the beginning of a multi-stage promotion of women's sailing through the SAILING Champions League. She is already working on developing a Youth and Women series with several qualifiers and a final to further strengthen the international format of the SCL.
"Above all, we have to work on ensuring that more mixed teams and also helmswomen compete in the national leagues," says Anke Nowak. "This trend already exists in the German league, but women are still numerically under-represented." The importance of female sailors for the teams was demonstrated at the last league event in Konstanz, which took place parallel to the Women's SAILING Champions League final and for which some teams appeared their top performers had to do without.