Three wins and only top five results in the first six qualifying races of the European Championship on the Attersee say a lot about the capabilities of TinLutz and Susann Beucke: The duo sails after the Kieler Woche victory and the Olympic ticket secured there continues in impressive shape and leads the international ranking of 40 teams from 17 nations with only six points on the EM account. However, the two 29-year-old skiff sailors do not want to speak of a "burst knot". However, Susann Beucke admits with a smile: "It would also be a lie if we didn't say that we will act a little more self-confidently after Kiel." The long-term plan is decisive for the conspicuously and consistently outstanding performance. "It has now risen. We are now harvesting the fruits," explains the crew from the North German RegattVerein.
Acting at the highest level: the 49erFX sailors TinLutz and Susann Beucke
The 49er virtuosos Klaus Lange and Ian Barker played important roles in the implementation of this plan. The two skiff experts were ideal candidates for the Bavarian-North German duo. "Klaus Lange worked with us to fine-tune the technology," says TinLutz from the Chiemsee Yacht Club. With the current trainer Ian Barker, the noticeable further development in the area of boat speed was achieved in parallel and subsequently, among other things. TinLutz and Sausann Beucke attracted attention in the few regattas this season with outstanding speed. "Dist Ian is very experienced and meticulous. He let us use the ThemSpeed a bit more professionally," says Susann Beucke. With Barker, TinLutz and Susann Beucke form a trio that they themselves describe as a "small sailing family like in our youth with Zizi Staniul". You can clearly hear how comfortable the most successful 49erFX sailors of the German Sailing Team feel this year in this actively self-created constellation.
A 49er start in front of a mountain backdrop on the Attersee
The duo enjoys sailing at the current European Championship. In an idyllic landscape in the Upper Austrian Salzkammergut, the Attersee offers the EM participants in the three Olympic speed disciplines 49erFX, 49er and Nacr17 an almost paradisiacal stage. After preliminary corona tests for everyone, the total of 250 sailors feel comfortable in the EM area. So far it has not given the EM participants any complicated inland sea conditions, but rather twice good winds and a complete day of calm. Stronger winds are expected for the coming days. "But you always have to be prepared for anything here," says Beucke, "the crazy Lake conditions are sure to come."
Photographer Tobias Störkle provides beautiful impressions from the EM on the Attersee
At half-time in the European Championship on Friday morning before the start of the final round, it was not only Lutz / Beucke with their top position that ensured a good mood in the German camp. With the two 19-year-old FX sailors MarlBergmann and HannWille, a young team from the Mühlenberger Segel Club had achieved a remarkable tenth place after six races. It is worth taking a closer look at the relevant excerpt from the list of results, because the reigning Danish World Cup third party IdMariBaad Nielsen with Marie Thusgaard Olsen (11th), the Spanish world champion, circumnavigator and match race Olympic champion TámarEchegoyen, were behind the two Hamburg women PaulBarceló (12th) and the Dutch double world champions Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz (13th) - a memorable interim result, the sight of which should give a lot of joy and motivation not only to the two sailors from the German Sailing Team's junior squad, but also to trainers Patrick Böhmer and many MSC fans.
MarlBergmann and HannWille are sailing at the 49erFX-EM on the Attersee with a steeply increasing success curve. Their ranks so far: 12, 12, 9, 5, 4 and 2
In the case of the Olympic 49er sailors, in the absence of third place in the World Championship, Erik Heil / Thomas Plößel, their team mates Tim Fischer and Fabian Graf stayed in fourth after six races in the medal ranks. In the Nacr17, Paul Kohlhoff and AlicStuhlemmer fought as 15th to join the top ten. The European Championship ends on Sunday with the medal decisions in all three classes.
Here you can find the intermediate results.
The 49er world champions of 2018: Sime and Mihovil Fantela