Three days of female power, three days of regatta sailing on short, crisp courses - these are the prospects for three days of the HelgCup. After months of intensive preparation on the part of the organizers and sailors, the first edition of the new keelboat regatton for women on the Hamburg Outer Alster begins today, Friday.
Around 60 teams will take part in short up-and-down courses over the next three days. The sailing is in crews of four on two lanes, one for J70 boats, one for Seascape 24. One of the charms of the new regatta format is that the boats are provided for the crews. After each race there is a swap, on Sunday the seven most successful teams will compete in the final.
Women's sailing in focus: the media interest in the HelgCup is great
Much more than just the sporting aspect was in the foreground in the preparation of the "HelgSpirit" in the past few months. Many of the 80 originally registered teams have been preparing for months in joint training sessions and test regattas: Boats were divided, crew added if someone was canceled, tips for boat handling were exchanged.
One of the special features of the Cup is that participants meet each other whose sailing backgrounds could not be more different - from cruising sailors without any regatta experience to DSV competitive athletes, pretty much every level of sailing is represented.
The kick-off event the evening before at the HSC
Ladies Rock: Silke Basedow explains the sailing instructions
The extraordinary character of the regatt then crystallized on yesterday's opening evening. While the organizing North German RegattVerein was still rigging boat by boat, a few kilometers away in the Hamburg sailing club dozens of teams came together to close the last gaps in regatta rules.
With summer weather, wine spritzer and grill buffet, Silke Basedow and Luis Kruger, starters in the "HSC Women’s Team", explained the sailing instructions point by point. Basedow's crew, consisting of experienced and successful regatta sailors, had in the past few months prepared especially those crews who had never competed before with training sessions on the water and online videos for the HelgCup.
Her protégés also included the female sailors from the newly founded sailing division of FC St. Pauli, who are there as "Sailing Paulas". Taxwoman KristinMaus expresses what many people think so shortly before the start: "We are excited and happy that after all the preparation we are finally getting started."
The HelgCup races can be followed in the live stream on the NRV's Facebook page, the first start should be this Friday at 2 p.m. In addition, YACHT online and the next edition of YACHT (No. 14/2018) report in detail about the first HelgCup, the continuation of which has long been planned for 2019.