The inshore races off Kiel will start on Saturday at 10 a.m., at 1 p.m. the five international teams from Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Russia will start the first stage to Copenhagen. The ships, new 50 feet in the ClubSwan class, will be sailed by crews from the winners of the respective national sailing leagues in the participating countries. For Germany this is the southern German Touring Yacht Club from Starnberg, which is strengthening itself for the race with four SKWB sailors in order to bring more deep sea experience to the team.
Before the start, Germany's sailing legend Jochen Schümann, who is the new president of the ClubSwan 50 class, also spoke up. "The Swan CS 50 is a strictly one-design boat, just like the J 70. Of course, they are much larger and demand more from the crews when it comes to handling. The gennaker is 235 square meters instead of 43 on the J 70. That has to be a lot Power can be cranked through the winches to trim these sails, "he explained in an interview with the organizers from the St. Petersburg Yacht Club.
The new ClubSwan 50
The German record Olympic champion went on to say: "Each team will probably have about three professionals on board who are familiar with boats of this size. It will be a real challenge to use these yachts to their full potential day and night!"
The race now goes in stages over 1000 nautical miles from Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki to the finish line in St. Petersburg. Also on board is a YACHT author who will report on the first stage in the next issue (issue 21/2017). The organizer is the local sailing club.
Interested fans can follow the progress of the race on the viEvent website or tracker.