The final minutes of the final regatta were incredibly exciting. As expected, the 26-meter racing yacht "Uca" won the blue and yellow ribbon for the fastest foreign yacht on Saturday. However, the blue ribbon surprisingly went to Melges 24 "Haiopei". It has not yet been decided whether she will be the final winner.
The first days of this year's Flensburg Fördewoche were characterized by good wind conditions: "The weather conditions were ideal," said race director Claus-Otto Hansen. However, there was a lull on the last day of the sailing event. The "Flensburger Pilsener-Cup", which was supposed to lead from Glücksburg to Neukirchen and back, started three hours late at 13:00. Since the weak wind delayed the race a lot and many of the yachts got stuck in the outer fjord, the race committee shortened the distance from 25 nautical miles to halfway to Neukirchen. Klaus Murmann's Maxi "Uca" reached the finish line with a lead of almost an hour. With three hours, 10 minutes and 26 seconds of sailing time, she won the blue-yellow ribbon as the fastest foreign yacht. This did not surprise anyone: The "Uca" was the favorite from the start in this race, which is decided according to the sailed rather than the calculated time. The fight for the Blue Ribbon for the fastest domestic yacht, however, had an unexpected outcome. The two X-yachts "World of Tui" and "Hansa" from the Hanseatic Yacht School were considered top favorites - the "Hansa" has already taken first place 14 times in this regatt. This time, however, neither of the two 61-foot yachts could prevail: the wind was on the side of the small boats. Towards the end of the race, when some of the large yachts had already crossed the finish line, the wind picked up and the smaller boats rolled up the field from behind. The yachts sailed across the finish line under spinnakers: around 100 ships crossed the finish line in just 15 minutes, an event that normally only occurs in dinghy regattas. So, after a calculated time, the small yachts had triumph in their hands. The sport boats started in a second start group five minutes after the "Hansa" and the other large yachts and thus benefited from the freshening wind towards the end of the race. However, who will actually be the winner of the Blue Ribbon remains uncertain for the time being. At first, Jörn Petry was considered the winner. His "Haiopei" had reached the goal in four hours, 17 minutes and 17 seconds; only six seconds ahead of their competitor "Pflaumenkompott", also a Melges 24, skipped by Gorm Gondesen. However, it is currently being discussed whether the X-332 "No Limit" from Sven Christensen also falls under the category "domestic yacht". Should this be decided, then the Blue Ribbon will be his. He reached the finish line in just four hours, 15 minutes and 27 seconds. The "Hansa" and the "World of Tui" sailed almost five minutes longer than the "No Limit" with a difference of only six seconds
The planned race of the German Open J-80 was completely canceled on Saturday due to the slack. This class had already sailed five races in the days before. Ulrich Münker on his "Needles and Pins" took first place ahead of Dirk Manno on "Mann-o-Mann".
Christian Plump's "Hanseatic Lloyd", a Rodman 42, won the most prizes at the sponsorship week and became the most successful yacht overall in terms of time.
All results under:
www.fsc.de