The X-41 "Galatea" with tactician Roland Gäbler
The Hamburg “König & Xie” at the European championship in the X-41 class and the Italian “Lelagain” as world champion in the X-35 class are the champions of their championships. Both teams convinced with outstanding performances.
The exciting race for the first European championship title in the X-41 standard class was won by the “König & Xie” of the Hamburg-based Sven Erik Horsch with an impressive series. After nine races with four daily victories, three second and one third place, the "König & Xie" won with 13 points ahead of their worst opponent "Lexigton". Thomas Foyen's Norwegian yacht team reached 17 points. Third place on the podium went to “Extasy” by Thomas Bruges from Neumünster.
With wind strengths of five to six from the east, but still a powerful wave after the previous storm, the "König & Xie" secured the championship title early with a sovereign victory and was already on the way home when the remaining fleet of eight ships took part in the last European Championship regatta sailed the Stollergrund. “We are very happy with the title,” said helmsman Sven Erik Horsch happily at the winner's beer at the jetty when the fleet of X-35 yachts moored behind him after their races. The man from Hamburg was particularly pleased with the consistency with which his crew drove the EM. “We kept our track for eight races,” said Horsch, who hadn't expected such a “great performance” in the run-up to the European Championship. "But we also had good opponents in the 'Lexington' and the 'Extasy'." Thomas Bruges was satisfied with the performance. “It was just not possible,” said the man from Neumünster, who did not compete with his entire crew. "But we are very satisfied."
For the third German team, things didn't go as well on the last day of the race, as tactician Roland Gäbler conceded after the two sixth places of the “Galatea”. For the tornado sailor, being on board the X-41 is a wonderful experience. “Even if it's a big change for me, sailing in this class is a lot of fun. The young crew - half Italian and half German - still makes a few mistakes. It's somewhere between good and disaster,”said Gäbler. In the end, rank six jumped out. "That's okay."
Barrel contact on the windward barrel of the X-35
After the unfortunate fourth place at the 2008 World Cup in their own country, the Italian crew of the "Lelagain" around helmsman Alessandro Solerio finally made it: World Champion 2009, with an achievement recognized by the competition. “That was a great series. The Italians performed well in all conditions and deserved to win,”commented Torsten Bastiansen on winning the title.
The Flensburg-based “Celox” once again missed a place on the podium with an unfortunate last race. The day before, the crew around helmsman Achim Griese had touched the windward barrel and had to turn a ring. Yesterday the team took the bin with them (caught in the rudder) and caused a mess at the mark. The rescue took at least three minutes, and the team was the last to go in pursuit. "That was really big cinema," said co-owner and mastman Sven Anderssen in sarcasm. “You can't do it any more stupid than we did,” Achim Griese quarreled with himself and his tactician Morten Henriksen. The disappointment with the eighth place overall was great. “That really hurts, the mood here is really bad. Mainly because the last race ruined everything,”said the man from Hamburg. In addition, the “Celox” got a protest because it had previously driven Christian Soykrein's “Immac X”.
The winning crews: "König & Xie" (above) and "Legagain" (below)
A completely different mood prevailed at the end of the landing stage, where the "Xen" had moored for the week. Helmsman Torsten Bastiansen answered the question of the day about the performance classification on a scale from one to ten as if straight from the pistol: “Definitely nine and a half.” With a second and a third place, the Flensburg “Xen” not only moved up to sixth place (best German ship), but drove their tactician sitting on the escort boat to cheers. Especially in the last race, when the "Xen" crew shot professionally in third place on the wave and even outstripped the new world champions and kept them in check on the Spi course. "We really had a good hand today," commented Torsten Bastiansen on the last day of the race, but also regretted that the Dutch crew of the "Just4Fun" could no longer actively intervene in the race after a collision the day before. The German-Italian crew around the Dutch helmsman Albert Koijman received compensation points and ended up on the podium.
Race director Eckart Reinke received a lot of praise from all participants. The unanimous opinion of the sailors: laying out such perfect courses with the wind and these waves is quite a feat. Praise also went to the entire race committee on the start and finish ship "AlphTauri". "With the waves of the last few days I would not have been there on board," said Thomas Bruges.
