SEGEL-BUNDESLIGA

North Sails powers leading J/70 teams in Act 3 of German Sailing Series

Eighteen J/70 teams arrived in Germany to compete in Act 3 of the class’s Sailing Series. The event overlapped with Kiel Week (Kieler Woche), held in front of the Olympic harbor in Kiel-Schilksee. The sailors got the most out of their visit to Kieler Yacht Club, completing 45 exciting races in difficult sailing conditions on Kiel Fjord. Lots of races to keep the sailors happy all weekend long, with most finishing positions coming down to less than a meter!

“Even though we have made too many mistakes at the start, we were able to make good use of our chances on the race course,” explains Tobias Schadewaldt.

The team Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, from Hamburg won in front of Segelkameradschaft Das Wappen von Bremen and the Berlin Yacht Club. The two-time “German Sailing League Masters” from Hamburg were happy to take the trophy home in the first event of this season.

North Sails, partner of Kiel Week and the German Segel-Bundesliga, has equipped all the Bundesliga J-70s with North Sails One Design sails. A set consists of the world champion XCS-1 Mainsail and J-2 Jib, as well as the asymmetric race spinnaker in the AP-1 layout made from Norlon 75. The team from Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV), with former Olympic sailor Tobias Schadewaldt onboard, managed to keep their leadership position over a number of days. With the southern winds declining on Monday, the team finished the third event with 37 points. A major contribution to their team work, Tobias Schadewaldt, Daniel Reichart, Florian Weser, and Klaas Höpcke had the goal of sailing consistently, knowing they could be out in front of the fleet in the changing wind conditions. Not always the easiest task in tricky conditions, teams were in a thick battle for the top three podium positions.

“We are more than content with this victory. The conditions have been a bit more difficult at the beginning, but with the continuous performance of the last days, we could keep the lead. We are very happy.”

Second place in Kiel was team Das Wappen von Bremen with team members Gordon Nickel, Thomas Dehler, Klaas Simon, and Morten Nickel with 39.6 points.

“We had hoped for a lot of wind on the Kiel Fjord and with that for podium spot. It is a big surprise for us to achieve it even with light winds on the second racing day,” said Morten Nickel.

Team Berlin Yacht Club, with Philipp Bruhns, Valentin Gebhardt, Maximilian Nickel, and Max Wohlfeil finished third with 41 points. “After a weak result on Sunday, we have completely turned it around. The change in wind conditions proved to be very helpful for us,” said Nickel. The three top finishers from the North agreed:

“The Kiel Fjord is our area – we do not give the Southern Clubs any breaks,” said Gordon Nickel on team Das Wappen von Bremen.