J/22 Germany Sailing Report

(Travemunde, Germany)- Ines Herbold was sailing on the J/22 GER 1450- TEAM MOJO in this year’s 127th Travemunde Week in Travemunde, Germany this year.  Here is her report from the front lines of competition on the southwestern Baltic Sea.

“Last year, I had the chance to sail on a J/22 for the World Championship in Travemünde for the first time.  We finished in 6th place, a very successful World Cup for us!  So, I was happy when TEAM MOJO asked if I wanted to sail with them in 2016! Basically, yes!  But, the regatta calendar was already tightly scheduled, not only with me, but also with Steffi Schweder and Svend Hartog, both actively sailing in the J/70 Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga.

However, TEAM MOJO’s participation in early July was affected when Dirk Fischer injured his shoulder so that he would not be fit to race again for the rest of the summer. Fortunately, we were able to find Kim Brandt to handle the spinnaker/ jib position.

That was all the more important, of course, since we had previously sailed together and we could work through the maneuvers and could use Wednesday for training. One thing was clear, even if the number of entries with 15 boats was rather low, the competition was fierce!

On Thursday we met at 9am for the skipper’s meeting. The first start of nine scheduled races was at 11am on Course Charlie. Unfortunately, the weather did not bode well, with a lot of light shifting winds.

And, so we spent the morning and afternoon, waiting for wind until 1500 hrs.  Then, with a steady, developing sea breeze, our race director Ralf Maier gave the signal to start a race.  We then sailed 3 races in a steady sea breeze. Thankfully, our race officer had canceled the scheduled Travelodge Race in favor of buoy races!

In the evening, we could be more than satisfied with our performance, because although we had a false start in the first race, we still adjusted, so we still lay 2nd place overall, behind Reiner Brockerhoff.

However, it was clear that the cards would be reshuffled because Martin Menzner and his crew also had a false start, and were currently ranked 10th.

On Friday, we were able to start on time at 1100 hrs with fresh wind and we sailed to a second place in the fourth race. Unfortunately, no other race on Course Charlie was started because we were scheduled for the afternoon to be sailing in the “media course” near shore, so we had a scheduled start time. When we got there, the fleet in front of us had just started their second race, so we would be delayed for a lot of time!  Ugh!

We did not start until 1400 hrs.  We started in difficult conditions, Martin Menzner won with Reiner Brockerhoff (2nd place) and we were third place. In the sixth race, Maik Westfehling and crew showed where to go and won by a mile!  For now, we could only count a 5th place in the 5th race!

On Saturday, two exciting races were sailed and Martin, Frank and Christian proved once again how to win!  For us, the MOJO crew, it was, again, a really strange ending to the regatta. Frank Lammerskitten and crew had us on their heels and we closed the regatta with a second place in the last race.  That brought us a lot of blood, sweat and arithmetic!  In the end, it was enough!   With two points, we secured the bronze medal!

We thank all participants for fair and exciting races and congratulate Martin, Frank and Christian to win the German Open 2016! And Reiner, Christophe and Charles for taking the runner-up position in the J/22 class in Travemunde!  Until next time!”  Thanks to Ines Herbold for her contribution.

Of note, in J/22 Masters Regatta earlier in the month, it was clear the “die may have been cast”.  Winning was the crew of Martin Menzner / Frank Lichte/Christian Drews; taking second place was Reiner Brockerhoff/ Christophe Declerque/ Charles Michaux; and finishing third was Svend Hartog/ Stefanie Schweder/ Kim Brandt/ Ines Herold.  For more German J/22 sailing information


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