Press release WARNEMUENDER WOCHE 13 July 2008
Demanding sailing conditions characterise
71st Warnemuender Woche
Sailors from five continents showed up in nine days of racing at the Baltic port of Warnemuende. More visitors than ever came to watch the high class sailing event and enjoyed a huge entertainment program onshore. In total 2444 competitors from 30 nations crowned their champions in 180 races. Among the highlights of the second half was the Bombardier OK-Dinghy World championship and the German championship of the Olympic star boat class.
Warnemuende, 13 July 2008 – During the second weekend of the WARNEMUENDER WOCHE 15 classes showed their skills in sailing conditions that had a lot to offer – from light wind and sun to thunderstorm and rain. The challenging weather provided shifty conditions and forces up to eight Beaufort on Saturday. The Sunday proved to be sunny and light winds gave a smooth farewell to all the sailors.
The Medal Race in the Olympic star boat class went to the Danish team Joergen Svendsen and Jens Jurlander. But Alexander Hagen with his crew Frithjof Kleen took the title, scoring a second in the finals. “We have sailed a constant series and started pretty relaxed into the last race”, 53- year old Hagen from Hamburg/Germany said. “I did not race here often, but it is a great place to sail championships”, the two times world champion added. The Danish team became second, leaving Johannes Babendererde and Manuel Voigt (Hamburg/Germany) on third.
In the Olympic surfing RS:X class the German Championship went to Toni Wilhelm (Kiel/Germany) in the men’s ranking. Romy Kinzl from Kiel, who is hoping for her Olympic nomination on Tuesday, won the woman’s ranking.
Jan Kurfeld sailed an impressive series on the last day of racing in the Olympic Finn Dinghy class. He scored four bullets on his home waters in the fleet of 55 boats to win the WARNEMUENDER WOCHE.
On Saturday a dream came true for Karl Purdie from New Zealand. He could win the OK-Dinghy World Championship for the first time, leaving three times World Champion Nick Craig from Great Britain on second place. “It was a long way to win the title and I still have not realised that I achieved it”, Purdie said. The Australian Andre Blasse took bronze in the fleet of 90 boats.
All in all 15 classes started into the second weekend. When a dark front brought heavy winds and rain in the early Saturday afternoon, racing had to be stopped for the day. “The sailing conditions of the 71st WARNEMUENDE WEEK have not been easy. Very shifty winds in varying strength demanded everything from the competitors”, said principle race officer Dirk Kaiser. “I was surprised by the number of strong young sailors opting for the traditional classes.”
On the first weekend 1000 sailors from 30 nations had already been on the water to enjoy great sailing conditions. 238 competitors took part in the Laser Europa Cup and Canadian Mike Leigh snatched the victory from Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Bernaz on the last day of the series. Sarah Steyaert from France took the title in the Laser radial class. In the 470 class Sam Kivell and Max Taylor from Australia cheered upon their win.
Schedule, results and further Information: www.warnemuender-woche.com
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