| No races, but a change
of leader. |
| By the Rolex Baltic
Week Media Team. |
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Photos by Daniel Forster
for Rolex,
edited By Peter Andrews. |
| July 1, 2011. |
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| GLÜCKSBURG, GERMANY. Competitors in the 2011 Rolex Baltic Week arrived at Flensburg Fjord on Friday morning (July 1) to find white horses dancing on the waters and a strong to storm-force, west-north-westerly wind blowing. The rigging may have been whistling on the 46 stunning Metre yachts assembled in the marina of Flensburg Sailing Club, but with gusts topping 30 knots forecast, every one remained on dock with all races for the third day of racing cancelled. The day’s racing included the Robbe & Berking 8-Metre and 12-Metre World Championships, and it was also to be the first day of racing for the Robbe & Berking 6mR Sterling Cup. |
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Dockside, Flensburger Segel-Club, during the 2011 Rolex Baltic Week.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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"Our weather expert Meeno Schrader predicted gusts of up to 32 knots and that is simply too much," explained the FSC race director Claus Otto Hansen.
The decision to abandon racing was welcomed by the race teams, none of whom ventured afloat to train in a fleet where some yachts have already celebrated their centenary birthdays.
"This was an early, prudent decision," said Andi Lochbrunner, owner of the 99-year-old Elfe II. The risks of the previous day had been clearly illustrated with the 8-metre Svanevit of Karsten Niehaus from Cologne, losing their mast during racing. |
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Andi Lochbrunner from Lindau, Germany on his 8mR Elfe II (GER H 9, 1912),
earlier in the week before the start of the 2011 Rolex Baltic Week.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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| Despite the lack of sailing, there has been a change on the overall leaderboard for the 8-Metre world title overnight. The British boat Lafayette, owned by Murdoch McKillop, now heads the scoreboard after winning a protest. That protest was against the previous event leader, Hollandia, as the Dutch team headed by Ruud van Hilst and Jos Fruytier was disqualified from the third race. |
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Murdoch McKillop’s 8mR Lafayette (GBR 2, 1986) from London, Great Britain
and Tanneguy Raffray’s 8mR Hispania IV (FRA 7, 1927) from Vannes, France,
during the 2011 Rolex Baltic Week.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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| During neck-and-neck racing to the finish, both boats were powering along under spinnaker. Lafayette hailed that they were gybing onto starboard, but Hollandia reacted too slowly and the boats made contact on the approach to the finish line. Hollandia crossed the line without executing a penalty turn to exonerate themselves and so, were penalised by the international jury for violating Rules 10 and 11. |
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Ruud van Hilst and Jos Fruytier’s 8mR Hollandia (NED 1, 2005) from Amsterdam,
The Netherlands, during the 2011 Rolex Baltic Week.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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| In the provisional results Lafayette now has a three point advantage over the Swiss YQuem II of Jean Fabre, who in turn is just three points ahead of the 1938 design Raven belonging to Richard Self and Mark Decelles. Hollandia now lies in fifth. |
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Last year’s winner, Jean Fabre’s 8mR YQuem II (SUI 2, 2002), from Vesénaz,
Switzerland, during the 2011 Rolex Baltic Week.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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| There has been no change to the 12-metre fleet standings, which still sees Patrick Howaldt’s Vanity V from Denmark, also holding a three point margin over the second placed boat, Wilfried Beeck’s Trivia from Germany. In third place is Gorm Gondesen and Jochen Frank’s Sphinx from Germany, just one point further back. |
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Richard Self and Mark Decelles’ 8mR Raven (CAN 25, 1938) from Vancouver,
Canada; and Alexey Rusetsky’s 8mR Astra II (RUS 4, 2007) from St.
Petersburg, Russia, during the 2011 Rolex Baltic Week.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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A welcome consolation for the lack of competition, the crews will gather this evening at Oliver Berking’s Robbe & Berking Classics boatyard for the social highlight of the day, the Robbe & Berking Classics night. During the evening, Oliver Berking who initiated the classic Metre yacht regattas on the Flensburg Fjord, will present his latest spectacular project. The legendary Twelve Metre yacht Gretel has been transported from Italy to the yard and will indeed be quite a feature for those attending, as Gretel will undergo full restoration in the boatyard.
"We want to enable the ship to return to its original state from 1962," said Berking, "this is a unique piece of yachting history, and has to be preserved!" |
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Patrick Howaldt’s 12mR Vanity V (K 5, 1936) from Copenhagen, Denmark,
during the 2011 Rolex Baltic Week.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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Gretel sailed in the 1962 America’s Cup as a challenger and was the first Australian 12-metre yacht ever designed by Alan Payne. The yacht proved to be so much faster than the American defender, the Philip Rhodes designed Weatherly, that she became the first challenger to win a Cup race since the historic battle between Endeavour and Rainbow in 1934.
Whilst ultimately the Americans may have won the 1962 contest yet again, Gretel proved that the often one-sided America’s Cup could once again provide true excitement, as the Australians piled on the pressure against the outstanding Weatherly crew headed by Emil ‘Bus’ Mosbacher. |
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Wilfried Beeck’s 12mR Trivia (GER 10, 1937) from Hamburg, Germany,
during the 2011 Rolex Baltic Week.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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Results 2011 Rolex Baltic Week
Ranking after four races (no races on Friday, 1 July)
Place Boat name, Owner-Helmsman (origin), R1-R2-R3-R4, points overall
Robbe & Berking 12-Metre World Championship
1 Vanity V, Patrick Howaldt (Denmark), 1-1-2-2, 6.
2 Trivia, Wilfried Beeck (Germany), 3-2-1-3, 9.
3 Sphinx, Gorm Gondesen/Jochen Frank (Germany), 2-3-4-1, 10.
4 Anitra, Josef Martin (Germany), 4-4-3-4, 15.
5 Vema III, Eric Svenkerud (Norway), 6-5-5-DNF, 27.
6 Erna Signe, Einar Sissner (Norway), 7-7-7-6, 27.
Robbe & Berking 8-Metre World Championship
1 Lafayette, Murdoch McKillop (Great Britain), 2-4-1-1, 8.
2 YQuem II, Jean Fabre (Switzerland), 3-2-3-3, 11.
3 Raven, Richard Self/Mark Decelles (Canada), 5-3-2-4, 14.
4 Catina VI, Fred Meyer (Switzerland), 7-7-8-6, 28.
5 Hollandia, Ruud van Hilst/Jos Fruytier (The Netherlands), 1-1-DSQ-2, 5.
6 Sagitta, Timo Saalasti (Finland), 11-12-7-5, 35.
7 Feo, Hans-Peter Strepp (Germany), 9-14-6-7, 36.
For more information about the Rolex Baltic Week, visit the event website at www.rolex-baltic-week.com. |
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| Outimage and Rolex © 2011 |
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