Kiel Week: Mourniac/Retornaz take over Nacra 17 leadership

Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris of Great Britain continue to dominate the Olympic 470 class in the Sailing Grand Slam. Their compatriots John Gimson and Anna Burnet, in their Nacra 17, were beaten by Frenchmen Tim Mourniac and Aloise Retornaz.

In the 470 class, Spanish world champions Jordi Xammar Hernandez and Marta Cardona Alcántara staked their claim to a medal by jumping to third place behind Be Beatriz Gago/Rudolfo Pires of Portugal. The local mixed crews, however, lost ground. After six races, Theresa Löffler and Christopher Hoerr (Lausanne/Röthenbach) are seventh, while Malte Winkel and Paula Schütze (Kiel/Schwerin) are tenth.

Mourniac/Retornaz concluded their extremely successful day of competition with two daily victories and swapped their blue jerseys for the yellow ones of the leaders in the race office. “With the shifting, offshore wind under land, we had to be extremely careful not to be caught off guard tactically,” said the helmsman, which he evidently managed well. British Olympic silver medalists Gimson/Burnet “only” managed three third-place finishes, leaving them one point behind. Their closest rivals from Australia had already largely lost touch.

The focus of the live broadcast on KielerWoche.TV was the open ILCA 6 class, which held three races in two groups directly off the Schilksee pier, providing the audience with first-class images. Hungary finished ahead of Thailand and India at the halfway point, with Benedek Héder leading ahead of Weka Bhanubandh and Nethra Kumanan. Timmy Vassallo of Malta took the lead in the ILCA 4.

“For the first time, it’s going pretty well,” said Heiko Kröger, commenting on his overall lead with a wink. Before Kiel Week, he hadn’t even sailed in his usual 2.4mR, but had trained on the OK dinghy. “The shroud tension was wrong, and once I confused the windward buoy with the tail buoy,” reported the Ammersbek native. Nevertheless, the 59-year-old extended his lead over runner-up Christoph Trömer (Homeburg) to four points. Norwegian Frank Huth is another three behind.

Christoph Homeier had a brilliant day in the Contender. With two daily victories, the Bremen native edged out strong international competition. Jesper Armbrust of Denmark is five points back in second, followed by Mark Bulka of Australia. “That was really fun, it couldn’t be better,” Homeier enthused, not only about his performance but also about the conditions, without yet reaching for the gold star. “If the Kiel Week even ends on the podium, it would be a successful dress rehearsal for the World Championships at the end of July on Lake Garda.”

After a very bumpy start on Thursday, series winners Scabolcs Majthenyi/András Domokos of Hungary won all three FD races and took the lead, tied on points with Kilian König and Kai Schäfers of Hanover. Niklas Edler of Sweden defended first place in the OK dinghies, narrowly ahead of Baabii’O Flower of Canada. André Budzien of Schwerin is third.

Despite a jump start disqualification right at the start, Moritz Borowiak and Noel Jonas Theiner (Schwerin) are comfortably on course for victory in the 420 class at Kiel Week. Poles Aleksandra Wiśniowska/Mateusz Budzisk are already 17 points behind in second place. Dane Sten Mohr also had a jump start in the final race of the day in the J/70 class, but remained in the lead ahead of fellow countryman Peter Buhl and Lukas Feuerherdt (Hamburg). In the J/24 class, “Schwere Jungs” (Heavy Boys), the boat of Stefan Karsunke and crew (also Hamburg), lead the way.

The start of the final of the offshore sailors was scheduled for 7:05 p.m., who were to set off from Strander Bay past the harbor entrance on a long-distance overnight race, which would also mark the conclusion of the international German championship in the offshore and double-handed categories.

Text and images courtesy of Kieler Woche. Read more on the Kiel Week website.