Westgerman Championship 2019

written by Tabea Rasche  on  May 18  of  2019 and read by 1419

print  
Soling Class Championship of Western Germany with snow and wind

10 crews took it upon themselves to sail in the cold weather on the Lake Eder and took part in the Saling Class Championship of Western Germany despite snow and frequently changing winds.

Already on Friday morning not only Marcel Barie, the chairman of the soling fleet Lake Eder, but also white snowflakes welcomed the crews from the lake and three guests from Berlin.

The boats started the regatta braving the 8°C because race officer Oliver Draude wanted to execute as many of the seven planned races as possible being advantage of the good wind conditions in Waldecker Becken.

With three Beaufort coming from east Matthias Dulce (VSaW) and his crew Klaus Grade and Uli Smidt won the first two races. During the third run the wind turned into a southerly and Tim Giesecke, Sven Rikwaki and Volker Stoof (VSaW) took over the overall lead placing 2nd, 3rd and 1st. A crew from the Lake Eder finished the first day as a close second Björn Geisler, Sven Dömges and Tabea Rasche (ESV) scored the same points as Matthias Dulce with a third, second and third place.

Fitting the weather conditions the ESV served a fish soup, hot stew and „Glühwein“ in the evening. The nice and happy atmosphere hit his peak when Gerd started pouring his white and red schnapps.

On Saturday the snowfall got worse and the wind got very gusty and constantly shifting. Not an easy task for the race officer and his crew. The weather was so bad that from the starting point in Rehbacher Becken you could only guess were the ton in Niederwerbe was situated.

Even though Matthias was in the lead at first followed by Björn and Gernot Heller (SCE) with his crew the latter managed to overtake him and finished first. The following snowfall fight on the water made us forget about the cold for a bit at least and the Glühwein and coffee warmed us up during a short break in the clubhouse.

In the early afternoon the boats tried to start another race. The turning wind made it impossible though despite several changes of the course. Oliver, we think no one would have wanted to do your job on Saturday and you managed to do this best possible!

On Saturday night the soling fleet Lake Eder invited everyone for a dinner at the Strandhaus No. A2 in Waldeck where we enjoyed a delicious BBQ buffet with an amazing view over the lake and the damm. A big thank you to our hostess Gerling Coppelin and her team for the nice evening.

On Sunday morning the weather seemed a lot more promising than the day before. With sunshine and an easterly wind with northerly tendencies we were able to sail the last three races quickly and without problems in the Waldecker Becken. Björn won the first race followed by Marcel Barie, his wife Isabel and crew member Dominik Gärtner (all SCAS). Then it got really exciting towards the end. But Tim Giesecke secured the overall win with a second and a first place. With only one point each behind Tim followed Matthias Dulce and Björn Geisler. Congratulations to the winners!

Tabea Rasche

(Translated by Adriana Geisler)

print