Hosted by Kieler Yacht Club in Kiel-Schilksee, Germany, the MAIOR CUP Regatta took place from May 3-5 in cold, wet, windy sailing conditions. The one-design fleet of J/70s was participating in their first major regatta of the season. On the first day, it was cold in the Kiel Fjord, and it blew hard at 20-25 knots all day with big seas. In the J/70 fleet, Charlotte Braun-Dullaeus’ crew on JINTO (Tobias Strenge, Florian Herrmann, Terje Klockemann) won the first race and ended the day with a 3-2 to lead the regatta by a point. Just behind her was Gerd Knospe’s SANNA R in second and Hauke Thilow’s GER 1079 in third. On day two, although the wind had slowed slightly, it was shiftier and puffier. Braun-Dullaeus kept JINTO on top of the leaderboard with a strong series of races for the day: 1-4-2-1-2. The Berlin crew on SANNA R was in second, but the big move of the day was Tania Tammling’s all-women crew from Hamburg who sailed ALBIS into third place by the end of the day with a 4-2-3-2. Her crew consisted of Kristin Mertner, Carlotta Meewes, Ragna Thonnessen and Franziska Wilckens. Day 3 on Sunday provided the perfect atmosphere for the final day—sun, moderate breeze, clear skies, and much warmer temperatures. There was a lot of drama in the J/70 fleet. Having scored four firsts in the first eight races, it was anyone’s guess that Knospe’s SANNA R crew could repeat those performances on the final day. In the first race, SANNA R did just that, winning it while JINTO took third, closing to within one point of Braun-Dullaeus’ team. However, in the last race, Braun-Dullaeus sailed fast, stayed out of trouble and scored a deuce, while SANNA R finished right behind them. As a result, Braun-Dullaeus and her crew on JINTO brethed a sigh of relief as they won the regatta with 17 points net. Knospe’s SANNA R took second with 19 points net, and Tammling’s team on ALBIS took the bronze (also winning the Helga Cup Special Award for best women’s team). “That was very exciting and close. We actually had a plan to decide what we would do in the penultimate race, but that did not work,” said JINTO’s skipper Braun-Dullaeus. “Our advantage was that we sailed very consistently, even on Sunday, which was probably the most demanding sailing day. It was really hard to judge some things, especially crossing situations upwind. We’re happy to win and thank my amazing crew!” For more MAIOR CUP Regatta information, visit https://www.kyc.de/de/regatten/maior-mai-offshore-regatta/.