The 2019 Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga started off its season in Starnberg, Germany on an Alpine mountain lake in the southern part of the country—the Starnberger See. Thirty-six sailing clubs from across the country participated in difficult sailing conditions from May 3-5, including cold, wet weather and hailstorms. Winning the first Bundesliga Division was the Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee (VSaW) from Berlin, and winning the second League was the Blankeneser Segel-Club (BSC) from Hamburg. “It was hard. The cold, the hail and the storm—these were three really exhausting days because staying power was needed! We are all the more proud, of course, to be able to win the first match of the season. That’s what we hope to do again at the next event in Konstanz,” says Jasper Wagner, helmsman of VSaW. Sailing with him as his crew were Felix Bergmann, Elias Rothe and Max Salzwedel. After a very close fight to the last race of the event, the Chiemsee Yacht Club and the Bavarian Yacht Club took second and third on the podium, respectively. “It was an exciting battle. We trained relatively little, but we improved a lot over the four days and gave it everything we could,” said the helmsman from Lake Chiemsee, Leopold Fricke. His team included Moritz Fricke, Lorenz Huber and Simon Tripp. In the second Bundesliga Division, the team from Blankeneser Segel-Club prevailed against tough competition. Their winning crew consisted of Claas Lehmann, Florian Dzsiesiaty, Justus Kellner and Valentin Zeller. Second place went to the Hamburg Segel-Club with the only all-women’s crew in event, and then taking third place was the Potsdam Yacht Club. For more Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga information, visit https://segelbundesliga.de/.