Thirty-six sailing clubs with around 300 sailors from across Germany gathered in Warnemünde to sail the fifth Act of their summer-long series from September 17-19, with sailing taking place on the Baltic Sea. This is the ninth season of the German Sailing League, and its popularity with German sailors continues to grow with a variety of series to participant in: Premiere League, League 2, Women’s League and Youth League. The favorite ONEKiel Team proved again they are the team to beat for the 2021 DSBL season series, winning five races and taking six seconds on their way to a 5-point win. Just behind them, the balance of the podium was determined by a tiebreaker at 45 points each between Blankeneser Segel-Club and Wurttembergischer Yacht Club. Taking the silver on countback was the Blankeneser Segel-Club, with the Wurttembergers having to settle for the bronze. Sailing conditions on the Baltic Sea at the host Academic Sailing Association Warnemünde were the toughest and most demanding this year. With an average of 20 knots of wind and 1.50 meter waves, the teams fought as if they were on the open Baltic Sea. The winners of ONEKiel are now qualified for the upcoming SAILING Champions League Finale in Porto Cervo, Sardinia. With their third victory in five events, helmsman Magnus Simon and his crew Matti Cipra, Max Kleinsorg and Silas Oettinghaus confidently drive to the final. Skipper Simon commented, “The typical Baltic Sea conditions were very demanding, but our training in Kiel under similar conditions played a part in our success. We were hoping to be able to close the door for the Championship today. That just didn’t work out. Now we are in good spirits to become champions in Berlin, where we will give our best one last time.” In the overall leaderboard in the Premiere sailing league, ONEKiel extends its lead to 16 points after a slight stumbling from their pursuer Water Sports Club Hemelingen. The Flensburg Sailing Club defends third place in the table five points behind the Bremen team.
2nd Division Battles: As result of this regatta, nine clubs from the 2nd sailing Bundesliga will be promoted to the Premiere 1st Sailing Bundesliga for the 2022 season. With their best result of the season and the victory in the 2nd sailing Bundesliga, the Kiel Yacht Club catapults itself to a promotion position for the first time this year. The winning team included helmsman Lasse Kaack, who won together with Paul Arp, Jonathan Knottnerus-Meyer and Luca Leithold. Skipper Kaack commented that, “We are happy about our best result of the season. It was our great team! Sailing was easy for us; we had a heavy crew (ideal for these rough sailing conditions), and our routine helped. Of course, we want to move up!” In the overall leaderboard for the 2nd sailing Bundesliga, the leading Düsseldorf Yacht Club lost its comfortable lead with a new helmsman and is now only four points ahead of the Hamburg Sailing Club, which would like to be promoted to the 1st sailing league again after 2017. For more German J/70 Sailing Bundesliga information and photos, visit https://www.facebook.com/SegelBundesliga.