J/80 Europeans Announce On-Line Registration Now Open!

 
Competitors, sailors and friends of J80:

We remind you that the registration for the J80 Europeans Championship is available on the web www.j80europeans.cnelbalis.com. Until May 19th, you can take advantage of the special "Early Entry Fee" described in the Notice of Race: only 300€ per boat!

For the teams who register between May 20th and June 19th, the regular "Entry fee" of 350€ will be applied. (Kindly note that this price will also be applied to the teams registered but unpaid on date May 19th).  At the championship website you can find the Notice of Race, along with other useful information.

Join the great family of J80 Europeans Championship, a competition with high level skippers and crews! And please feel free to share this newsletter with your sailing friends.

Thank you and see you soon at Cantiere Navale El Balís (see location here)!

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Inscription en ligne pour l’Européen J80
Régatiers, marins et amis de J80,

Nous vous rappelons que l'inscription pour le Championnat Européen J80 est disponible sur le web www.j80europeans.cnelbalis.com. Jusqu'au 19 mai, vous pouvez profiter du tarif spécial "Early Entry fee" décrit dans l'Avis de Course: seulement 300 € par bateau!

Pour les équipes qui s'inscrivent entre le 20 mai et le 19 Juin, l’"Entry fee" régulier de 350€ sera appliqué. (Veuillez noter que ce prix sera également appliqué pour les inscriptions réalisées mais non payées en date 19 Mai).  Dans le site web du championnat vous pouvez trouver l’Avis de Course ainsi que d'autres informations utiles.

Joignez la grande famille du Championnat Européen J80, une compétition avec des capitaines et équipages de haut niveau! Et n’hésitez pas à partager ce bulletin avec vos amis régatiers.

Merci et on se voit bientôt à El Balís!

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Inscripciones On Line para el Europeo de J80
Regatistas, Navegantes, Amigos del J80,

Os recordamos que la inscripción al Campeonato Europeo J80 está disponible en la web www.j80europeans.cnelbalis.com. Hasta el 19 de mayo podréis disfrutar de la tarifa especial  “Early Entry Fee” reflejada en el Anuncio de Regata: sólo 300€ por embarcación!

A los equipos inscritos entre el 20 de mayo y el 19 de junio les será aplicada la tarifa  “Entry fee” normal de 350€. (Nota: este precio se aplicará igualmente a todas las unidades inscritas y no pagadas en fecha 19 de Mayo).  En la página web del campeonato podéis  encontrar el Anuncio de Regata, junto con otra información útil.

Uníos a la gran familia del Campeonato Europeo J80, una competición con patrones y tripulaciones de gran nivel! Os animamos a compartir este boletín con vuestros compañeros regatistas.

Gracias y nos vemos muy pronto en El Balís!

2014 J/80 Worlds Registration Now Open!

(Annapolis, MD)- The USA J/80 Class has announced they've opened for registration the 2014 J/80 World Championship being held September 28th to October 4th, 2014 at Eastport YC in Annapolis, MD.

More information and the registration link can be found on the Worlds website at:
http://j80worlds2014.org/race-documents/registration/

Furthermore, the USA J/80 Class has outlined a 2014 J/80 World Circuit for you J/80 enthusiasts and believe they have a great slate of events, especially with a few events being held at the Worlds venue, to promote practice and familiarization of the sailing area.

The 2014 J/80 Worlds Circuit is as follows:

• Jan 19-24- Key West Race Week & J/80 Midwinters- Key West, FL
• Mar 21-23- Davis Island Yacht Club Regatta- Tampa, FL
• Apr 10-13- Charleston Race Week- Charleston, SC
• May 3-5- Annapolis NOODs- Annapolis, MD
• June 6-8- J/Jamboree, Gilford, NH
• Aug 30- Sep 1- J/80 East Coasts- Annapolis YC- Annapolis, MD
• Sep 10-14- J/80 North Americans- Annapolis YC- Annapolis, MD
• Sep 28 - Oct 5- J/80 World Championship- Eastport YC- Annapolis, MD

There will be an Overall Circuit Champion and Runner-Up Award. Boats need to compete in at least 50% of the races to qualify. Finishes will be weighted in accordance with regatta class size to keep it fair.

Please let us know if you have any questions. We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you on the water!    Chris Chadwick, J/80 USA Class Secretary- email- j80churchkey@gmail.com
USA 59 “CHURCH KEY”

Great J/24 & J/80 Kieler Woche Regatta

(Kiel, Germany)- This past week saw one of the largest regattas in Germany finish with a flourish with some great sailing for both the J/24 fleet participating and a growing J/80 class.

In the fifteen boat J/80 class, there were Polish and German crews sailing a good series.  Dominating the class was Germany's Martin Menzner from Kieler YC, winning with a remarkable six 1sts and four 2nds to simply crush the class, eight points clear of second place finisher Malte Christopherson, also of Germany.  Third overall was Thomas Dehler, fourth was Fyn Terveer winning a tie-breaker over fifth place finisher Karsten Thode.

There was a fantastic turnout for the J/24s, with 33 teams attending from Sweden, The Netherlands and Germany.  The J/24s also saw a top team dominate the proceedings, with Kal Mares winning with 29 pts, followed by Frank Schonfedlt in second with 43 pts.  Rounding out the podium was past champion Manfred Konig with 50 pts.  Top Swedish team was Per-Hakan Persson in 7th overall.  For more Kiel Week Regatta sailing information

Spain Sweeps J/80 Worlds

(Dartmouth, England)- At a constant wind speed of 33 knots coupled with swells in excess of 4 metres (12 feet plus) across the race area had necessitated the decision to abandon racing for the day and for the regata. An excited round of applause rang around the Race HQ as the assembled fleet congratulated the new J/80 World Champions: Jose Maria van der Ploeg and his crew on board NILFISK: Luis Mas, Juan Merayo, Hugo Ramon and twelve year old Jose ‘Junior’ van der Ploeg.  A sweet and well-deserving victory for this family crew!

The nine races sailed at The MIQ Logistics 2012 J/80 World Championship Powered by SLAM each delivered a different winner: a fact that is testament to the level of competition on the race-track within the International J/80 Class. Van der Ploeg’s team on NILFISK never conceded a single result outside of the top 14 boats during the course of the regatta but nor did he finish a race within the top two. Skilled consistency in crew work, boat handling, tactics and intelligent regatta strategy delivered a World Championship win for NILFISK with a four point lead over the second placed boat, Rayco Tabares’ Hotel Princesa Yaiza and six points over third place Carlos Martinez’ Mapfre.

All 76 J/80s were de-rigged and lifted back on to their road trailers on Friday afternoon along Dartmouth ’s North Embankment so that 350 competitors could rush home to spruce themselves up in advance of the Closing Ceremony and Prize-giving Dinner scheduled for Friday evening. The venue for the closing ceremony (by virtue of the fact that the Britannia Yacht Club shared the hosting of the World Championship with the Royal Dart Yacht Club) was Britannia Royal Naval College .

Competitors enjoyed dinner, wine and a fair few tots of SLAM-buca on Friday night in the stunning surroundings of The Senior Gun Room and The Ward Room at the college before moving on to the official Prize-giving Ceremony which was held on The Quarterdeck. Prizes were presented to the top ten boats at the MIQ Logistics 2012 World Championship Powered by SLAM. Several British J/80 teams featured in the role-call: Kevin Sproul’s J.A.T finished in fourth, Robert Larke’s J2X took sixth place, Simon Ling’s RAF benevolent Fund Team Spitfire finished ninth overall and Simon Johnson and Ruairidh Scott’s Joyeuse finished tenth overall. The largest piece of silverware presented on the night war Rennie and Ruth Miller’s J/80 One-Design Cup which went to Sproul and his team from J.A.T who were the best performing British team at the Worlds. Special prizes from Allspars of Plymouth were awarded the best performing furthest travelled boat, which went to Andrew Moore’s Tigrina from Hong Kong and to stalwart supporter of the J/80 UK Class, Scott Cole and his team on Purple Haze.

At the Prizegiving Commodore Simon Williams of Britannia Royal Naval College explained how much the college had enjoyed being involved with the World Championship and without need to recourse to spoken word his presence at the Ceremony meant that all competitors were duly reminded what an honour and privilege it was to take part in such an auspicious event in such dramatic and historic surroundings.

Paul Heys of Key Yachting thanked Britannia Royal Naval College , Mike Moody and his team at the Royal Dart Yacht Club, the PRO Mike Pearson, the massive team of volunteer helpers and all of the sponsors of the event: Principal Sponsors MIQ Logistics and SLAM. Supporting Sponsors Baltic Wharf, Brittany Ferries, Coast Graphics and Dart Harbour and Prize Sponsors Allspars, Café Alf Resco, Chandlery.co.uk, Lifedge by Scanstrut, Paul Barclay, Rowbury Gallery and the Royal Castle Hotel.  Dancing and celebrations continued in to the small hours of Saturday morning.    Sailing photo credits- Tim Wright- http://www.photoaction.com  For more J/80 Worlds sailing information

J/80 JALAPENO Wins Almere Regatta

Fresh to Frightening Winds Challenge Sailors
(Muiderzand, Netherlands)- The JALAPENO Team skippered by Piet Vroon and powered by Joie de Vivre wins Almere Regatta six races.  The Regatta had two perfect days to  determine the winners in very challenging and changing weather conditions. Saturday averaged 30 knots with gusts of 45-- yes, the "blowing dogs off chains" variety! Sunday it blew between 0 and 24 knots from the north and the south and everything in between. The J/80 has again proven that it can sail in all extremes and hang together.  Even then, gusts to 45 kts are a bit much.  Amongst the "surfing content" winners was ELF, managing a shade shy of 20 knots on the speedo!

Behind Vroon's JALAPENO team, who by the way had straight 1sts as counters, second went to Holsboer's JUUL, third went to Everwijn's ELF, fourth was Spaan's J-STRING and fifth was Elsink's J'ZUS.   For more J/80 Almere Regatta Sailing information

J/80s Sailing Grevelingen Cup Practice

* J/80 Grevelingen Cup Regatta in The Netherlands are having fun getting themselves up to speed in the middle of the European winter.  Conditions have been less than ideal, but they did manage to get some good "GoPro"-like video of their racing.  You can watch some of it here:

YOUTube video---http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w1KKeVJ7wU

J/80 + SLAM for Worlds 2012

(Darmouth, England)- SLAM UK has this week confirmed major sponsorship support for the 2012 J/80 World Championship, which will now be "Powered by SLAM". The regatta will take place between the 9th and 15th of June and will be jointly hosted by the Britannia Yacht Club, the Royal Dart Yacht Club and the J/80 UK Class Association.  Both the Opening Ceremony and the Prize-giving Ceremony for 2012 J/80 World Championship Powered by SLAM will take place at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon.

In addition to significant financial support for the regatta, the partnership with cutting edge sportswear company SLAM UK will bring style, flair and inimitable glamour to the event, along with real and quantifiable added value for the competitors of the 80 teams which are predicted to travel to the UK this summer to compete. Not only will competitors be able to enjoy the tangible benefits of SLAM UK’s investment in the Championship, but they will also witness first-hand the competitive edge afforded on the race-track by this technologically advanced clothing range; Chris Ducker, owner of SLAM UK, will also be racing his brand new J/80 at the Worlds.

Chris Ducker explained his passion for SLAM and his commercial desire to be involved at a grass roots level with the J/80 Worlds: ‘I am delighted to have an opportunity to work with the Key Yachting team and for SLAM to sponsor the 2012 J/80 Worlds; this will certainly be a fantastic event on and off the water. I look forward enormously to sailing and socializing in the J/Community throughout the 2012 season.’

At the London Boat Show in January, SLAM UK was appointed official clothing partner of Key Yachting Ltd.  Paul Heys , Managing Director of Key Yachting explained ‘There is a strong parallel between the design credentials of the SLAM technological clothing range and J/Boats, not least in the fundamentally intelligent and performance oriented design. I’ve worn SLAM kit on the water for a number of years and it unfailingly delivers the results one expects. This new partnership is great for Key Yachting and it will also prove extremely valuable to our clients during the coming year. Competitors at the 2012 J/80 World Championship Powered by SLAM have a real treat in store.’

Entries for the 2012 J/80 World Championship are rolling in at serious pace now. The online entry system at http://www.j80worlds2012.com is easy to use, the entry fee represents real value for money and Brittany Ferries has offered discounted pricing for J/80 teams traveling to the UK from the continent. February may be frosty but the competition in Dartmouth in June is looking hotter than ever.

For those of you who may not be familiar with SLAM's participation in sailing, their mission is to conceive, test, and produce advanced technology sportswear in order to improve the performance of sailors and to create a nautically-inspired sportswear collection for everyone with a passion for the sea.  Selected by many of the world's top sailors and competitive racing teams, SLAM sailing gear not only protects against the worst of the weather but, at the same time, allows for maximum comfort and freedom of movement.  You can learn more about SLAM's sailing products here- http://www.slamuk.com

For more information on the J/80 Sportsboat or the 2012 World Championship Powered by SLAM, please contact Becci Eplett of the J/80 UK Class Association at becci@keyyachting.com.

JALAPENO Burns Benelux J/80 Championship

(Grevelingenmeer, Belgium)- Last weekend the Benelux J/80 sailors were greeted by unseasonably warm, sunny weather like their British counterparts across La Manche (the Channel).  In the the bright weather was some "bright sailing" by Team JALAPENO, sailed by Erik Scheeren.  "Hot weather, hot boat", they played a dominant role all weekend.  The first race marked the JALAPENO boys "thankful" streak as well-- after a failed start in race one, they chose the "other side" of the field and the race course, this decision ultimately resulted in a spectacular first place in race 1!

The mild weather and shifty breezes resulted in position changes every race for the compact fleet.  Amazingly, the mild weather also resulted in conservative starts, no recalls, an unusual scenario for the J/80 fleet!  One team got their boat well underway while others were looking for the right settings.  Plus, while the wind strength was building gradually all day, one also had to be looking for wind streaks and stay in them.  This was especially important for finding the right course for downwind speed to the finish line.  Saturday saw a lot of good racing!  At the end of the day, Laura Vroon's JOI DE VIVRE stayed close and took a first place in race 4, but it was not hard enough to beat TEAM JALAPENO, who were hotter than hot!

On Sunday, the Grevelingenmeer was just like the rest of the Netherlands (or for that matter, the rest of Europe), with a dense fog shrouding the entire lake.  After the racing was postponed twice, it was decided not to sail anymore race.  This made for a slightly anticlimactic finish for the regatta, but despite the limited number of races, there was no dissatisfaction with the results-- it was quite clear to most all of the contestants that the superior performance of TEAM JALAPENO on Saturday made them a worthy 2011 Benelux Open Champion!  And, speaking of being "thankful", we must give "Thanks" to Tom-Erik "Chief" of the lake and Grevelingencup organization.   For more J/80 Benelux Open Championship sailing information

Spanish Teams Sweep J/80 Worlds

Camino, VDP, Martinez, Tabares Go 1-2-3-4!
(Copenhagen, Denmark- July 8th)-  As one of the world's leading one-design keelboat classes, this year's J/80 World Championships did not disappoint.  With sixty-eight competitors participating in a world-class regatta sailed by some of the top sailors in the world, most sailors expected the top Europeans to factor in amongst the leaders.  With multiple Olympic and World Champions participating as skippers or tacticians and the best sailors from Spain sailing as a team, too, it was also expected the Spanish teams would be amongst the leaders at the end of the regatta.  In fact, the script for this "movie" played out nearly the same as it has in past worlds.

The last day racing dawned with grey skies, easterly winds of 10 knots and rain pouring down in Dragor, but that was not going to stop the Royal Danish YC's PRO from pressing forward to complete yet another challenging World Championship.  One where the actors were nearly the same as in the past four championships, but with roles swapping as to the new "cinderella story" and who would be the "new sheriff in town" for 2011.

After four days and nine races of excellent sailing in conditions that saw light to moderate winds for the entire event, it was clear the Spanish sailors are not only fast in a big breeze and big waves, they're also quite fast and smart in shifty, wind streak, "drag race-type" sailing conditions on the Baltic Sea where the winds never exceeded 12 knots!  Showing their extraordinary versatility was the new sheriff, World Champion for 2011, Ignacio Camino's team sailing their renown NEXTEL ENGINEERING to a very well deserved win over some extremely tough competition.  Ignacio and crew only had to get two good top 10 finishes on the last day to win, finishing with a 4-6 to win his second J/80 World Championship, the second Spanish sailor in a row to do so (countryman Pichu Torcida won the 2010 J/80 Worlds in Newport, RI in epic conditions).  They finished with a total score of 34 points to win by 10 points over the second place boat.

The Cinderella (and family) story of this year's Worlds has to be the remarkable comeback of Jose Maria van deer Ploeg (a.k.a. "VDP") sailing his boat GREAT SAILNG. Jose started off the series on the first day barely in the top 20 with a 27-17-11, disappointing to say the least.  Thereafter, from day two to day four, Jose's team (including his young son) simply smoked the fleet!  Perhaps, near total domination and a "schooling" of the fleet may be a better perspective regards how well Jose's team sailed the last six races.  How about a scoreline against Olympic medallists and World Champs in multiple classes that would be the envy of any team sailing in Dragor-- a 5-1-5-2-2-1 to finish with 44 points and win a tie-breaker with another Spanish team-mate Carlos Martinez (himself a former World Champion).  Proof that "family teams" can be competitive at a world-class level in one of the world's premiere one-design keelboats!

Third in the Spanish sweep of the podium was Carlos Martinez racing MAPFRE with his very strong, well-practiced team.  Carlos' team was yet another Spanish team that raced up the ladder after a disastrous first day, starting with a 3-26-4, to then finish off the series with an average of 6th place to finish with 44 points and lose the tie-breaker to Jose Maria!

Fourth yet another Spanish J/80 World Champion, Rayco Tabares and crew on HOTEL PRINCESS YAIZA GRAND CANARIAS, the same boat he's raced for years.  Amongst the top five, it was apparent that Rayco was the most despondent after the first day's racing- starting off with a disastrous 4-9-52.  Nevertheless, Rayco has proven to be a strong, indomitable competitor, and his "never say die" attitude serves him well.  Rayco's team confidently bounced back to be the only team to score back-to-back 1st places in races 7 & 8 to jump higher than most kangaroos and finish with 53 points.  In fact, had Rayco pulled off a miracle and finished in the top three in the last race, he would've finished 2nd overall!

Perhaps the "hard luck" award has to go to American Glenn Darden, yet another J/80 World Champion, sailing with his veteran team aboard LE TIGRE.  After starting off strongly to lead the regatta for the first two days, a lapse in race 7 on the third day was too much for them to absorb to stay in contention for the top three.  Now having to count both an 18th and 15th, Glenn's team nevertheless showed the rest of the world the LE TIGRE team is never to be counted out in the final results.  After getting the second best record of the final day behind Jose Maria's 2-1, LE TIGRE's 5-2 bounced them back up the ladder to fifth place overall with 56 points.

If Glenn's LE TIGRE team fell on some hard luck in some races, so too the same can be said for Sweden's Ingemar Sundstedt SWE 243.  Sundstedt was lying second going into the last day with a very good chance of being the first Swedish team to win the J/80 Worlds, especially since their worst race up to the last day was a 14th and their average finish was about 6th place, the most consistent team on the race course for the first three days!  However, the first race of the last day erased all chances of that happening, finishing with a 27th, then followed by a 7th in the last race to end the regatta with 58 points and finish 6th overall.

Finally, mention should be made of the very strong showing by the top French teams, Eric Brezellec on INTERFACE CONCEPT 2, the current French J/80 National Champion, finishing 7th and Jean Charles Moriceau finishing 8th!  Furthermore, it was also the first time the German teams showed both good boat-speed and good tactics, getting the next four places in the standings!  German teams finished 9th- Sven Vagt's GER 1027, 10th- Martin Menzner's GER 614 (a regatta leader on Day One), 11th- Bjorn Beilken's GER 1107 and 12th- Malte Christopherson's GER 745.   Top Danish team from the host country was Jesper Kragh Jespersen's DEN 850 in 13th, the top Italian team was Massimo Rama's EXTREME SAILING TEAM beating fellow Italian Aldo Samele's CANARINO FEROCE 2 by a HALF point! The top Russian team was Vitaliy Tarakanov RUS 999 in 29th, top British team was Tom Phipps' HAMBLE YACHT SERVICES in 32nd, top Polish team was Pawel Boksa's POL 1187 in 39th, top Netherlands team was Laura Vroon's NED 831 in 36th, top Estonian team was Peeter Meressaar's EST 603 in 56th and top Finnish team was Otto Reittila FIN 1144 in 64th.

In the final analysis, the racing was extraordinarily close going into the last day, as has been the case for at least the past four J/80 World Championships.  Excellent world-class sailing by the top fifteen, at least.  What was interesting was to see the depth of the teams that could pull off a top three finish during the course of the regatta, particularly in conditions where hitting corners often did NOT pay-off.  The top three podium finishes only accounted for 8 top three finishes (of a potential 27 possible!) and only four 1st places (just 44% of the 9 races!).  That's stunning fleet depth.  Moreover, the only teams that could get two first places in the series were the winner, Ignacio Camino's NEXTEL ENGINEERING and Rayco Tabares' HOTEL PRINCESS YAIZA GRAND CANARIAS.  The lowest placing race winner (race #4) was Frenchman Luc Nadal who finished 24th; lowest place 2nd (race #5) was the Danish/American team of GULDFAXE (Tom Klok, Will/Marie Crump and Will Welles) in 17th overall.  Lowest place 3rd (race #2) was Italian Naval Academy Sailing Team's Giorgio Guzzi who finished 37th.  There are few, if any, international one-design keelboat/ sportboat classes of any kind that can demonstrate that kind of fleet depth and ability to sail a boat fast enough, easily enough to fire one into the top three in any given race! That's cool.  Moreover, a "family boat", finished second overall- the father/son team aboard Jose Maria van deer Ploeg's GREAT SAILING-- that's even cooler.

The two women's teams faired well considering the depth of the competition, the best was TEAM MALTESERS ("The Sweeter Side of Sailing"), Gritt Bjornshave's five women team on DEN 1176 getting three finishes in the 20s and finishing 43rd overall.  Sailing Photo credits: Peter Sogaard Photos      For more J/80 Worlds sailing information

  

J/80 BMW Sailing Cup Finals

Germans Compete For Match Race Supremacy In Hamburg
(Hamburg, Germany- Nov. 6-7)- How's this for a headliner- "BMW Yachtsport 2010.  BMW ORACLE Racing wins the America's Cup, while the BMW Sailing Cup, the largest international amateur regatta series, enters its fifth season".  The BMW Sailing Cup has evolved over the past 5 years, according to BMW Yachtsport, into "the biggest amateur sailing event in the world. A sporting challenge, team spirit and joy in sailing are just a few reasons why the BMW Sailing Cup is enjoying increasing popularity.  Six J/80 sailing yachts are made available to amateur crews and each event can take up to 90 sailors in 18 equal strength teams for each regatta on the circuit."  Add in world famous, gorgeous, sexy, Der Spiegel tabloid star and Olympic Gold Medal figure skater Katarina Witt, and you have an amazing feast for the eyes to savor over a few days of sailing on the famous Hamburg harbor.

Before the Germany Final got underway on Friday, Hamburg was visited by several celebrities and professional yachtsmen. After three races, TEAM NORD with Ulrike Schumann, Niko Mittelmeier and Phillip Buhl were able to celebrate their victory over Markus Weiser while stars like ultra-hot ice-skater Katarina Witt were enjoying their first experience out on the un-frozen water. The biggest winners, however, were the children-- 10,000 Euros were raised for the World Childhood Foundation!  That's a cause for celebration and kudos to BMW Yachtsport Team for supporting such an wonderful program!

A noteworthy prelude to this event was Germany's Championship of Champions held the week before, the winner was-  Markus Wieser.  Germany's sailing elite met in Hamburg the previous weekend for the 31st Championship of Champions. Only German, European and world champions in Olympic and international classes are invited to this exclusive and historically unique regatta. European Dragon champion Markus Wieser and his crew of Matti Paschen and Eberhard Magg defeated 35 other teams on Hamburg's Alster to win the Championship of Champions for the first time.

In the finale, which featured the top three teams, the BMW Yachtsport Ambassador (Markus Weiser) and his crew produced two immaculate races to leave the opposition in their wake: second place went to the team skippered by Denmark's Sten Mohr, who was part of the afterguard in the BMW ORACLE Racing team for the 32nd America's Cup and was at the helm of the then Challenger of Record in the semi-final of the Louis Vuitton Cup. German match race champion Stefan Meister came third.

"It is fantastic to win this important regatta for the first time," said Wieser. "We produced the best sailing in difficult conditions and with little wind, and were deserved winners. We won all the starts and always led coming to the first buoy. The fact that our crew is used to sailing in various boat classes, as well as in match and fleet races, really paid off. This versatility was the key to our success."  Despite their good performance in Berlin, Wieser ran into the chainsaw of a top-class field in Hamburg; the most important sailing regatta in the capital region all year.  For more BMW Yachtsport German sailing information      English version of BMW Yachtsport.