Kiel Week

This year’s J/24 fleet in Kiel Week had one of its best showings in recent years with 38 teams in attendance sailing from June 21-24. After sailing five races, the top two teams ended up in a tie-breaker at 31 points each. In the end, it was Frank Schonfeldt’s team (Nicklas Feuerstein, Finn Moller, Till Kruger & Thorsten Sperl) from Mühlenberger Segel-Club that was determined to be the winner after countbacks on firsts, seconds and thirrds. Losing the tie-break was Tobias Feuerherdt’s crew (Jan-Marc Ulrich, Wolle Panuschka, Tobias Peters & Justus Kellner) from Blankeneser Segel Club. Crossing the Atlantic and sailing for Rochester YC was American Mike Ingham, sailing fast in a chartered boat to take third overall. His international crew consisted of Marianne Schoke from Sweden and three Germans- Max Holzer, Scott Ikle & Klaus Walkusch. Perhaps the “Cinderella story” of the event was the remarkable performance of one of Germany’s top women J/24 teams. Having worked hard over the years and attended many of the top European J/24 regattas, it was clear all the efforts and training paid off in this year’s Kiel Week for Stephanie Kopcke and crew from Mühlenberger Segel-Club. Taking fourth overall, Stephanie’s team of Silke Hahlbrock, Ann-Katrin Brugge, Amelie Panuschka, Nele-Marie Bock and Insa Lindauer sailed a beautiful series over the three day event; it was their first top five finish in such a major J/24 event. Rounding out the top five was Jan Kahler and team (Olaf Zietz, Roland Bohm and Ole Harder) from Altonaer Segel-Club. For more J/24 Kiel Week sailing information, visit http://www.kieler-woche.de/.