| Germany. 69th Warnemünder Woche Niemann favourite in grand Laser Radial-competition |
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| Saturday, 01 July 2006 | |
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Nadja Arp: "Warnemünder Woche" is one of the greatest international sailing events and also well-known as a public festival in Mecklenburg Vorpommern. More than half a million visitors are expected this year", knows Rostock’s mayor and patron of the event, Roland Methling. Germany’s top sailors are on their way to Warnemünde: For nine days, from 1 July to 9 July, famous competitors like Gaebler, Polgar, Niemann and Company will enjoy excellent conditions on the waters of Warnemünde – and they will fight for first places of national championships and positions on the World-Ranking-List. Many female international top sailors The event starts with the Laser European-Cup – well balanced between quantity and quality , this year women’s races may be even more interesting than the men’s. The Laser Radial fleet of nearly 70 women will be lead by the recent winner of "Kieler Woche" and the German Olympic hope for Peking in 2008 - Petra Niemann (VSaW). Living in Berlin, Petra Niemann missed a medal in the Europe-class during the Athens-Olympic-Games in 2004. After women’s Olympic single-handed-class switched to Laser Radial Class, the pharmacy student starts full of motivation and with great success into a new campaign for the Olympic Games. The 27 year old sailor is one of the big favourites in Warnemünde this year. The vice-European champion Gintare Volungeviciute and Junior-European champion Ausra Mijeviciute, both from Lithuania, are enthusiastic and strong competitors as well and so are Franziska Goltz (Schwerin) and Julia Scheel (Rostock) of the Glashäger Olympic Team. Male participants will race without German’s top: Rostock's Alexander Schlonski, actually Germany’s top Laser sailor, is participating in the European Championships in Poland, which takes place at the same time. But in the Tornados class the fleet is strong: Top crews such as Roland Gaebler/Gunnar Struckmann and Johannes Polgar/Florian Spalteholz checked in for the international German championship. Both teams are sailing for Hamburg’s NRV-Olympic Team and are fighting for their ticket to the next Olympic Games. Senior-champion Roland Gaebler looks back at five Olympic Games and won the Tornado bronze medal during the games in Sydney 2000. Tornado’s IDM (international German Championship) takes place at Marina Hohe Düne from 4 July to 9 July. Olympic classes like Laser Radial, Tornado and Finn Dinghy not only captivate during the 69th Warnemünder Woche with good teams but also with a new regulation. The top ten crews of each class will start in so-called final races for the first time. "The winner will be known only after the final race and the tension holds until the last race .That is more exciting for the spectators and also makes sailing more attractive", regatta organizer Uwe Jahnke knows for certain. Just in November last year the International Sailing Association (ISAF) had changed the Racing Rules to make international regattas more attractive. The Olympic Starboat class will sail their first race on Friday - even before the official opening ceremony was held on Saturday. Germany’s vice-champions Robert Stanjek/Frithjof Kleen (Rostock) will start very furiously: "We want to win this regatta", they announced after an unfortunate sixth place at Kieler Woche. They already missed to win the German Championships in May by a small margin. Famous names are expected in other classes: The Sach brothers come to Warnemünder Woche with the title from Kieler Woche and start in Formula 18 class. Ines Pingel, 470th world’s champion (in Helsinki) of 1994, will start together with her partner Thomas Held in the Pirate’s class. Especially the Folkeboat class with last year’s champion Jürgen Breitenbach (Kiel), ranking lists leader Walter Furhmann and winner of this year’s Kieler Woche Christoph Nielsen (Berlin), will show exciting races during the German championship. All 33 competitors will give their very best to show their skills. New race for the keelboats: Rostock`s Pilsner Cup There is a difference of nearly ten meters between the largest participant, the brand new "Bank von Bremen", which is 16,25 metres and the smallest boat "la vie", that only has a length of 6,50 metres. Nevertheless both of them will take the same course: "Round Bornholm". Also this year the participants of the long-distance-race will start on Monday (3 July) to sail round the Danish island. Also new: The V.O.60 yachts "Rostocker" and "Mac Arosa" start one day later (Tuesday, 11.00 a.m.). This time many professional sailors will be on board and the competition is not only against time (the record is set by 27 hours) - they also compete for the new Rostock Pilsner Cup. A full program at sea and new structures on the shore Rostock, sports town next to the Warnow river makes a lot of effort to show once again the first class location for high quality sailing events. "For the 69th time the Warnemünder Woche is visited by many international sailors and shows one of the world’s best sailing areas. In a diversity of races they will sail for the titles and give our city of sports even more liveliness, and internationality", Rostock’s mayor Roland Methling knows for certain. For the first time, the Bureau Hanse Sail supports the organisation of Warnemünder Woche. "We are working closer together to use synergies. For instance to promote the event in the public or to attract new sponsors", explains Holger Bellgardt, managing director of the Hanse Sail office, that organizes the biggest annual meeting of traditional sailing ships in the Baltic. Warnemünder Woche is a precious pearl and wonderful event in a chain of maritime events in the Baltic. This year about 2000 sailors from 30 different nations will start in 30 different classes. Only a few days later the competitors of the Baltic Sprint Cup will pass the finish line in front of Warnemünde and in the beginning of August the Hanse Sail will take place and next year Rostock will be the final harbour of the Rosenregatta - the meeting of media under sails. The Warnemünder Woche is supported by: Hanseatic Brauerei Rostock, hanseboot, Lichtenauer GmbH, BMS, OSPA, Provinzial, T-Systems, Antenne MECKLENBURG-VORPOMMERN, Hanseatic City of Rostock and Landessportbund Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. All information and results are published at: http://www.warnemuender-woche.com/index_en.php |
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 01 July 2006 ) |
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