Similar to France, Netherland or Spain, sailing competition is steadily coming back in Germany after Covid 19 pandemic spread all over the world, and International German Championship (IDB-Internationalen Deutschen Bestenermittlung) in Travemünde has been the first event to be sailed in Germany for the summer season, mixing F18s, Topcats, 14-Footers, and Musto skiffs.
23 F18 teams, including one Dane, one Finnish, and two Austrians entered the event, and one have to say that, scoring five bullets, three second, and one third place (discarded), meaning 11 points after 9 sailed races, Helge & Christian Sach outclassed the fleet, although son and father Jesse & Sven Lindstädt demonstrated a solid resistance, getting three bullets and a 27 net score.
Actually, “die Sächse” reminded themselves to their opponents memory, being 2006 F18 World Champions, and gaining many Masters titles since, and securing National Title on their home territory…
From SAIL24.com
Race director Wolle Bahr was a bit exhausted from the mental tension after three days of regatta sport. From Friday on, he had to find the best wind for fair conditions for the around 100 sailors who finally wanted to go back to the regatta course this Corona summer. No easy task, because in the midsummer weather there was only a weak basic wind. “Of course I would have liked a little more wind. In some races we had to operate at the lower limit of the allowed wind scale. Then we as the race committee are always a bit skeptical. But overall we can be satisfied that we managed to do a good program ”, reported Bahr, who had to take a long break between the two races, especially on Saturday, waiting for sailable wind.
F18s, which, unlike the other invited classes, had already started on Friday, was still able to benefit from thermal support for the basic wind on the first day, but this did not occur on Saturday and Sunday, eventually sailing nine races.
Whatever the case, and even if Race Officer struggled with the wind, it was a successful weekend for the participants. “The conditions were consistently good on the first day, and at the end on Sunday there was enough wind to ride the double trapeze. In between it wasn’t easy, but the races were all fair in the end.” reported Helge Sach.
The Travemünder Woche record winners Helge and Christian Sach had every reason to be satisfied with their performance in Lübeck Bay. In the past two years they had always had to admit defeat at the Travemuende Week, now they had found the right attitude for the Mövenstein regatta with a borrowed boat. They received an “Exploder Scorpion” from former Olympic participant and IDB competitor Eckart Kaphengst from Kiel and were ultimately quick to go. “However, we also had to go through a learning curve. We were quick on the gennaker courses from the start. However, we had to work a lot for speed on the cross-country courses.” says Helge Sach. The fact that their title series with the individual placements 3, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1 among the 22 participants was nevertheless impressive, was thanks to the right tactics for the brothers: “With these wind conditions you have to watch that you are Get off to a good start, and then consistently drive to the right side. That worked out well for us.”
The Sachs controlled the field from day one, but found stubborn opponents in the youngster Jesse Lindstädt and his father Sven: “It was not for nothing that Jesse became vice world champion of the Nacra 15 last year. He gives full throttle, you can tell. And Sven has incredible experience with the boat.” said Helge Sach. The Sachs themselves also benefited from Sven Lindstädt’s experience. They had obtained a complete set of sails from the Hamburg sailmaker. Trimming it to top speed was the task of Christian Sach in collaboration with his son Johann. Helge Sach: “The two worked well together. I didn’t have much time, I recently did foil training. For us it was a good test balloon. Now we want to sail the Kieler Woche, and next year the World Cup in Italy is on the agenda.”
Behind the Sachs, Jesse and Sven Lindstädt finally took second place after a mixed first day and top results on Saturday and Sunday. Gerd Schmitzer/Tina Vercouteren from Lake Constance moved up to third, who on the last day ousted local heroes Andreas Behem/Katharina Speckmann from the bronze place.
Happy Danes Penny Wyon & Jan Hedman Jensen (VSK) 
Dirk Bleikker & Kilian Feindt (LYC) 
Tina Vercouteren & Gert Schmitzer (SLRV)