Kiel, YES and Kiel Week
After windy days in Hyères and the second Eurocup in the books, we decided to miss out on the third Eurocup in Koper (Slovenia) due to logistical reasons. Nevertheless we were able to absorb a couple of days of training in Kiel during Easter break. Leander tried out the 49er FX for three days while he was waiting for Amal to arrive. Light winds during the following days only allowed for one session on the water per day, but very effective training for us as a rather heavy team in proportion to others in the class.
We continued training in Kiel during regional holidays that followed with the difference of there being gusty, windy conditions. We as a rather experienced and heavier team took advantage of these conditions and spent a lot of time on the water, while others preferred watching from the shore. The wind came cross off-shore, creating only few small waves, but at a certain point off the shore, when the wind was not slowed down by the land anymore, we experienced waves from all sides. Following this phenomenon, we struggled to keep the boat under complete control and tried to keep close to shore for the rest of the days.
The YES competition allowed us to compare our progress with many other German 29er teams as well as a couple of international competitors. Furthermore we could prepare one last time for the Kiel week, a large international event which would be our last big competition before the world championships in Spain. The YES went quite well, stretching across three days with strongly variations conditions. Unfortunately we were sorted into the stronger fleet, which set our result back a bit before entering the final races, but we could present our skills quite well, also in the stronger fleet. We learned valuable lessons and felt ready for the fast approaching Kiel week 2022.
The Kiel week was beyond anything we had expected. It was the first Kiel week since the beginning of the pandemic and we got to experience it in its true scale for the first time in a while. Sailors from all over the world sailed in every class and we experienced the 29er class a lot more international than we ever had before. This was noticeable during racing and on shore, as the racing was tight and there were numerous protests. Nonetheless the first few days we managed to present ourselves quite well. Our first race of the series was not a UFD nor a BFD but a 2nd place. The weak wind towards the end of the series made us struggle in gold fleet though. The competition was very strong and we had to fight mentally and physically for every position. We finished the week as 33rd, but were unhappy about our performance in gold fleet. We are now focussed on improving these flaws before the season apex in Balís and will absorb training in Warnemünde at the beginning of summer break.