Sven-Erik Horsch and his crew win Inshore Trophy
Sven-Erik Horsch from Hamburg and his Team Germany are the winner of the Nord Stream Race Inshore Trophy in Flensburg. The 34-year old skipper secured the overall victory for himself with a first and a second place in the fleet race-series. Tim Kröger with Team Europe came second. On the following places are the teams from Russia, Great Britain a d Turkey.
After yesterday’s match has to be abandoned due to a lack of wind, the weather god had an understanding today. Friday afternoon at 5pm a light wind came up so that the first race could be started with about 7 knots of wind. The German team around the skipper from Hamburg, Sven-Erik Horsch, crossed the finish line first with some distance to the following teams from Russia and Great Britain.
In the second race, too, the local heroes were in the lead for most of the time. In the end though they had to let Team Europe with offshore-expert Tim Kröger overtake them. He could not change the overall result though as he himself only came fourth in the first race after an unsuccessful start.
The Russian team on board “Bronenosec“ was in third place of the overall ranking – equal on points with the Brits who had to content their selves with rank four due to the better individual ranking of the Russian team. The newcomers from Turkey finished fifth.
“Of course I am happy with the result“, said Sven-Erik Horsch at the prize giving ceremony. “Three factors were important for us today: Firstly it was important to have a good start which we managed twice. Secondly the boat had to be kept at speed even in those very light wind conditions. Lastly we must not forget the performance of the crew. Although we have never sailed in this combination before, still every single crew member is a very good sailor on their own. You could see this today and that was substantial for our success.“
Despite the low wind conditions the two races were exciting and the Swan 60-yachts were impressive to watch. Many spectators came to Flensburg’s Marina Sonwik again today to follow the events from ashore and to listen to the live commentary. They honoured the victory of the German local heroes with applause.
Next up now is the main event. On Saturday, 15th of September at 12pm the ORC-yachts will start to the 800 nautical miles nonstop regatta from Flensburg to Saint Petersburg. One day later, on Monday the Swan 60-yachts will leave for the Russian Baltic metropolis. All yachts will be equipped with GPS units so that the race can be followed via race tracker on the computer screen at home.
Results oft he Nord Stream Race Inshore Trophy
Place Team Race 1 Race 2 Points
1 Germany 1 2 3
2 Europe 4 1 5
3 Russia 2 4 6
4 Great Britain 3 3 6
5 Turkey 5 5 10