European 18ft Skiff Grand Prix Round 3 at Travemunde,Germany

Peter Barton, Martin Borrett, Ian Turnbull on 'Barron & Smithers' win the 18' skiff Grand Prix at Travemunde, Germany © Team Barron & Smithers

Teams from Germany, Denmark, UK, France, Hungary, Australia and Switzerland travelled to Travemunde, Germany on the Baltic coast for the 3rd leg of the European 18ft skiff Grand-Prix. The event coincided with Travemunde Week; this is a huge festival of sailing hosting many dinghy classes including 14's, contenders, 470's, dragons, 505's to name just a few. There was plenty to keep teams entertained whilst not sailing including live bands, a variety of bars (the Brazilian bar being a great one for cocktails!), food stalls and even a night club in a swimming pool! Hundreds of spectators watched the sailing scene during the day with the skiffs in full view as they rigged and launched, this number grew to thousands every night during the evening revelry.

For the 18ft skiffs 10 races were sailed over 4 days (Wed 27th - Sat 30th July) in a variety of conditions. On the first day racing was held in 8-10 knots and bright sunny conditions and it was the Danish team 'GP Covers' of (Flemming Clausen, Thomas Ebler and Martin Friedrichsen) that got out of the blocks well and showed the way to the fleet, leading the British team of ‘Barron & Smithers’ (Peter Barton, Martin Borrett and Ian Turnbull) in both races with the French team of ‘Sefico’ (Christophe Orion, Eric Caiveau and Philippe Vallee) a consistent in 3rd place in both.

Day 2 dawned to similar conditions and the Danes opened their account for the day with a further race win making things look a little ominous for the rest of the competition. However it was race 4 brought a change of fortune for the Barron & Smithers team and they were able to get the better of the Danes for the first time. A success they were able to repeat in race 5. So at the midway stage ‘GP Covers’ led ‘Barron and Smithers’ by a point after trading 1st's and 2nd's with each other.

The Thursday night social was aboard the 'Passat' a 4 masted sailing ship some 115m in length with masts towering 56m above the water which is permanently moored in Travemunde. Excellent food, entertainment and drinks were provided. The evening became more exciting as a storm began to build with severe lighting, rain and hail. The revellers took what little shelter was available as 50 knots came through creating a ball of spray and hail around the ship. After the storm had subsided and the party moved on to the regular bars of the festival. Several teams took the chance to check on the skiffs which were rigged on the beach along with the 14 fleet. They discovered most of the 14's had blown over onto their side and amazingly 2 of the 18s had blown over on their cradles with wings in leaving them high on their sides, rigs stuck into the ground. Fortunately little damage was done, most teams took the chance to take their rigs down for the remainder of the night and lash the boats down to trailers and what ever could be found.

Day 3 dawned to a wet scene and little wind following the previous night’s storms. After a couple of hour postponement the wind built to a sailable level and the skiffs headed for the race course just a mile off the beach. By the start of the racing there was 6-8 knots of wind. ‘Barron and Smithers’ continued their winning ways taking the next 2 races with straight wins. The final race of the day was taken by the German team 'Pure Atmosphere' (Werner Gieser, Philip Nocke, Marc Schürich) with ‘Barron & Smithers’ in 2nd and the ever dangerous GP Covers in 3rd. Again a storm was predicted as the crews de-rigged. This time everyone was ready and de-rigged their boats fully and took shelter in a nearby bar to watch the storm come through with another torrential down pour.

The final day of racing started on time for once at 11am in a building breeze. Two races were sailed and by the finish the breeze had built to 20 knots giving the crews some exciting and challenging conditions for the No1 rigs. In both races ‘GP Covers’ started well and led at the top mark but were over hauled by ‘Barron & Smithers’ on the downwind legs as some crewing errors started to emerge on ‘GP Covers’ and saw them trawl their spinnaker. ‘Barron & Smithers’ went on to win both races securing the regatta with a race to spare with ‘GP Covers’ getting two 2nds to finish a close 2nd overall. ‘Pure Atmosphere’ sailed consistently using a cut down No1 main and finished 3rd and 4th on the day to secure 3rd overall.

Overall Results:

1. Barron & Smithers, Peter Barton, Martin Borrett, Ian Turnbull, [2], [2], 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 10pts
2. GP Covers, Flemming Clausen, Thomas Ebler, Martin Friedrichsen, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, [6], [3], 2, 2, 13pts
3. Pure Atmosphere, Werner Gieser, Philip Nocke, Marc Schürich, [5], 4, 3, 4, [7], 4, 2, 1, 4, 3, 25pts
4. Sefico, Christophe Orion, Eric Caiveau, Philippe Vallee, 3, 3, 5, [6], 4, 3, 5, 4, 3, [7], 30pts
5. Space Models, Mike Keser, Latzi Meisner, Thomas Eggersdorfer 4, 5, 4, 3, 3, [DNC], [DNC], 6, 5, 4, 34pts