79th Nordseewoche

79th Nordseewoche © H. Franck

79th Nordseewoche © S. Röpke

On Saturday at around 16:55 the Swan 441 "Charisma" crossed the finish line at Edinburgh as the last yacht of the North Sea Week. Gale-force winds and the cold have forced most participants to retire. Skipper Claviez decided wisely to escape the predicted gale-force winds and did choose a safer but longer route way further north. The boat made it to the finish, while all other remaining 16 yachts had to give up.

Nordseewoche 2013 was dominated by extreme weather conditions. With calm air, fog, gale-force winds and even some sun, the weather proved to be a huge challenge for participants and organisers. Five out of 13 races had to be abandoned or cancelled. Due to the long cold period until April, the North Sea is still very cold. With water temperatures of 6 degrees there is a bigger chance of fog. The wind, which is still pretty warm on land, cools off on the water, relative humidity rises and fog appears.

"North Sea Week 2013 has been - regarding the sailing - one of the hardest so far: Fog, light and shifting winds, the current of the North Sea around Helgoland demanded very good sailing skills, especially tactical and navigational knowledge - with all aspects being equally relevant." says Stefan Lehnert, race director for many years and a racing sailor himself, summing up.

"Unfortunately - after the authorities' cancellation of the race "Haspa Private Banking Cup" from Wedel to Cuxhaven - we also had to cancel the "Inducon Cup Helgoländer Acht" and all races back due to light winds. But all feeder races, the Early Bird Series as well as the "Capitell Round Helgoland Cup" as the highlight could be finished successfully, although under adverse conditions."

With 151 registered yachts for this year's event, the registration numbers for the North Sea Week are rising again. "Of course we had more entries last year, but this is normal due to the very popular Pantaenius Round Skagen Race", says Bernd Joerg, head of the organisation committee happily. "A lot of sailors from the Baltic use that race every second year to take home their boat. Having been able to increase the number of participants by 10% compared to 2011 - although a lot of sailors do not have their boats ready due to the long cold winter - shows we are on the right track with the North Sea Week."

With the race courses to and around Helgoland, North Sea Week offers a special challenge. The ultimate finish is the races at the end of the North Sea Week, alternating between Edinburgh and Kiel as the finish, while the race to Kiel takes the route around Skagen. Apart from the most challenging yacht races in Germany - the North Sea Week also offers an attractive onshore program, which encourages visitors to come to the "Red Rock in the North Sea" for the Whitsun weekend.

www.nordseewoche.org