Fuente info ESS
August 23rd 2010
Countdown to Kiel
In Brief:
- The top international teams arrive in Kiel for Round 3 of the Extreme Sailing Series 2010.
- Home crowd pleaser Wirsol Team Germany enters with wildcard, skippered by 2010 Tornado World Champion Roland Gaebler.
- Second wildcard German entry to be announced
The shore teams have arrived, the containers unloaded and the build process has begun as Kiel.Sailing City on the Baltic Coast in northern Germany once again plays host to the Extreme Sailing Series on the third stop of the 2010 European tour. The internationally acclaimed circuit features some of the World’s very best sailors and teams, racing on the dynamic Extreme 40 catamaran, combining tough professional racing with short sharp stadium courses that bring sailing to the people.
The city of Kiel, home to the famous Kieler Woche, is well used to hosting other international ISAF endorsed events and the crowds turn out in their thousands to watch the Extreme Sailing Series Kiel. In 2009, in pouring rain, over 45,000 people watched the action for the three day event and in 2008 in glorious sunshine, over 80,000.
Joining the circuit for the second year running for the Kiel event will be Wirsol Team Germany, skippered by 2010 Tornado World Champion Roland Gaebler. Gaebler will be calling the tactics and acting as mentor to a youthful German team with Tino Mittelmeier on the helm, his brother Niko trimming and Olympian Gunnar Struckmann on the bow: “The boat looks great and the team is training hard and we’ll build on our experiences from last year. The team race very well together and campaigned for the last Olympics with great potential for the future. I’ve watched them develop as sailors when I was Head Coach for the German team. In light winds, up to eight knots, they are very strong: the other teams had better watch out!”
With a strong fleet of professional sailors drawn from the world of the America’s Cup, around the world circumnavigations and the Olympics, Gaebler is relishing the four days of action: “It’s fantastic to see all the top teams coming back to Kiel. It is a great pleasure to race against sailors from all different disciplines, The America’s Cup, Volvo Ocean Race, the French heroes. This is what makes it so attractive for us as competitors and for the spectators. The best of the best sailors coming to Kiel. Not just mono or multihull sailors, but all types, the legends of the sailing world. My only desire is that we have good wind and less rain than last year!”
The Extreme Sailing Series Kiel will see four days of point-scoring racing, starting on Thursday 26 August with more classical course formats (with media onboard) and then three days of public-facing ‘Stadium’ racing. The Race Village, open from 11am, will have plenty of stands and food stalls, while on the water, three of Europe’s very best Moth sailors, including Sören Hesse from Kiel and Sven Kloppenburg (GER) and Søren Buhl (DEN) will display their foiling skills.
Gilles Chiorri, Events Director OC Events, commented, “Kiel has always delivered some of the most spectacular and close-fought racing. The Race Committee works extremely hard to ensure they deliver challenging racing that will test all of the teams, whilst bringing the racing in as close as possible to the public, who obviously get such pleasure from watching the action close to shore. We expect to run more than one format of racing again, which will keep the teams on their toes, and the crowd entertained”
The top of the leaderboard is crowded with international sailing talent, currently led by two teams, both on 14 points, Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), skippered by rising French sailing talent Yann Guichard and The Wave, Muscat (OMA), led by the youngest skipper in the fleet, Paul Campbell-James, who won the UK round in Cowes just three weeks ago.
Former Student Match Racing World Champion Paul Campbell-James and his team have made a name for themselves, flying a hull for the crowds wherever they race. “The Wave, Muscat team is really looking forward to the next event in Kiel. Sailing in front of 60,000 people in Cowes was awesome and the crowds are expected to be even bigger in Kiel, so you’ll be sure to see some big crowd pleasing moves from us! The win in England was a huge boost to our morale and a real eye opener that it might be possible to top the table against the seriously strong field. Bring it on!”
Tied in second place overall is The Wave, Muscat’s stablemate and last year’s overall Champions, Oman Sail Masirah. Skippered by arguably France’s most experienced mulitihull sailor, Loick Peyron, the team struggled in Cowes to build on their second place at the opening event in Sete, France, finishing one spot short of the podium. Masirah is joined in joint overall second place by British round the world solo sailing star Mike Golding and his Ecover Sailing Team, who posted a second spot in Cowes.
Also lining up will be Groupama 40, but Tactician Tanguy Cariou will step up into the Skipper role as Franck Cammas races his Volvo Ocean Race 70 foot monohull around Britain and Ireland; double Olympic Gold Medallist Roman Hagara with his Red Bull Extreme Sailing and Class co-creator Mitch Booth and The Ocean Racing Club with one new team for the German event to be announced shortly.
It is all to play for as the European circuit reaches its half way point and the quality of event isn’t lost on Gaebler; “It is a hard competition to win in the strict one-design class. The people who will be coming to watch the racing next weekend understand sailing well; they know what it takes to be a top international sailor. No other circuit in the World can touch the Extreme Sailing Series for action, entertainment and tough racing. It’s what the public want to see and I expect to see lots of spectators coming down to support us.”
