15 children and young people between the ages of 9 and 16 took part in the first state youth championship in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. They raced in Rerik on the Salzhaff on the Techno 293, with sails between 3.5 m2 and 7.8 m2.
Originally, the wind forecast for Saturday morning looked like the slalom discipline with 10-18 knots reported. However, there was only a "balmy breeze" of 6-10 knots, which did not allow for constant gliding. A total of five course races were completed by the youngsters over the course of the day. The opening race went to Lotte Grünbaum, an experienced 29er skiff sailor who discovered regatta windsurfing in the summer. She was followed by her younger brother Gustav and Fritz Böhlke, all from the Rostock Yacht Club Warnow team.
In the other races, the two Grünbaum siblings continued to fight closely for overall victory. At the end of the day, the score was 3:2 in favour of Gustav, who won all four regattas of the Nordic Championships. The podium was completed by Fritz, who, in addition to his career in the ILCA 6 boat class, also takes to the surfboard in his spare time. He was followed by Philipp Köhlert from Braunschweig (Verein Deutscher Speedsurfer and Segelclub Kühlungsborn), who is normally at home in speed surfing and slalom, and the Rostock siblings Charlotte and Ken-Oke Benedict, who tied on points.
Unfortunately, no further races could be sailed on Sunday due to the circulating wind direction with only 1-3 knots and so the close results of the previous day remained.
Youth series successfully established in the north-east
Gustav Grünbaum became the national champion ahead of Eva-Lotte Grünbaum and Fritz Böhlke. Ken-Oke Bendict won the U13 age category ahead of Fritz Grünbaum and Mateusz de Veer from Schwerin. A total of seven young women also competed, led by Eva-Lotte Grünbaum from Rostock, Charlotte Benedict and Smilla Petersen from Surfclub Flensburg and SUP marathon paddler Vivien Franke from Berlin. Andre Schaumlöffel was named best rookie.
38 young surfers took part in the four tour stops of the Nordic Championships in Waren, Born, Flensburg and Rerik. Gustav Grünbaum confidently secured the overall ranking with four regatta victories. His sister Lotte followed in second place with a fourth place in Flensburg and second place in Rerik. The podium was completed by Noah schmäh from Kiel (Nordwind Wassersport), followed by Philipp Köhlert in fourth place, Tom Franke (Kiel, Nordwind Wassersport) in fifth place and Charlotte Benedict in sixth place.
This marks the end of the first North Tour in youth windsurfing, "the cold start to initiate youth windsurfing in the north-east has been a success," says organiser Michael Naumann happily. There will be more regattas in 2024!
Results
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state youth championships
- Gustav Grünbaum
- Eva-Lotte Grünbaum
- Fritz Böhlke
- Philipp Köhlert
- Charlotte Benedict
- Ken-Oke Benedict
- Fritz Grünbaum
- Smilla Petersen
- Andre skimmer
- Mateusz de Veer
Annual Nordic Championship ranking (four regattas, two are counted)
- Gustav Grünbaum
- Eva-Lotte Grünbaum
- Noah Schmäh
- Philipp Köhlert
- Tom Franke
- Charlotte Benedict
- Fritz Böhlke
- Fritz Grünbaum
- Lia Franke
- Hannes König
