The Official
Website of the
International
Sailing Federation

It will be the offshore-sailors' festival, and already 134 yachts have registered, in order to race ambitiously in the waters of the North Sea island of Helgoland. 'Normally there are some crews that register after the ordinary entry is closed. That's why we expect approximately 150 participating yachts', says Marcus BOEHLICH of the organizer's office. Delayed registrations are possible until the day before the particular regatta, but with an additional charge of 50 per cent.

Among the 134 participants that have registered already, some very interesting yachts can be spotted in the entry list. Thus a thrilling competition in the IMS class is expected. Last year's winner Christian PLUMP with his Rodman 42 Hanseatic Lloyd will be starting again and do his best to defend his title. Among his competitors is the new Norddeutsche Vermoegen Hamburg, a 17 metre racer, type Andrews 56. And also the Unique (former Hans-Otto Schuemann's Rubin), a 15 metre One-Off designed by Judel/Vrolijk, will be fighting for victory.

Eagerly expected and for the first time starting in Germany, is Tilmar HANSEN's new bought Elliot 45 Outsider. Hansen won the highly respected Admirals Cup with the German team in 1983 and 1985 with his yachts New Yorker and Outsider. His new Outsider was built in New Zealand, has already won the Melbourne-Osaka Race and is starting at the North Sea Week in the ORC-class. 'We want to have fun. The yacht is not built for the measurement business, but for speed', explains Hansen, who established the clothes brand 'New Yorker' in the eighties, and named many of his yachts alike. 'The North Sea Week has always been the highlight of the year to us', claims Hansen, who is happy to sail to the island of Helgoland again after a long time. 'In order to join the race circuit again, I gathered my former companions for this project. It's almost like the Blues Brothers story', he says, smiling.

On Friday 13 May, the North Sea Week starts in Hamburg. Who wants to participate on the tidal water has to get up early: To use the tide, the first regatta from Hamburg to Cuxhaven starts already at 06:00 in Hamburg/Wedel.

Round about 35 yachts will start for the long-distance race (approx. 400 nm) to Edinburgh on Monday 16 of May.