The instructions that Felix Laukhardt gives are short and concise: “Now turn!”, “Gennaker up!”, “Neck!”. As a helmsman, he holds the rudder of the approximately seven -meter -long sailing boat, which is currently on the Main. A J/70, as it is also used in the sailing Bundesliga. In October of last year, the Frankfurt Yachtclub was able to qualify for the second Bundesliga. Now the team is preparing for the second day of the match, which is to be held through the extended Pentecost weekend in the Kiel Interior Förde. Stefan Oetken, Johanna Herdt and Max Schmid react at lightning speed. They put the large pioneer, also called Gennaker, get it, pull the sails tighter depending on the wind force or give them more play. With every maneuver, the boat tilts up to 45 degrees. In a matter of seconds, the crew jumps to the edge of the boat to shift the weight. So move to the Frankfurt skyline in the zigzag course on the Main. Laukhardt is 25 years old. From behind he has everything in view, pay attention to the signals that gives him the rudder. “When I have counter pressure, I know the sails are wrong,” he says. Stefan Oetken is the tactician on the boat, observes wind and water and gives the helmsman advice. Schmid balances his weight on the foredeck, while Herdt has the fock sail in mind. The tasks are clearly distributed. In order for the boat to be optimally with the wind at all times, every handle has to sit. “We want to become number one in Hesse” Wolfgang Zientek circles the sailors with a motorboat. He is the second chairman of the association who set himself an ambitious goal almost two years ago: “We want to become number one in Hesse,” he says. There is a lot of traffic on the Main. Frachter, tour ships and smaller sailing boats keep crossing the paths. “You have enough maneuvers here,” says Zientek. However, he couldn’t give the team many tips. He has been sailing for 50 years, but above all larger boats. “I have never committed myself to regattas sport.” Instead, he takes care of the “around” like the squad and the search for sponsors. The association has only been in the Bundesliga bead for a few weeks. You would have acquired it cheaply from a foundation. “The sails are a bit worn,” he says. “But that makes no difference for our training.” It is more about studying handles and maneuvers and training the interaction in the team. The club has only had a Bundesliga strong for a few weeks. 18 clubs each compete against each other per regatta weekend. The teams of four drive a given course in several races at the same time. It is important to avoid buoys as soon as possible and to arrive first. The Frankfurters achieved the qualification for the second Bundesliga at the German Sail League Cup straight away. “We missed the cup for a hair,” says Zientek. They would have achieved the best placement among the climbers. In this way, they were the first Hessian association to become the second Bundesliga. At that time, the club did not yet have their own boat with the corresponding Bundesliga form. For training for the qualification regatta, we went to Nuremberg. “The yacht club there has a pool of J/70 and a shared accommodation.” They later trained at the Möhnesee in the Sauerland, says Zientek. A squad also had to be shaped. To do this, he called together club members who sailed both Olympic classes and regatta experience. The squad comprises twelve sailors, eight actively take part in the competitions. “If we are in the squad in the future, of which we can combine everyone with everyone, I would be happy,” says Zientek. Overall, however, they are well positioned. With Felix Laukhardt, the Frankfurter have a German champion. Stefan Oetken was able to qualify for the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980, but which were boycotted by Germany. Commonly tinkering with the sailors on the boat. Two companies could be obtained from their own ranks. The “Bundesliga” project was primarily financed by the members themselves. “Participation in the league alone costs 10,000 euros,” says Zientek, and the participants themselves paid for the participation. They were received by the other Bundesliga clubs with open arms. Some of them even invited them to work. “Now we have to show that we belong there too.” Zientek wants to build a youth squad in the coming year – also to win talents for the Bundesliga team. The boat is slowly moving towards the jetty. Johanna Herdt and Max Schmid are exchanged. Anyone expecting the Frankfurt Yachtclub Kaviar and champagne will be disappointed. The large garden in front of the clubhouse on Mainfeldstraße with the small children’s playground more awakens memories of social barbecues on the banks of the Main. The sailing sport has to deal with many clichés, say Herdt and Schmid. Many believe that “there are only people with a lot of money, others are not welcome,” says Herdt. But that’s not the case. “Everyone is welcome in the team.” Both are 28 years old and will compete for the club at the upcoming competition. “The Bundesliga is an absolute joint project of the entire club,” says Schmid. “We are a big team and want to achieve something together.” The sailors return on the banks of the Main. Frank Rumpenhorster is very close to nature. To be in the fresh air and “be dependent on the natural conditions”, he thinks Schmid reports. In addition to his job as a structural engineer, he could switch off well here. At the age of eleven on Italian vacation with his parents, he discovered his enthusiasm for sailing. Herdt works at the Deutsche Bundesbank. She only started sailing after graduating from high school, she says. “So rather called late.” Her best friend was given a sailing course for himself and his brother. However, the brother canceled and so spontaneously had a place for her. “At the beginning I wasn’t really enthusiastic about the idea and then I enjoyed it,” she says. When sailing, she gets her head free. It also demands endurance and strength. “And there is this moment,” says Schmid. “When the boat gets into gliding with a lot of wind and waves and rises from the water. You then have an enormous speed. This is simply a mega feeling.” The competitions last and are also very time -consuming at the same time. The competitions usually lasted three days on weekends. You have to take a vacation for Friday. “And then you will come back completely on Sunday night to work again on Mondays,” says Herdt. “Finished physically, but relaxes in the head,” says Schmid. The strain in the competitions is difficult to train. As a team, they completed several races every day, each of which lasted about 15 minutes. “Then you come ashore, maybe eat a bar and two races later you are back and have to be full.” You only learn to deal with it with experience. “Of course, the clubs that have been with us have been with advantages.” It is particularly exhausting in strong winds. When you get the sails, you have to work against it. “Depending on the strength, you reach your limits,” says Herdt. At her first Bundesliga competition in early May, the Frankfurt team of 18 teams took eleventh place. “That’s okay,” says Herdt. As a team, they would have learned a lot there. There are other conditions in the Kiel Fjord that are difficult to practice on the Main. “We have never trained a lot of wind and especially with waves,” says Herdt. That was exactly the case on the last day of the competition. “You then have to drive others maneuvers and behave differently,” says Herdt. Associations that have been present in the Bundesliga for years or who have been able to train under these conditions would have had a clear advantage. So that you don’t get bubbles on your hands from pulling the linen, the races in the Bundesliga are relatively short. A good start is all the more important – a question of perfect timing. Here, too, other teams have a advantage, says Schmid. Six boats compete per race. A three-minute timer starts with a signal tone. All boats control the starting line at the same time, which you have to pass zero at second. “It’s very difficult,” says Schmid. “You want to place yourself well in front of the other boats and have free wind.” As was shown in early May, the more experienced clubs master this very well. They made it difficult for the Frankfurters. “If you are squeezed in the middle, you don’t get enough wind to go out,” says Herdt.Best starts “hot”, says Schmid. It can also happen to clashes of the boats. Of course there are ancestors whose non -compliance is punished with a punishment. “But every gap is used under hard competition conditions.” After the start, it was important to drive up the wind in an optimal angle in the zigzag and to get the buoy, as the two explain. As soon as you drive with the wind, the Gennaker is used. You try to capture as much as possible with the wind in the back. There are good training conditions there. The sport there is also more established, says Schmid. “Sailing in Frankfurt, you have to come up with the idea.” However, the prerequisites on the Main are not too bad. In the competitions of the Bundesliga, it is about driving fast maneuvers on short courses, says Herdt. “We can train this wonderfully here.” The Frankfurt sailors still have four game days ahead of them in the current season. She is happy that they made the leap into the second Bundesliga. “We worked hard on this goal and made it together as a team,” says Schmid. The whole club was behind the idea right from the start, Hertdt is pleased. “We said we just try it. Someone will give us a boat to train.” In the end, the effort was rewarded. “We are now one of the best 36 clubs,” she says. As the second Hessian club, the Rheingau sailing club slipped into the league. With staying class, the Frankfurters do not want to be satisfied in the long run. “In the long term, our goal is to climb the first division,” says Schmid. “In the medium term”, his teammate corrects him.
