Tornado SpeedSailing at Kiel
Photo:Claus C Plaass
Photo:Claus C Plaass
Photo:Claus C Plaass
Report by Andrew Dowley–
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Tornado Speed Sailing, Audi Sailing Arena, Kieler Woche
Close to the large crowds and starting on time in every wind condition, the Formula 1 of sailing, the ultra fast Tornado catamaran held a total of 27 short, action packed races in a 7 day period during this famous sailing regatta.
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Audi Sailing Arena
The Audi Sailing Arena was the only race course at Kieler Woche close to the land where the audience could get involved with the racing, seeing every move the sailors made. Live tracking was also provided for them to watch the progress on the big screen. The concept worked, even with the heavy shipping traffic passing through the race course. The audience were holding their breath while watching the manoeuvres the sailors made to avoid collisions adding more action and thrills.
TV Coverage
Every day German TV stations were creating reports on the Tornado in the Audi Sailing Arena. Unfortunately, the live TV reception antenna was hit by bad weather on the first day putting it out of action for the rest of the week. Before that the 8 Tornados were being streamed live onto the Internet.
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Return of a Legend
We also had the return of a Tornado legend, Dr. Rene Schwall for the second half of the week. He has not raced the Tornado since the Olympics and winning his bronze medal in Sydney. Lack of experience since 2000 didn’t stop him taking victory in two of the races.
New Sailors
Rene sailed with Odefey Maren, one of the many new female sailors in the Tornado Class.
Since the announcement of a Mixed Multihull the Tornado Class has attracted many new female sailors who want to follow in the footsteps of Carolijn Brouwer, sailing as part of a Mixed Tornado team at the Olympic Games.
The Champions
Winner of the Kieler Woche 2011 were the team of Heiko Soehl and Thomas Noll (GER), who sailed well throughout the series, a well deserved victory after 27 races. They were crowned champions just before the Saga concert. This team have already successfully sailed together for years and can now sail their career with a crowning victory during Kieler Woche.
Team Gaebler, current World Champions were second at the end of the event. A material failure on the last day of practice, luckily this was then hastily repaired over 2 days. The 2010 TWorlds winning boat is now not usable in future events and they are on the hunt for a new Tornado for the upcoming Tornado Championships
Overall the outcome of the Kieler Woche Speed Sailing was terrific. In every race the crowds were shown fantastic sailing action and entertainment. Together with Audi and the Kieler Woche partners and a dedicated team from the Kiel Yacht Club, we have successfully delivered a World premiere set to the spectators and media alike. It was a great success for all involved.
Results In PDF format – results.regatta-info.de Videos Tornado-class.tv Photos facebook.com
More information tornado-class.org speedsailing.org
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Andrew Dowley – ITA Gral Sec.
If women can sail the Tornado then they should have no problem sailing on the F20c, the new top boat.
Please stop posting this unchecked marketing BS.
The Tornado isn't "ultrafast", especially not under the local conditions. The wind in the area was a joke and many teams quit the event to have some real racing in the F18 and A class fleets out on the open waters of the Baltic Sea.
Looking at the participants, I cannot find any real competitor to Gaebler, so the outcome of this event was obvious from the beginning on.
This is a Press release sent by the Tornado Class Assoc. Gaebler and Dowley are doing their best to promote their class, as others do.
At least they have marketing, in other classes sometimes I can´t even found a decent image a report or results.
Gaebler didn´t win…
Hey there is nothing wrong with marketing your own class. The T is a great boat but some of the newer designs are a lot better. Maybe time to move on?
I think it's great to see positive promotion like what the Gaeblers and Andrew Dowley are doing with the Tornado. They believe in the class and are willing to work hard to promote it.
If you support a class would it not be better to show how good a class it is rather than pick faults in other classes. There are too few people out there doing this kind of work.