With a lot of drive, ambition and hope, the participating 36 sailing clubs of the Swiss Sailing League started the new year in spring to do well in the Swiss Sailing League in 2019. However, it is not yet possible to say too much after a single race or after two races, as in the Swiss Sailing Super League, because there will be another two races, which will be held between August 24 and October 6 in Davos, Zurich, Spiez and Neuchâtel. There the cards will be reshuffled again and the rankings will change significantly. But one or two small surprises can already be spotted.
Super League: Romands in front
The French are currently leading the Super League. This is not so surprising for the Genevese, who have been at the top of the league since the beginning, but for the Club Bordée de Tribord - La Neuveville, which is at home on Lake Biel, it is a bit surprising, as they were still fighting to avoid relegation to the Challenge League a year ago. On the other hand, the newly promoted clubs, the Segel Club Cham, currently in 8th place, the Club Nautique de Pully, currently in 10th place, and the Zürcher Segel Club, currently in last and 12th place, have to fight to avoid relegation. Accordingly, one can expect some hot regattas for the second phase of the Swiss Sailing Super League, as the clubs from Lake Constance will want to make up some ground, the clubs from Western Switzerland, currently at the top, will want to defend their place, and the clubs at the bottom of the table will do everything they can to avoid relegation especially the newly promoted clubs of the Super League. Especially the fight at the top will be very exciting, because the clubs at the top will automatically qualify for the international SAILING Champions League.
We talked to the skippers of the two leading clubs and asked them about the season in the Swiss Sailing League. On the one hand, we have made a short interview with Lorenz Kausche, from the Bordée de Tribord - La Neuveville.
How satisfied are you with the season, were your expectations met?
We are extremely satisfied, especially since we did not start as one of the big favorites, but in the past season always had to fight for relegation. In Brissago we started without pressure and took run after run. After we had success in Brissago, the pressure increased. Would we fight for tenth or eleventh place again or would we be able to hold on? For this reason we were very satisfied with 4th place in the second race in Sisikon.
With what expectations do you go into the next races?
As for the race in Zurich, it is difficult to make a forecast, because the weather is unpredictable and if you get a bad run, it is almost impossible to make up for it, because often there is light wind and you can't make so many runs. In Zurich, you can't afford to make too many mistakes. I am confident for the final in Neuchâtel, because on the one hand the team with which we won in Brissago is sailing, and on the other hand we enjoy a certain home advantage, because we also train in Neuchâtel. A place among the top 5 is our goal and that seems realistic to us. Given the size of our club, a podium finish and participation in the Champions League would be a dream.
What preparations have you made so far and what might you change for the next two races?
We train frequently and for years together with the Bielers, which is certainly one reason for our success. We train in blocks with short training sessions where we practice maneuvers. It is important to develop a good basic speed. That's why we also participate in other longer regattas. We will not change anything for the next races. From the ground up, the four races have been divided among the whole team. This is in order to expand the team and to always have a backup in case someone drops out. Because of this, on the one hand, automatisms have become established and, on the other hand, we know the boat well.
Who will be the winner of the Swiss Sailing Super League?
In 2019, Société Nautique de Genève is clearly the winner. They do well every year, but the Regattaclub Bodensee is struggling to get going this year and this year it's the turn of Western Switzerland.
On the other hand, we also had a short interview with skipper Nicolas Anklin from the Société Nautique de Genève.
How satisfied are you with the season, were your expectations met?
At the moment we are satisfied. Our first goal was to qualify for the final in St. Moritz in the Champions Sailing League and we succeeded. Our second goal was to be well ranked in the Swiss Sailing Super League after half of the season, so that we are also qualified for next year's Champions League. And we have achieved that so far, so we are quite satisfied at the moment.
Now we have the regattas in Zurich and Neuchâtel coming up and from Zurich we know that the wind can be a bit "crazy", so from that point of view the race is not the easiest one to come. Our goal is to stay very consistent, which means finishing in the top three and avoiding a bad result.
How did your preparation for the races go and what will you change for the upcoming races?
We haven't changed the setup, we prepared well before and at the beginning of the season in Italy and Switzerland. And at the moment we are recovering and gathering strength for the upcoming competitions.
What are you planning for your final appearance at the Champions League in St. Moritz?
I personally won't be taking part, it's the crew that was already in Palma for the Qualifier round. Our goal is to win the Champions League, especially since last year we were a bit frustrated about finishing second.
Challenge League: Rising stars strong
It is clear that the league between the top and bottom leagues is made up of the most promoted and relegated clubs, in the case of the Challenge League, half of the clubs. The battles for the table position of these league newcomers are particularly exciting. After the first regatta in Lugano the promoted clubs show a strong performance. The Circolo Velico Lago di Lugano with an 8th place and the Segelclub Hallwil with a 9th place prove that they are serious about the promotion from the Promotion League and that they have no desire to be relegated again. A particularly strong performance was shown by the sailing club Tribschenhorn Luzern, which took the proud 4th place in the table with four 2nd places and one victory out of a total of nine races, which is certainly an impressive achievement. On the other hand, two relegated teams, the Zurich Yacht Club and the Cercle de la Voile de Neuchâtel, show that they have no taste for the Challenge League and with their current first and third place finishes they make it clear that they want to return to the Super League. Only Yacht-Club Kreuzlingen will have to worry seriously. After last year's relegation to the Challenge League, the Lake Constance sailors will now have to fear another relegation if they don't step it up a notch. With four victories, the women-only team of the Thalwil Sailing Association has pulled off a real coup. Now it will be exciting in the next two races: Can Kreuzlingen prevent its imminent relegation, can Thalwil keep its upwind and can the relegated Zurich and Neuchâtel manage the promotion. And what surprises are still waiting for us?
Mara Bezel from the surprise team of the Thalwil Sailing Association also answered our questions:
How satisfied are you with the season, were your expectations met?
We are very satisfied, we had one event so far and with the second place in Lugano we exceeded our expectations. It was rather unexpected, because last season we had to fight to stay in the class.
What is your goal for the next two races? How do you see your chances?
That's difficult to say. We are an all-female crew and as soon as there is more wind, we are at a disadvantage because we are too light. When there is less wind, we have better chances, so for us it depends a lot on the weather conditions. We just do our best and then see what comes out of it. When it goes, it goes.
How have you been training so far and what are you changing for the next races?
In the winter we did our winter training and we went through that depending on the weather. With other clubs of the lake basin we trained with buoys and did short runs to train maneuvers. During the season we train mostly in Thalwil and also there we put emphasis on maneuvers, because with the short runs of the league it is important that the maneuvers sit.
Who will be the winner of the Challenge League 2019?
It's only been one race, there are still two to go, so anything can happen. That's the cool thing about the Swiss Sailing League, that everything is open until the end.
What is your goal in 2019? Promotion?
It would be cool if we could get promoted, but that's not a goal we set for ourselves at the beginning of the season. We participate to have fun and the better it goes, the more fun it usually is. We take it as it comes. Looking back at last season, we didn't set ourselves too big goals.
Promotion League: Desire for more
The Promotion League also promises some surprises. In particular, the Basler Segel Club, currently in third place, and the Cercle de la Voile d'Estavayer, currently in second place, show with their strong performances in the first round that they have an appetite for more. If they continue to sail so successfully, promotion to the Challenge League is assured. The same goal is obviously being pursued by the Lucerne Yacht Club. Last season's relegated team is desperate to get back into the Challenge League, which it is proving with its impressive 1st place finish. The situation is completely different for the Yachting Club CERN. The club fell to the last place of the Challenge League last season and had to be relegated as a consequence, but with the current place another relegation and a fall out of the Swiss Sailing League is threatening, that can't be the goal. The Geneva team will have to improve significantly in the next race if they want to avoid the worst. Since the clubs only have the race on Lake Thun left, this regatta will be decisive. The situation will be completely different for the promoted Cercle de la Voile de Villeneuve, which even has chances for another promotion with an excellent 4th place in the table.
Overall, the first half of the season showed an exciting up and down in the table. This keeps the excitement high for the second half of the Swiss Sailing League, which starts on 24.08.2019.
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