News

We join Team Europe in the Sonwik Marina, Flensburg for a Q&A as they make their final preparations ahead of tomorrow’s Match Race. German sailor Sören Woitack, Bowman onboard Team Europe, raced with the team in the Nord Stream Race 2012 where they took second place overall. Sören compares the first and second editions of the race and explains how the team have prepared this year.

Q: How will this year’s NSR compare with the first edition of the race in 2012?

A: There are some aspects this year which are the same; we are making the same preparations with the boat and the crew and we are all looking forward to racing for the second time, but the other way around from Germany to Russia. I have more responsibility this year which is great, and the crew is slightly different, we have a few new crew members such as the new watch captain Magnus Woxén and Götz Grosse who is the all-rounder and trimmer onboard. Eike Schurr is the new media guy onboard so he is responsible for filming, interviews and broadcasting the race for us.

Q: How have you been preparing for the NSR 2013?

A: Many of the crew have sailed the whole season this year so we are prepared. We started Nord Stream Race preparation properly last week in Kiel, when we arrived for the delivery of the Swan 60 Spirit of Europe to Flensburg. We also went to Copenhagen for a Nautor’s Swan event; we had some racing last weekend and we will have some more training after the Match Race tomorrow.

Q: Do you think the difficulty of the race will increase this year?

A: I think it will be a bit harder because of the length of the race, we will have a proper watch system in place this time; we didn’t have such a formal watch system last year as the race had stop-overs so the legs were not too long. We are all used to the weather conditions in the Baltic and we hope for lots of downwind during the race. Hopefully it will not be too tough for us as we are very prepared and the crew work very well together. We also experienced very tough weather last year, as the race took place at the end of October so the weather conditions were tougher, we are a month earlier this year so it should be better in that sense.

Q: Will this be the longest offshore race for you?

A: 800 nm will be the longest offshore race for me and for some of the other crew; we have however raced in other offshore races, and I have covered 600nm before.

Q: What food will you take onboard with you?

A: We have lots of freeze dried food and some fresh food for the start; we will live off lots of muesli bars and fresh fruit! I have ordered all of the food and there is a lot so I am sure we will be fine.

Q: Are you confident the Swan 60 can sustain heavy seas if the weather turns nasty?

A: We experienced some tough weather last year in the Nord Stream Race and the Swan handled very well. The Baltic isn’t as rough as some oceans and the 60s will work well through there, they are heavy, well-built boats which we enjoy sailing. The Nautor’s team have also been very quick to help us with any changes we needed to make to the boat ahead of this race so we are all ready to go.

The Gazprom Swan 60 Class Match Race will take place tomorrow (Thursday 12th September) in the Harbour mole at Marina Sonwik, Flensburg. Spectators can view the Match Race from the marina where there is a regatta village providing refreshments.