Niklas Eder, from Sweden, extended his lead at Kieler Woche after two more races on Saturday in again, quite windy and shifty offshore winds. Though he only placed 3,4 after a few comebacks were needed on the third day in Kiel, he will go into the final day with a four-point lead over Andre Budzien, with Ben Flower a further six points behind. Saturday again brought strong and shifty offshore winds and race wins for Budzien (below) and Stefan de Vries (above).
Though the forecast promised more wind than was delivered, the offshore wind proved very tricky, gusty and patchy across the race course. Starting with 12-15 knots the wind increased through the day to 16-20 but only became really gnarly as the fleet headed back to the harbour.
Budzien led the first race from start to finish, building a nice lead on the first reach. Stefan de Vries, from The Netherlands, recovered from his various calamities on the second day to cross second with Edler crossing third after a big recovery from around ninth at the first mark.
Sweden’s Benjamin Hammerö found some speed in the second race to round the top mark with a nice lead, that he extended and then kept until the second beat, when de Vries found a way past to lead downwind and take the win by around six seconds from Budzien and Hammerö.
A possible two races remain on Sunday with slightly less wind on the forecast but increasing temperatures to match the competition on the water.
Photo Gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/okdia/albums/72177720327205719
[photos free for editorial and personal use]
Results after 6 races
1 SWE 71 Niklas EDLER 9.0
2 GER 71 André BUDZIEN 13.0
3 CAN 26 Ben FLOWER 19.0
4 NED 6 Stefan de VRIES 25.0
5 DEN 21 Bo PETERSEN 26.0
6 SWE 72 Benjamin HAMMERÖ 30.0
7 POL 777 Michal STRUMNIK 39.0
8 DEN 61 Henrik KOFOED 40.0
9 DEN 700 Jesper BENDIX 42.0
10 GER 51 Sebastian SCHMIDT-KLÜGMANN 45.0
Full results: https://www.manage2sail.com/en-US/event/kiwo2025#!/results?classId=85aa9aec-9bb7-472d-add6-312391fc7822
