Sailing-Berlin students embark on RORC Transatlantic Race to Antigua

ARRECIFE, Lanzarote, ‌Jan 10 : For some of offshore sailing’s royalty setting off on the RORC Transatlantic Race from Lanzarote to Antigua on Sunday, the race is a chance to break records or burnish already glittering reputations.

For other competitors, it is the realisation of a lifelong dream.

For Matthias Kahnt, the 39-year-old skipper of Walross 4, it is an opportunity to share his love of sailing with a crew of students — and to pass on lessons from a transatlantic crossing that will stay with ‌them for life.

Kahnt is leading a novice crew drawn from Berlin’s Akademischer ‌Segler-Verein, a German sailing club focused on connecting students with offshore sailing. While Olympians, America’s Cup veterans and world champions across the fleet are scrutinising tiny marginal gains, Kahnt is drilling the fundamentals.

“We have done a lot of provisioning… I think it’s the biggest challenge for the young crew, to calculate how much water do we need for the crossing to have some spare water as well,” he said.

The crew will sail the ‍race using a classic two-watch system.

“Two watch captains and each watch has four people and they’re just changing during the day time every six hours and during the night every four hours,” Kahnt said.

The race forms part of a wider project aimed at promoting sailing and international relationships. Walross 4 — a Nissen 56 with more than 130,000 ​nautical miles logged, including a global circumnavigation ‌and a Sydney-Hobart Race — is bound for New York on July 4.

“We are going to celebrate the German and American relationship on their 250th birthday… we will go there with other ​big tall ships and we are an ambassador of Berlin city,” Kahnt said.

“So this is one part of the ⁠project for the Berlin students to get this ‌race and making this transatlantic crossing with this RORC racing and get the ambience and regatta experience which ​is really fun and nice for the young people.”

While the fastest boats in the fleet are targeting a five-day crossing, Kahnt said he would be happy with 16 — with safety ‍and wellbeing taking precedence.

“The Atlantic is quite a big distance,” he said. “So if there’s anything happening on the boat ⁠you’re quite dependent on the crew.

“The mood is most important I think, and of course the health of people… if there’s ​any injury that would be ‌I think the worst case. So, be healthy and don’t get any injuries… that will ‍be ​the biggest challenge for us.”

(Editing by Ed Osmond)