2025 German ORC Offshore Champions Awarded at Kiel Week
29 June 2025 - Kiel, Germany - The 2025 International German Championship (IDM) Offshore was held in two parts during the legendary Kiel Week: the coastal race Aalregatta, sailed on June 21, and the long offshore race Silver Band Race, raced on June 27-28. The 2025 Offshore Champions are XR41 eXciteR in ORC A+B, Italia 9.98 patent 4 in ORC C+D, and Bernd Dreier and Jan Assmann won the double-handed title.
Jens Kuphal from Berlin became the international German offshore champion in ORC A/B with his new XR-41 eXciteR. His crew won both the Aalregatta and the Silbernes Band, the overnight long-distance race from Kiel around the island of Langeland, Denmark and back.
"Our trump card was a mainsail with a reef, which we used because the strong wind didn't ease overnight," said the skipper. The yacht remained controllable without losing speed. Kuphal: "More than 20 gybes in the dark weren't easy. We still need to fine-tune for the World Championship."
After more than 16 hours on the water, their calculated lead over Sons of Hurricanes (Sinergia 40 of Jon Sverre Hoiden, Norway) was a massive 76 minutes and 26 seconds. Julian Schaarschmidt's XP-44 Surprise completed the podium.
On Patent 4, owned by Jürgen Klinghardt (who was absent due to injury), the joy was just as great. With Oliver Voss at the helm, the seven-person crew of the Italia 9.98 won the ORC C/D title.
"A great performance with a new setup," praised the owner. "We upgraded from an 82-square-meter spinnaker to a 120-square-meter gennaker. That makes the boat much more agile." The team aims to improve boat speed in 8-12 knots of wind for the ORC World Championship in Tallinn.
The second place on the ORC C/D podium went to Torsten Bastiansen's X-35 Sydbank, and the podium was completed by Eike Class Carmincke's MAT 1010 MATCHBOX.
The IDM Double-Handed title went to Bernd Dreier and Jan Assmann on X-332 XALTY from Flensburg, who won both the Senatspreis and the Silbernes Band.
