British Teams @ Christian Fries 18FT Skiff Grand Prix

Christian Fries 18ft Skiff Grand Prix hosted by Diessner Sailing Club, Lake Amersee

Germany hosted the first round of the European 18ft Skiff circuit over the 30th April-3rd May with 2 UK teams making the trip out to join the action. 

Lake Ammersee just outside Munich with the Alps as a spectacular backdrop is renowned as a relatively light wind venue but mother nature had a few surprises up her sleeve this time with teams arriving the day before to pretty full on conditions and a real chill in the air due to a winter of heavy snowfall leading to cold lake conditions.

A few teams rigged up for some pre event training for what turned out to be perfect conditions as the wind moderated later in the day to spectacular full sunshine conditions and a bit of acclimatisation to the shifts on the lake and the routine for launching out through the moorings. 

Day 1 dawned to light winds but with a forecast for 20 knots plus. There was much dinghy park debate on rig choices but as the breeze started to build everyone opted for #2 rigs, a wise decision in the end!

11 boats on the startline for the first race and it was a case of picking your way through the shifts and lulls on the lake with big bands of pressure rolling through and a pattern of a patch of sometimes lighter breeze middle of the course making it a very tactical course.

One thing was consistent and that was the breeziest part of the course was at the top mark with some real bullets coming down the lake in the cold easterly breeze leading to some spectacular bear aways and some tough conditions for the scheduled 4 races! 

The 2 class teams of the day were the ‘Black Night’ team led by Heinrich Von Bayern (fresh from their race win at the 2026 JJ Giltinan in Sydney) and ‘Peroni’ led by Philipp Nocke (also fresh from representing at the 2026 JJ’s) with the chase led by ‘Hoefle Haus’and newcomers ‘Selden OneSails’ who improved through the day to take 3rd in the last 2 races. 

Some spectacular photos from out on the water on display in the bar and some tired bodies enjoyed the club hospitality and beer (thanks Holger) before a relatively early night back to the onsite camping. 

Day 2 dawned with a good breeze and solid #1 rig conditions. With another 4 races scheduled today was a day for the tacticians with a spot of luck thrown in as the same wind direction led to a similar theme of pressure bands and big shifts. 

Close racing across the fleet with a number of boats having their moment in the spotlight. ‘Black Night’ continued where they left off in Race 5 before ‘Peroni’ threw in a tactical masterclass in race 6 to keep it very close at the top overall. As the breeze built ‘Hoefle Haus’ found an extra gear to take out race 3 and 4 to close up the top 3. 

The british teams had their moments. Ed Skeith in Haufle Haus White (chartered boat) leading race 6 until they fell foul of one of the numerous wind holes. The Selden OneSails team leading race 8 until they also fell into a mid course hole trying to cover the impossible of teams hitting each corner. 

An evening of Pizza, more free beer on the beautiful veranda and boat work (18’s do love tinkering!) with much discussion about the forecast for the next 2 days. 

Sadly Sat/Sun were to be beautiful days for sunbathing, more great beer, German hospitality and even a spot of swimming but the superb race team made the right call that it was too light for a fair race course. 

This left ‘Black Night’ event winners from ‘Peroni’. ‘Hoefle Haus’ rounding out the podium. Best british team were Selden OneSails taking 4th overall showing promise as they get to grips with their newer boat. 

Thanks to everyone at Diessen Sailing Club for their amazing hospitality and fantastic club, and to the German fleet for hosting us, sponsoring beer and making us extremely welcome. 

It might seem a long way to go from the UK but with low cost entry including lots of food and beer plus the free onsite camping it proved even despite the fuel cost issues at the moment to be a really approachable event/great holiday. 

The UK fleet now focuses back on the next event at Pagham Sailing Club at the start of June plus some on the water training as we build toward the Europeans in Lake Garda in early July. 

A reminder there are some really good value boats on the market at the moment to come join the action, get in touch with the class via the website or social media to learn more. 

Photos Copyright Diessner-Segel-Club