Uijuijui - that was a fast trip! With ten-year consequences ...

Creaking, heavy kicks on deck, short shouts rattle me from sleep. I jump into my sea-boots and stagger sleepily to the stairs. In good red splendour the top spinnaker stands in the sky. The speedo shows 10 knots. Starboard lies the high, green island of Bornholm. All good!

Neither ahead nor astern is a ship to be seen. Another good sign. At the regatta Round Bornholm, everyone can decide for themselves in which direction to sail around the island. That's why people usually meet when they are racing around the island. We have chosen the round in clockwise direction. At the beginning of the night, we were the first ship of the group to head for the north side, best position to the wind.

Monday, July 5, 2010, 10 o'clock. Helmsman's meeting in Warnemünde. Race director Uwe Wenzel gives us hope: "The wind will increase, I expect the first ships already in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. I sail on board the "Uijuijui", a Rainbow 42, under the name "Roy", the flat boat with the high superstructure was my favourite opponent on Elbe races. The new owner Dr. Friedrich Hausmann has tuned the already fast boat with a trendy „fattop main" and slimmer headsails. I am to take care of the navigation, my debut in this function. Therefore my MacBook with an additional Windows installation and the test version of the navigation and yacht tracing software "Expedition" is included. A great program for route planning including weather and current data. Also polar data, the optimal speed of the boat under different wind forces and angles can be considered by the software. Taking into account weather data from Wetterwelt, Windfinder and Grip.US we decide to aim at Hammerodde at the northern tip of Bornholm. This gives us the possibility to sail as long as possible in the optimal speed range. Moreover, at the time of the return, the wind on the Swedish side is supposed to turn to west and stay northwest in the south, so that one can hope to sail straight forward. The current is also supposed to keep up on our route for a longer time.

We are off. Marco does the tactics, I do the puzzle on the on-board GPS. Dream start upwind of our group. The upwind course on the mouth of river Warnow is narrow. Shortly before the lighthouses on the mole the Volvo 60 "Illbruck" crosses our way. It's going to be tight, but we don't demand any space, although the "Illbruck" sails on starboard bow, because the 19m ship would force us to turn a few minutes later anyway. The Maxi does not have enough depth at the mole. But then the blue monster turns right in front of our bow, Friedrich can just about prevent a collision by strong luffing. "Protest! Make a 360! - We're pissed, they just keep going. We fly the protest flag, but still no reaction. We'll protest. We tack just after the breakwater. The sea breeze should be stronger near the coast.

As the wind dies down, we'll sail upwind northeast to the shore. Beside the town Wustrow we sneak under the coast with the last remains of the wind. Only the Volvo 60 "Illbruck", the Andrews 56 "Norddeutsche Vermögen" the RP56 "Scho-Ka-Kola" have overtaken us so far, but are drifting in now wind ahead of us. What will happen now? Will the announced west wind come earlier? I watch the horizont aft - and become exited: There's a spinnaker in the horizon, the horizon line looks darker. Wind! We turn and slowly creep towards the sea, north-west. We sail very concentrated. Every meter towards the wind will now be rewarded with many meters towards our destination. About 15 minutes later, it becomes clearly visible, first gusts of wind make the smooth water ripple, more spi's and gennakers go up on our pursuers. Now also the first ships turn seawards.

When the wind reaches us, we set the code 0. At the edge of the wind field we run out to sea, higher than necessary, because in lee the wind does not want to develop itself properly. Again and again we luff, and even overtake the 3 big yachts in lee, which did not make it out to sea in time. The wind is full of holes, and dies away downwind, as if a land wind is pushing against the northwest.

We decide to gain height, and prefer to descend later under spi on Bornholm. The risk of a dull hole seems too big for us. In fact, the "Illbruck" Höhe Hiddensee is hit downwind, it remains in the oil, we rush a good 2 miles upwind with 8-10 knots speed, followed by the "Black Jack", a Swan 60.

Continuously the wind becomes stronger and clears. We set the heavy spi, and speed through the Baltic Sea at up to 14 knots. It's getting dark, the bow wave is glittering in the moonlight. I steer for a few hours. Crazy feeling at the tiller, the boat is lee-helm. I never had this before. And at first light I go to sleep.

When I wake up, we have already passed Hammerodde and are heading south almost flat on the north-east coast of Bornholm. Sandvik, Gudjehm, Svanecke, the names make me think of summer holidays, smoked fish and fresh rolls. It's wet here, it's raining, and the stomach growls. I remember the tasty cheese sandwiches that Markus had made yesterday, and move downstairs. 2 bread bags and many slices of cheese further and the world looks more friendly again. Also the rain has stopped. To our joy the Norddeutsche Vermögen and the X 612 Solair pass far out. They are late, we are already more than halfway along the route. In the shelter of the east coast we meet other, smaller yachts, the Faurby 424 "Schlawutzi", the X119 "Temptation", and some others.

Behind Dueodde the long upwind course begins and we leave the coverage of Bornholm. With 14-16 knots of wind we rumbling ourselves to the northwest. It will be a long day. Bornholm doesn't seem to get any smaller, although with 7-8 knots and about 0.5 knots of current we make fast progress. After 3 hours we change to Genoa 4, it has constantly picked up to 20 knots of wind and turned 10 degrees worse. At noon the wind continues to turn westward, we have to get maximum height to wind and slow down. From behind the Swan 60 "Black Jack" comes up and passes us at 3:30 pm a few miles before the Königsstuhl/Island of Rügen. We must have overtaken her during the night. The wind becomes less, we change to the Genoa 1, the tuff tuff slips down, the sail change becomes a torture and costs a lot of meters.

The "Black Jack" sails deep into the Tromper Wiek bay, we get a wind shift under a band of clouds and can almost head to cape Arkona. Passing the cape the wave protection is missing, and the Serbian can soup swaps into the galley. This looks delicious, just like eaten before. Nevertheless the rest of the hot soup tastes like a gourmet menu. Leewards, the Black Jack falls back, but our joy lasts only for a short time, because the Swan gets a powerful shift and gust under land on starboard bow. 1:1 - at Cape Arkone she is again in front of us. We cruise with the spinners along the coast. Until Darßer Ort I take a cap of sleep, a good 2 hours.

Midnight. In lee, the lighthouse flashes at the reopened emergency port Darßer Ort. We descend and finally rush again with over 9 knots towards Warnemünde. Thirty miles to go. 10 miles before Warnemünde the wind turns further downwind and dies away to 12 knots. We set the code 0 and accelerate partly to over 10 knots, although the sheet is caught in the Selftailer and we struggle with a constantly dropping sail. We can just about reach the pier and turn into the harbour. At 3:28 we pass the finish line. We are very happy, it is done.

In the cabin everything is wet: sleeping bags, pads, maps, ... So you can't think about sleeping in the boat. We clear up, Florian fetches beer and rolls at the petrol station and experiences real service quality: "14 rolls? Then I have to prepare everything again.“ He brings seven buns, but a whole case of beer. We relax in the rising sun and then lie down on deck to sleep. In between I wake up briefly and look into the questioning faces of fat spa guests on the quay wall above us. No matter. I continue sleeping.

There is good news to wake up to: We are first in our group. Fortunately for the "Illbruck" we were too tired for the protest. Luckily we are calculated far ahead of the famous Volvo 60.

Heavy Boat Tuning 2013 This race was the beginning of a long story. Based on the experience of steering the Rainbow 42 I made some suggestions to optimize the boat. 2013 we started tuining: - put the mast 50cm aft - adding a carbon strongback - reshaping keel and rudder - optimizing the jib sheet leads/3D sheeting system

The boat 2004, old name "ROY". Built 1987.

50 cm aft.

Carbon strongback. Strong framework.

Success ! 2014 we won the prestigious "Pantaenius Rund Skagen" race, 500 miles from the island Helgoland in the North Sea to the city Kiel in the Baltic Sea.

The boat was fast, but still a bit shabby. So after this success and a incredible second place hat the Silverrudder 2016 the owner Friedrich Hausmann gave the starting signal for a complete refit, which was completed in summer 2018. In spring 2019 the aluminum mast broke and was replaced at end of 2019. Now the Uijuijui is ready for new tasks.

Boat Refit 2016-2018

We reduced the weight from 4,4t to 3,6t. Removed the whole interior. Replaced the cockpit bottom. New paint. New electric. Carbon bowsprit. A lot of new fittings. New sails. And a lot more.