Committment To Sailing!

Beginning at the age of 6, I started in the Optimist-Class, in which I won the National Championship 1972 and gained a 7th place at the Worlds in Karlskrona.

Later I changed to the 470 class and sailed successfully in the new Olympic Class until the boycott of the Olympic Games in Moscow 1980.
In the late 70´s we were most of the time ranked Top Ten in the world ranking list, especially successful in the heavier breezes.

I met a lot of my friends from the 470-times again in the America´s Cup scene, where the 470 is one of the breeding grounds for top level sailors (together with the Finn and Star, in which I competed in the later years).
 
After campaigning for Moscow, I decided to change to the Finn-Dinghy Class and campaign again to qualify for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles 1984.
I finished in second place at the german trials and competed in Los Angeles as back-up sailor and tuning partner in the German Olympic Team.

In 1985 I had to stop my sailing career due to problems with my knee-ligaments and decided to start international coaching.
 
After 1985 I concentrated on coaching rather than sailing myself, but competed in the Soling and Star-Class on a high national level until today.

Returning from the America´s Cup 2007, I started some smaller sailing projects in One-Design Classes like Platu 25 or J/80, where I sail as tactician/main trimmer.