Kiel Fjord teeming with racing activities

President Gauck to open Kieler Woche – Finish of EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cups- Sonar debut off Kiel – 29er Euro – Offshore IDM– Live on- and offsite with Kieler Woche.TV

From Maior (2 to 4 May) and Young Europeans Sailing (7 to 9 June) to ORCi World Championships (2 to 9 August) and 505er Worlds (13 to 22 August) – the scope of this year’s top-class sailing events off Kiel is impressive. Kiel Fjord will be teeming with racing activity for months on end, as event will follow event from May till the end of August. And just like it has been for the past 132 years, the season’s high point will be Kieler Woche in the last full week of June (21 to 29 June). Some 250 guests from the worlds of sports, business and politics celebrated the ‘unofficial opening of Kieler Woche 2014’ when getting together at the traditional “Kiel-Treff” meeting of Düsseldorf boat fair (on until next Sunday, 26 January). Once again, the regatta week promises to be an exciting mix of high-class sportive highlights, social events and a summer festival abounding with culture and fun.

On Saturday, 21 June, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Joachim Gauck will open Kieler Woche, a showcase event for sailing in all its many facets – from swift Laser dinghy to impres-sive windjammer, from high-tech skiff to traditional naval cutter . You name it, Kieler Woche has it!

The regatta will feature racing in the ten Olympic classes and for the first time even two paralympic classes: The 2.4mR and Sonar. Apart from many international star sailors, the complete German national squad – the Audi Sailing Team Germany – will be at the starting line. During the second part of Kieler Woche, the nine triangle courses will see 15 international classes compete, and feature the Musto skiffs’ Euro-Cup. Expectedly more than 150 29er crews will hold their European Champion-ship, too. The big boats will carry out their International German Championships (Internationale Deutsche Meisterschaft/ IDM).

It will be a very special IDM this year, which will serve as a kind of warm-up for the World Champion-ships on the same race area only five weeks later. The naval cutters will even celebrate their 125th anniversary on the waters of the Inner Kiel Fjord right off the Kiellinie shore promenade. All this and much more will make out Kieler Woche with around 4,500 athletes from more than 50 nations tak-ing part. Some three million visitors are expected in the capital city of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany’s northernmost province. So it was not without a hint of pride that the Kieler Woche organisers pre-sented an event diary packed with many highlights at ‘Kiel-Treff” meeting during the 45th Düsseldorf boat fair.

“The sailing sport is the very heart of Kieler Woche. And it is very much the city’s endeavour to make sailing even more popular and yet more experienceable. This is why the city financially supports the ‘Kieler Woche.TV’ project. Together with AUDI AG, SAP AG and, of course, Kieler Yacht-Club, we have managed to create a true premium product,” said Hans-Werner Tovar, Head of the City Council of Kiel with a view to the sailing programme and the way it is featured in the media: Everyone who is not able to come and enjoy Kieler Woche on site will have the chance to be as closely connected to the event as never before – via the media. Together with partners Audi and SAP, last year’s event had already been covered extensively. Since 2011, thanks to the most modern camera techniques and GPS live tracking, ‘Kieler Woche.TV’ has supplied fascinating live pictures from the races and from entertaining talk rounds with the athletes – in two languages. All pictures have been shown on big-screens on site as well as on the Internet.

“147 million contacts with Kieler Woche and at least one premium partner via printed, online and TV media in 2013 represent a growth rate of 28 per cent compared to 2012. The newly introduced TV race course was a huge success, and the use of UAS and onboard cameras has helped create prime-time TV coverage, “ reported Nikolaus Rickers, President of the Kieler Yacht-Club Race Committee and General Manager of Point of Sailing, the Kieler Woche marketing agency.

On top of Kieler Woche.TV, the SAP live streaming in German and English language will allow sailing fans to be part of Kieler Woche at the beach in Schilksee as well as at home.

SAP won high recognition for these achievements by winning the ‘International Sports Event Man-agement Awards’ (ISEM) in November last year. The technology partner of the German sailing sport and Kieler Woche were placed second placed in the category ‘Best Use of Technology’ for their activ-ities during Kieler Woche 2013. “Even though we as SAP were honoured with this prize, we know only too well that this success was only possible by great teamwork. Therefore I would like to thank all those who were involved for the great work we did together at Kieler Woche, especially our part-ner AUDI. The great teamwork we enjoy is far from being taken for granted in the field of sponsor-ing, “ explained Stefan Lacher, Head of Sponsorship Technology.

In its eleventh year of partnership with Kieler Woche, HSH Nordbank is a symbol of continuity. “We have been in the Kieler Woche boat in one row ever since 2004, and we’re looking forward to con-tinuing this long-standing and reliable partnership,” explained Frank Kranke (Kommunikation HSH Nordbank AG and project manager Kieler Woche) in Düsseldorf.

“The world’s biggest water sports fair and the most prestigious international sailing event are a suc-cessful team that has grown together for many years to enjoy an excellent degree of cooperation. Kieler Woche is just everything we value: sailing enthusiasts, international flair and professional marketing,” is how Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, President of Messe Düsseldorf, underlined the importance of the company’s long-standing partnership with Kieler Woche.

The sailing activities of Kieler Woche 2014 will start with the Olympic part from 21 to 25 June. This is also part of the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup, which will finish in Kiel after events in Riva (Italy), Medemblik (The Netherlands) and Weymouth (U.K.).

For the first time in Kiel, the Sonar will be the second paralympic class in the sailing programme. “We’ll have to see how many teams will register for this triple-handed paralympic class. Butin any case we’re happy that Kiel is able to offer the required barrier free infrastructure. Kieler Woche was among the first of the big events to integrate the 2.4mR class. Now a new ramp gives completely barrier-free access to the pontoons, which enables us to hold Kieler Woche races in the Sonar class. This also means that from now on, we will be able to host paralympic championships in Kiel – which is what we will apply for,“ said Peter Ramcke from the Kieler Woche organisers. He also thanked the Sporthafen GmbH and the City of Kiel for investing in these infrastructure improvements.

But of course, Kiel is much more than Olympic und paralympic sailing. From Thursday 26 June, 15 international classes will take up racing. The 29ers, however, will already start on Wednesday, 25 June, parallel to the medal races of the Olympic classes. The youth skiffs will determine their Euro-pean champions among the more than 150 crews which are expected to race on the two courses which will be laid out for them by the organisers from Kieler Yacht-Club, Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee and Hamburger SC.

The German offshore scene will not just fight for Kieler Woche victories, but also for the Internation-al German Offshore Championships (IDM). By choosing this location for nine times in a row, they have once again opted for a tried-and-tested race area, which only five weeks later will see the ORC world Championships, too. In the 19th edition of the IDM, titles will be awarded in the classes ORCI to ORC III/IV. “It just makes sense to have the IDM in Kiel, exactly where the worlds will take place soon afterwards,” pointed out Dr. Wolfgang Schäfer (Lüneburg), President of the German Sailing Associa-tions Offshore Council. Eckhard von der Mosel from Kieler Yacht-Club, Offshore Director of Kieler Woche, is happy with this decision, which in his view underlines the event’s reputation as a pre-worlds meeting of the offshore sailors. “And this does have effects on Kieler Woche: There are teams who plan to set up camp in Kiel for more or less the whole season, so they can be here from the very first training, right through the ranking regatta MAIOR, Kieler Woche and IDM up to the worlds in early August. So far we’ve had enquiries from Sweden, Poland and Denmark. That’s quite a contribution to making Kieler Woche even more international - it’s a real upgrading of the Kieler Woche off-shore races, “ said von der Mosel.

Yet despite many new ways, the traditional Kieler Woche marks remain unchanged: more than three million visitors, 10,000 masts on Kiel Fjord, 4,500 athletes racing onboard 1,800 boats, more than 450 starts, more than 50 nations and more than 40 classes/disciplines on eleven courses.

The Kieler Woche races are supported by premium partners AUDI, HSH Nordbank, SAP, Veolia and Messe Düsseldorf with boot Düsseldorf aswell as by sponsors Addix Internet Services, B&G, b+m Informatik, B+S Card Service, DIMENSION-POLYANT, Helly Hansen, Hugo Hamann with Konica Minol-ta, IGEL Technology, International Farbenwerke, KielNET, Liros, Nord Event, North Sails, SVG Service Verlag/Segler-Zeitung, Tutima (official timekeeper).

Race calendar of Kieler Woche 2014 (21 to 29 June)
Olympic classes, EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup: 21 to 25 June:
Charly: 470er - M + W
Echo: Laser Standard
Golf: 2.4mR/open, Sonar/open
Hotel: 49er - M
India: RS:X - M+W,
Juliett: Nacra 17 – Mix, 49er FX
Kilo: Laser Radial - W, Finn

International classes, 26 to 29 June:
Charly: Formula 18, Hobie 16
Delta: 505er, FD
Echo: Contender, OK
Foxtrott: J 24, Folkeboat, B/one
Golf: Europe, Laser Radial open, Laser 4.7
Hotel: 29er (2 groups)/from Wednesday, 25 June
India: Musto Skiff (Euro-Cup)
Juliett: 29er (2 groups)/ from Wednesday, 25 June
Kilo: 420er

Offshore, 21 to 28 June:
21 to 22 June: Welcome Race (ORC-Club I -IV, Albin Ballad, Multihull)
21 to 24 June: Bahn Delta: Kiel-Cup (Melges 24, J/70, Platu 25)
21 to 24 June: Bahn Foxtrott: Kiel-Cup (J/80, SB 20, Albin Express)
23 to 25 June: Kiel-Cup Alpha (ORC-Int. I-IV)
26 to 27 June: Silver Ribbon Band (ORC-Club I-IV)
28 June: Senate Prize (ORC-Club I-IV)

IDM Offshore, 21 to 25 June:
21 to 25 June: IDM ORCi I to IV

For more information please go to: www.kieler-woche.de

29/4/2014 14:33