DSV calls for corona easing: Port closures due to Corona "in no way appropriate"

On a diplomatic level, one would speak of a scandal. Yesterday, DSV Vice President and legal counsel Andreas Löwe demanded the immediate lifting of the harbour closures on Lake Constance in unmistakable terms to the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Sport.

The most recent amendment to the Corona Ordinance in the federal state on 17 April had "left the completely unacceptable regulation of Section 4 (1) sentence 5a unchanged", according to which there is a general ban on entering and leaving the country. Even relaxations from 4 May, as announced in Schleswig-Holstein, for example, were "not promised". And even harsher: "The state government is not communicating."

The DSV Vice President from Constance also explains the financial consequences of the ongoing bans:

"In addition to the individual interests of the individual athletes, the clubs are also affected economically by this regulation, which is as superfluous as it is nonsensical. It is not enough that no training and competition can take place, individual sport is prohibited and the clubs are thus deprived of a large part of their economic basis, the mooring fees."

Due to the "absurdity of the regulation", according to which sailing has always been permitted in the Swiss and Austrian parts of Lake Constance since Easter, but not on the German side, resentment is growing among sailors. According to Löwe, the mood has "already changed". From "initially understanding grumbling to considerable annoyance", people have now "reached open anger". This was "impressively" demonstrated by numerous emails.

In his letter to Sports Minister Susanne Eisenmann, Löwe blatantly threatens to take legal action. It is the first time that the DSV has taken such a clear and harsh stance:

"In the meantime, we are unequivocally called upon to ... to take legal action against this arbitrary unequal treatment (Art. 3 GG). And we will have to give in to these demands in the next few days. ... Neither the Baden-Württemberg State Sports Association nor the DSV can explain the situation to its members. Waiting until 3 May 2020 in the hope that something will happen is no longer reasonable."

Read the detailed report in the new YACHT 10 about the regulatory chaos that has unsettled and in some cases massively annoyed water sports enthusiasts throughout Germany since March. In it, Andreas Löwe, among others, also comments on the back-and-forth of local interpretations on Lake Constance, which ultimately led to the general harbour closures. The issue, which contains a 32-page Corona focus, will be available to subscribers from Friday and in newsagents from Wednesday 29 April.

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Here is the letter from DSV legal counsel Löwe to Sports Minister Eisenmann as a PDF file