Denmark's sailing heartland is SailGP host: In the city of smiles: the big SailGP show in Aarhus

A regatta of superlatives will take place next weekend in the place where Germany's sailors also like to go on holiday and where an increasing number of summer cruises are taking place: Denmark's sailing metropolis Aarhus is hosting the fourth regatta in the SailGP series. The Rockwool Denmark Sail Grand Prix will attract at least tens of thousands of fans to the modern city district of Aarhus Ø. Sailing is at home in the east of the City of Smiles. Against a futuristic backdrop of architecturally exciting buildings and the Aarhus Sailing Centre, America's Cup winners and Olympic champions will compete with their crews. Sailing will take place on spectacularly fast catamarans in the F50 OneDesign class.

The Danish SailGP team has been preparing for the showdown in its own waters for weeks. The mixed team around skipper Nicolai Sehested also includes Laser Radial Olympic champion Anne-Marie Rindom and 49er helmswoman Katja Salskov-Iversen. Rindom filled the front pages of the Danish daily press for days with her triumph in Enoshima and is a star at home. In the SailGP, at least one female sailor is in every team - the rule this season, which opens up new opportunities for female sailors. Nicolai Sehested says: "There are big days ahead. Not only for our team and Rockwool, but also for the entire Danish sport. We can finally compete in a SailGP regatta in our home waters. It's a dream come true for us that a world-class sailing league like the SailGP is coming to Danish waters. We can't wait to show the world how epic regatta sailing is here."

Be there live on site or via TV broadcast

The last major regatta series that put Aarhus in the spotlight on the world sailing stage was the 2018 World Championships for all Olympic disciplines, when IOC President Thomas Bach also visited to get an overview of Olympic sailing. The new heartbeat chamber of Danish sailing, which is also popular with many international teams and young talent for training purposes, had just been completed. Now the Aarhus Sailing Centre will once again be the focus of international sailing this coming weekend. Anyone on a summer cruise in the area should not miss the spectacle in this young and dynamic city, which is so congenial to sailors.

If you can't be there in person, you can watch the live broadcasts on Servus TV. The Austrian TV channel will start coverage of the sailing hit on Friday at 3 pm, which will be held off Aarhus on 20 and 21 August. Click here for the organisers' homepage and the results (please click!).

Bronze winners Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel are on site as observers

A German team is not yet competing in this second SailGP season. However, the organisers have long been in contact with leading German sailors. "The SailGP wants a German team and so do we," says Olympic bronze medallist Erik Heil. The 49er helmsman, who sailed to his second consecutive Olympic podium in Enoshima with his coxswain Thomas Plößel, will visit the SailGP regatta at the weekend with a group of interested German sailors. The 32-year-old, who with Thomas Plößel is only the fifth German sailor in the history of the modern Olympic Games to win more than one medal, says: "Of course we want Germany to be able to compete with the greats. It's a chance to battle it out with the best. The SailGP is becoming more and more interesting for companies. Sustainability is also playing an increasingly important role in this Formula 1 of sailing. We have enough good people and strong companies in Germany to form a team like this - both sailing-wise and financially. We are currently sounding out the possibilities. No more, but also no less.