Today marks the start of the sailing competitions at the 129th Kiel Week. Around three million visitors are expected at Europe's largest sailing festival. These crowds will be joined by 5,000 sailors and 2,000 boats competing for sporting honours on the various regatta courses.
For the Olympic classes it is the last stop of the current ISAF Sailing World Cup and for Sailing Team Germany it is the second of three qualifying regattas for the 2012 Olympic Games after Weymouth. Places in the top 20 are in demand, as these are the only ones for which qualification points are awarded. Despite the absence of many top international sailors, it will be a fierce battle. Particular attention will be paid to the duel in the Laser class, in which Simon Grotelüschen (4th in Weymouth) was able to catch team-mate Philipp Buhl (7th in Weymouth) by winning the Medal Race. For the local hero from Kiel, Grotelüschen, it's also about 2nd place in the final World Cup ranking, for which he needs at least 5th place in this regatta.
The picture is clearer in the Laser Radial Women, where Franziska Goltz finished 10th in Weymouth. The other Germans to record a top 10 result in England were: Heiko Kröger (5th) and aLsse Klötzing (9th) in the 2.4 mR, Kathrin Kadelbach/Friederike Belcher (9th) in the Women's 470 and Silke Hahlbrock (also 9th) in the Women's Match Race.
Star sailor Frithjof Kleen knows that only top places count in the small field of 33 boats in Kiel. More than a third of the participants are German, with the top teams having to pick up the pieces from Weymouth. "We know that: Anyone can score points in Kiel," Kleen writes in his blog. "But we are really looking forward to the home game, the Backfisch, the fans, the journalists at home and will really step on the gas - that's a promise!"
This year, as a special attraction, the organisers are offering the public TV broadcasts with GPS positioning and 3D visualisation. This technology is becoming increasingly compact and powerful, which means that it can also be used on dinghies and small keelboats. The boats are equipped with GPS transmitters that transmit the position coordinates every 1.8 seconds, from which the boat speed and course sailed can be calculated.
The 3D tracking (here of the Medal Race of the 470 men from 2010) is to be made even more attractive this year with the inclusion of live images from the regatta course
This not only helps the sailors to analyse the race, but also allows the spectators on land to experience the dynamics on the regatta courses up close. The graphically prepared replay of a race is mixed with live video images and shown on Kieler Woche TV. Viewers will be able to follow the entire course of the race conveniently on screen, similar to what they are used to from car races. The necessary technical and financial resources are provided by the sponsors Audi and SAP.
The weather forecast for the weekend is rainy and cool with some sunny spells and fresh winds from the south-east to north-west.
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