The 127th Kiel Week is coming: Herrmann and Hunger chase records, windsurfers celebrate comeback

From 4 to 12 September, the 127th Kieler Woche will set sail with a reduced sports programme but big names. Vendée Globe star Boris Herrmann will open the oldest and largest German regatta week, which has been postponed again to early autumn due to the pandemic, on 4 September. Before that, he will compete in the Welcome Race together with his British co-skipper Will Harris, circumnavigator Emily Nagel (Bermuda) and Olympic 49erFX silver medallist Susann Beucke from Strande. The quartet is aiming to break the race record on foils with a fast GC32 catamaran. The record was set in 2014 by the trimaran "Musandam - Oman Sail" with one hour, 47 minutes and 22 seconds.

Herrmann will have to hurry in any case, as the opening ceremony for Kiel Week begins at 3 p.m. in the Kiel-Schilksee Olympic harbour. Herrmann will use the typhoon to give the "long-short-short-long" signal for "Cast off!". The 40-year-old is the sailing star of this year's edition of Kiel Week, whose Olympic programme had to be almost completely cancelled. But there will still be plenty of sailing sport on offer.

As in 2020, Kieler Woche will focus entirely on sport and will host races in 17 international and Olympic boat classes, sea regattas for yachts and more than 100 maritime programme items on land. However, of the ten disciplines of the 2024 Olympic Games, only the iQFoil windsurfers, newly included in the programme, will be active this year. "With the further postponement to September, we have left our protected area in the World Sailing Federation's calendar. There are other championships taking place at the same time," says Head of Sport Dirk Ramhorst, explaining the often weak Olympic participation in Olympic years anyway.

For the windsurfers, their Kiel Week participation means a comeback after nine years of Kiel Week without their sport. Ramhorst's overview of the overall programme: "The junior classes are extremely strong, the top-class Star Boat World Championship is integrated, the Olympic iQ-Foilers are celebrating their surfing comeback and we remain Paralympically inclusive."

Among the iQFoil athletes, fourth-placed Sebastian Kördel and 13th-placed Lena Erdil from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein are the most promising starters. Both want to take part in the 2024 Olympic Games. Erdil said before her Kiel Week start: "Of course I would like to win. It would be nice to be at the top of the podium again." The Nacra 17 bronze medallists Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer from Kiel will be taking part in the international class races with their father Peter Kohlhoff and two-time Olympian Marcus Baur on a J/70. Kiel Week record winner Wolfgang Hunger from Strande is aiming for his 24th title with Holger Jess in the 505. The medium-term goal of the successful duo is the 25th title, which Hunger would like to win. However, his record already seems unattainable for others in the foreseeable future.

Boris Herrmann fans will also be able to experience their Vendée Globe hero on land during Kieler Woche. The skipper, who is currently making intensive preparations for his team's participation in the upcoming The Ocean Race and the next Vendée Globe, is taking plenty of time for the home game. His team has already had close links with the Kiel Geomar Institute for a long time through the Malizia Ocean Challenge project. With his ocean-going yacht - the new Imoca Open 60 is under construction in France - Herrmann collects valuable data on all the world's oceans. This includes CO2 and salinity information from remote areas, which is particularly important for climate research.

The Herrmann team's marine conservation activities will be presented in a Kieler Woche tent on the harbour apron. Of particular interest to children: school classes in Germany and abroad learn how the environment works and are sensitised to keeping their habitat and especially the oceans clean. All Kiel girls and boys between the ages of nine and 13 also have the chance to win a sailing trip on the GC32 on 5 September. To do so, they must hand in a painted picture and a small letter on marine conservation at Camp24Sieben on the Kiellinie or send it by email to anmeldung@camp24-7.de. There will be two autograph sessions with Boris Herrmann on the Sundays of Kiel Week: on 5 September at 12 noon and on 12 September at 11 am.

Click here for all information, schedules and the sailing sport at the 127th Kieler Woche (please click!).