The 127th Kiel Week is underway: Glorious weather, champagne sailing and sunshine galore

If there is a good picture of how large public sporting events can be transformed back into sports festivals with atmosphere and a spirit of optimism after the tough corona setbacks, cancellations and restrictions of the past year, then it was created on the opening weekend of the 127th Kiel Week: You could see cheerful people making a pilgrimage through the Kiel-Schilksee Olympic Centre instead of blocking construction fences, active people interacting with each other instead of a deserted harbour from 6 p.m. onwards, full sailing enjoyment on the water instead of a slowed-down enjoyment of Germany's oldest and largest regatta week. The "resurrection" of Kiel Week, which had also weathered the storm of cancellations in the coronavirus year 2020 but had to take place away from the public eye, makes the organisers, their partners and the sailors visibly happy this year. It is true that it is not yet possible to draw on the full potential in all areas, as only three of the ten Olympic disciplines will be held from Thursday, including the two new surfing competitions iQFoil Women and iQFoil Men. However, the pandemic, the renewed postponement of Kiel Week to early autumn in September and the resulting clash with international regattas are not the only reasons for this. Olympic participation in Kiel Week traditionally declines in post-Olympic times and only builds up again until the next Olympic Games. This is due to the fact that Kiel Week then once again becomes a sought-after qualification stage for training and international comparisons.

The lucky German medallists from the Olympic Games in Japan were in demand in Kiel even without their own races. The German Sailing Association (DSV) had invited its successful Tokyo team to be honoured on the first Saturday of Kiel Week. With one silver and two bronze medals, the sailors were among the most successful German athletes at the Olympic Games. They were greeted with gold confetti on the stairs at the reception at the national training centre in Kiel. "The DSV, all the coaches, the national team - everyone did a great job. In the end, of course, it's an individual story, because nobody can join you on the boat at the Olympics. In the end, you pulled it off and I am proud that you belong to Kiel, to Schleswig-Holstein," said Kiel's Lord Mayor Ulf Kämpfer. He jokingly added: "And next time it will be gold." DSV President Mona Küppers, who congratulated the Olympians in the German Sailing Team very personally, reacted cheerfully to Kämpfer's golden dreams: "It's good that he hasn't built up any pressure now."

Kiel Week started its 127th edition in this relaxed style, cheerful, sunny and blissful. Schleswig-Holstein's Minister President Daniel Günther rang in Germany's oldest and largest sailing regatta week on Saturday afternoon, sailing star Boris Herrmann gave the starting signal with a ship's horn: long-short-short-long for "Cast off!" The 40-year-old Vendée Globe fifth-placer had previously taken part in the Welcome Race with his team, but was unable to capitalise on the strengths of his fast GC32 catamaran "Malizia I" in the initially light winds and was the second team to reach the finish line of the route from Kiel to Eckernförde on the water. The flat conditions on this day did not allow for course records, but pure sailing pleasure. Herrmann thoroughly enjoyed his home race off Kiel: "It was champagne sailing in Kiel's imperial weather, simply a great day on the water." It was his first race since the spectacular finish at the Vendée Globe on 28 January this year.

Around 2700 participants from 27 nations and 900 watercraft will characterise Kiel Week over nine days this year. The first weekend kicked off with 160 "big boats" on the sea courses and the international classes. After technical problems with his new 2.4mR yacht, Paralympics winner Heiko Kröger from the Norddeutscher Regatta-Verein took a commanding lead in his class, even on a boat borrowed at very short notice. Kieler Woche record winner Wolfgang Hunger from Strande and his skipper Holger Jess from Eckernförde continued their hunt for title number 24 for the helmsman after fourth place in the only Saturday race of the 505s on Sunday with second place and three day wins in a row in a wonderful easterly wind. Holger Jess said: "We are also the only ones who have been training for this wind in recent weeks. The more wind there is, the more it pays off. We beat ourselves once today, but our boat is really fast." Jan-Philipp Hofmann and Felix Brockerhoff from Düsseldorfer Yacht-Club are second in the 50, six points behind the class kings.

On Sunday, all the courses were sailed as if there was no tomorrow. The forecast moderate to fresh easterly winds ensured that at least four races were held in all classes. Race organisers and active participants were also so eager because the wind forecasts for the coming days point to rather flat conditions. For half of the field of "flying wasps" (Waszp class), however, the up to one and a half metre high waves in five races on Sunday were too much of a good thing. They had to retire early. European runner-up Adrien-Paul Farien from Kiel is the best German starter in second place after five races, one point behind Wazp leader Mathilde Robertstad from Norway. Click here for the intermediate results for all classes and the lake courses (please click!).

We have updated the following paragraph: The Welcome Race from Kiel to Eckernförde was won at the weekend in ORC 1 by Sven Zoller's X-50 "Bajazzo" from Segler-Verein Elmshorn ahead of Steffen Müller's Brenta 60 "Almost Nothing" from Burger Segler Vereinigung and Lars Hückstädt's XP-44 "X-Day" from Plöner Segler-Verein von 1908. On the way back, Ralf Lässig's "Xenia" had the bow lead in ORC 1 ahead of Hückstädt's "X-Day" and Müller's "Almost Nothing" at the finish. In ORC 2, the X-41 "Sydbank" with the crew of Torsten Bastiansen (Flensborg Yacht Club) not only dominated the outward and return race, but also came out on top in the overall ORC standings. Henry Wulf's crew on the X-41 "Stardust" (Kieler Yacht-Club) and the Farr 40 OD "Farr-Lässig" (NaturFreunde Braunschweig) with Michael Schulz's team also sailed onto the ORC 2 podium on the outward leg. On the way back, Christoph Mählmann's team on the "Rarotonga" took second place and the Schulz crew again came third. In ORC 3, Jan Oswald's "Freya" (Kieler Yacht-Club) won on the Eckernförde course ahead of Knut Freudenberg's "Halbtrocken" (Segler-Vereinigung Flensburg) and the "Sharifa" team led by Rasmus Töpsch (Yacht-Club Strande). On the way back to the Olympic Centre, the "Halbtrocken" was the first to finish ahead of Kai Haupthoff's "Varuna X Press" (Segelclub Eckernförde) and "Sharifa". Raoul Kübler's "Tam Tam 2" (Akademischer Seglerverein in Kiel) kicked off the race in ORC 4 ahead of Leif Kemmerich's "Fakse" (Sail-Lollipop Regatta Verein) and Michael Matzke's "Lotta" (Segler-Vereinigung Altona-Oevelgönne). On the way back to Kiel, only the "Lotta" crew was able to repeat their placing. Sven Claussen's "Black Jack" (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) took the ORC 4 victory on the Kiel course ahead of Olaf Höhn's "Caelestia" (Hohwachter Yacht-Club). Wolfgang Koglin's Streamline "Boba Fett" from Klub am Rupenhorn won the eel regatta by yardstick ahead of Sönke Driller's X412 MK1 "NixmitX" from Wassersport-Club Gifhorn and Alexander Gensch's X-99 "Six-Pack".