The finale of the 127th Kiel Week: Many bright spots and an optimistic outlook for 2022

Kiel Week 2021 is history. "The mother and father of all regatta weeks", as former Canadian World Sailing Federation President Paul Henderson once called Kiel Week, remains one of the world's largest and most diverse sailing sport weeks in the second year of its coronavirus-related postponement to September. With 2931 active participants from 23 nations and 912 watercraft, Germany's oldest regatta series over nine days was not quite able to return to its former glory days with more than 4000 participants, but the number of visitors at the weekends was already reminiscent of the time before the pandemic. Head of Sport Dirk Ramhorst is correspondingly optimistic about the future: "It was a Kiel Week of extremes with conditions ranging from zero wind to perfect Kiel Kaiser weather, from the modern, newly Olympic iQFoil surfers and the Wazps to strong youth classes and the 99th World Championship in the traditional Star boat class - this diversity is what makes Kiel Week so special."

For the 128th Kiel Week 2022, Ramhorst is expecting the comeback of the Olympic sailors, who only took part in three out of ten disciplines off Kiel this Olympic year. "We are starting preparations now with the planning assumption of the regular date in June 2022. We expect to have the Olympic classes back in full next year." According to Ramhorst, Kiel Week needs the classic "grandfathering" from the World Sailing Association, which traditionally keeps the German sailing summit in June free from other major regattas. As there are only two years until the 2024 Olympic Games in the summer of 2022, Germany's sailing capital is expecting Olympic sailors to increasingly head for Kiel Week again due to upcoming qualifications.

In the absence of most of the medallists from Japan and the top teams of the German Sailing Team, other German participants were able to shine this year: Berlin-based Frithjof Kleen won the 99th Starboat World Championship with his Italian helmsman Diego Negri. The top German favourite Sebastian Kördel, who lives and trains in Hamburg and Tarifa, came out on top in the premiere of the iQ-Foiler. The surf pro from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein said: "It was an important sign that we were already there before Kiel. The thrilling videos from the opener must have left a positive impression." Among the iQFoil surfers, his club mate Lena Erdil won clearly ahead of her club mate Theresa Steinlein after a cautious start and a strong final spurt. Click here for all Kiel Week 2021 results (please click!). In the Olympic Ilca 6 (formerly Laser Radial), the Olympic champions were missing. Poland's Agata Barwinska won with aplomb. The best German starter after eleven races was Julia Büsselberg (VSaW) in tenth place. The Nacra 17 bronze medallists from Japan, Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer, sailed with their father Paul Kohlhoff and two-time 49er Olympic participant Marcus Baur to a respectable fifth place in the large field of 39 J 70 teams. Hamburg's Claas Lehmann from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein won with his team on "Helga". Fabian Damm's quintet from Segler-Vereinigung Altona-Oevelgönne on "Hungriger Wolf" came out on top in the J 24 category. Ole Schweckendiek from the Kieler Yacht-Club defended his title in the men's Laser Radial. Brothers Anton and Johann Sach scored a special coup: 40 years after their father Christian Sach's first Kieler Woche victory, who won in the 420 with his brother Helge in 1981 and later made a career in two hulls, the youngsters kept their nerve in the final and won the 29er Euro Cup with 83 boats from eight nations ahead of the Swedish and Norwegian competition. Remarkable: helmsman Anton Sach is only 13 years old.

The star of the 127th Kiel Week was circumnavigator Boris Herrmann, who took part in the Welcome Race with his team Malizia and presented his campaign's sailing and marine conservation programme at the Kiel-Schilksee Olympic Centre. "It was a nice home game off Kiel," said the 40-year-old, who was slowed down by food poisoning at half-time, but was in high spirits when he gave a final autograph session on the final Kiel Week Sunday. Exceptional sailor Wolfgang Hunger from Strande was able to raise his Kieler Woche fabulous record to 24 wins with his skipper Holger Jess (Eckernförde) in the 505 dinghy and is aiming for the 25th anniversary success in 2022.