Dear readers,

I must warn you: this column is not balanced. It does not endeavour to be neutral. And it will not spare anyone who will be sitting at home on the sofa on 31 May 2026 while Hamburg votes on its future. Because I am a sailor. I love this sport. And that's why I'm now saying bluntly what I think: an opportunity like this doesn't come around twice.

Hamburg for the Olympics!

Do you remember 2015? Unfortunately, I remember it all too well. Hamburg voted against an Olympic bid back then, and since then this city has demonstrated with stoic consistency how to bury a historic opportunity. I was disappointed at the time. As a sports enthusiast, as a sailor, as a journalist and as someone who knows what Olympic sailing means for a nation, I would have loved to call every Hamburg resident personally and ask: Do you actually know what you have just thrown away?

But good. The past is the past. We now have a second chance.

What is at stake - also for us sailors

Let me step away from the big politics for a moment and talk about something that directly affects me and you, dear readers: sailing.

Germany is a sailing nation. We have world-class athletes, we have one of the strongest sailing infrastructures in Europe, we have Kiel Week - the biggest sailing event in the world. And we have Kiel.

Kiel. The Sailing City. A place that was built for Olympic sailing, that experienced it in 1972 and that has done nothing but prepare for the next opportunity ever since. Minister President Daniel Günther has released funds to further develop the infrastructure. The city has already sent out positive signals in referendums. Kiel is ready. Kiel has long been ready again.

And then there is Rostock-Warnemünde.

I say this with all due respect for Manuela Schwesig, who campaigned for Warnemünde in Paris, and with sincere respect for the new state sports school on the Mittelmole - architecturally really worth seeing. But I'll say it anyway: Warnemünde is my second choice for the Olympic sailing competitions. Kiel has the tradition, the infrastructure, the expertise and the international reputation. Kiel is a brand in the sailing world that no marketing programme in the world can replace. If Germany gets the Olympics - and I sincerely hope that happens - then the best sailors in the world will sail off Kiel.

But Hamburg has to say yes first.

The Hamburg No in 2015 - a lesson we should have learnt

I understand the scepticism. I really do. Ten billion euros - that's how much the Games in Paris cost. That's a figure that makes any sensible person gulp. And yes, the new "Hamburg+" concept with a 60,000-seater athletics arena next to the Volksparkstadion is provoking debate. It's allowed to, after all, it's democracy.

But let's be honest: What is the alternative? That Germany - one of the biggest economies in the world, one of the biggest sporting nations in Europe - will chicken out again? That we once again hide behind pusillanimous rhetoric on financial policy and watch as other countries take the stage on which we could shine?

The German government has written the Olympics into the coalition agreement. The SPD, Greens and CDU in Hamburg are pulling in the same direction. The DOSB has a clear roadmap. And the IOC will not decide until 2027 at the earliest who will be allowed to organise the Summer Games after Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032. We have time, we have a tailwind and - if Hamburg says yes on 31 May 2026 - we have the chance to enter the international arena as a serious candidate.

To the people of Hamburg: Go and vote.

I am now addressing you directly. Not to politicians, not to association officials, not to IOC members. To you. The citizen of Hamburg. The people of Hamburg. The people who hold the decision in their hands on 31 May 2026.

This referendum will cost five to six million euros. That is money that Hamburg is spending to give you a voice. Use it. Vote in favour.

Not because the Olympics have no risks. But because the risks of inaction are greater. Because a city that says no twice has stopped believing in itself. Because Germany - as host, as organiser, as a sailing nation - has something to show the world.

We are good at managing things. We are good at debating, weighing things up, hesitating. What we are less often: courageous. The Olympics is a question of courage. And Hamburg has the unique opportunity to demonstrate exactly that.

So Hamburg: Get off the sofa. Into the cabin. Cross for yes.

May the games begin in Kiel.

Martin Hager

YACHT Editor-in-Chief

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