In his professional life, Dirk Ramhorst manages several hundred employees. This is one of the reasons why, months ago, he started thinking about how to best maintain work in one and, above all, in his company in worst-case scenarios. So far, this has worked as well as it possibly could in a global crisis. The majority of employees are working successfully from home. At the same time, Ramhorst was also very busy as the sporting organisation manager for Kiel Week. Ramhorst and the team led by Point of Sailing Managing Director Sven Christensen went into the traditional spring meeting with volunteers from the Schleswig-Holstein region, Berlin and Hamburg a fortnight ago in Kiel-Schilksee with the aim of organising Kiel Week on the traditional date in June. But then the dynamics of the corona pandemic changed more and more.
"The cancellations of the Trofeo Princessa Sofia in Mallorca, the World Cup in Genoa and the tug-of-war over the America's Cup World Series regattas created a new dynamic," explains Ramhorst, "and we thought about it: If we want to hold on to Kiel Week, then we have to actively move it, because we need reliability." In several phone calls with the World Sailing Federation, Kiel Week was also discussed as a possible alternative qualifying regatta for the Olympic Games, as a replacement for the cancelled World Cup regatta in Genoa. The IOC had already extended the period for the cancelled qualification to 30 June in the growing crisis. Kiel Week, with its original date at the end of June, would have fitted in as an alternative. It could have. But in the end, its organisers were no longer convinced that any major sporting event could be held before the summer. "Sticking to the classic date was no longer viable. On the other hand, a total cancellation is of course the worst case scenario that should be avoided as far as possible," says Ramhorst, describing the complicated mental planning games.
Guided by this principle, the Kieler Woche team decided to postpone the event in close consultation with the city of Kiel in order to at least significantly increase the chances of the event taking place. Ramhorst and Christensen went through with it in unbureaucratic co-operation with Kiel's Lord Mayor Ulf Kämpfer, who has just started his second term of office, City President Hans-Werner Tovar and the Kieler Woche city office manager, as well as after consultation with the clubs involved in the organisation, the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and the Seglerhaus am Wannsee association. And Ulf Kämpfer announced the postponement in his inaugural speech on Thursday lunchtime. "Since then, we have received a lot of encouragement for the decisive postponement," says Ramhorst. Even as a sailor, he suspects: "Sailing will only be able to take off again in the second half of the year, if at all. Then there will be a very high level of unfulfilled sailing wishes. Kiel Week is an economic factor for the city of Kiel. This must be defended. Of course, in view of the current situation, a date in September is still subject to a residual risk, but it is currently the most promising option. And as the sailing sports sector, we are happy to be the driving force behind this."
Dirk Ramhorst finds it difficult to understand the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) insistence on holding the Olympic Games in July and August. "If you really want to, you can perhaps continue to think about the existing period, but qualification and logistics have long since stopped working. The IOC is often said to be focussing primarily on finances. Even if that were the case, something has to be done now. But I don't see the IOC and Thomas Bach doing that. Hence our message: action must be taken now and new perspectives must be presented. The worst thing that can happen is cancellation. But we are at a point where we can do something by postponing. This opportunity has been missed so far."
Ramhorst knows that not only a fixed date has been set for the Olympic Games, but also a period in which they will be held. Although postponements of one or two years are being discussed publicly, there is also the theoretical possibility of a postponement to autumn 2020, perhaps even to September. "That was our risk when choosing a new date for Kiel Week," says Ramhorst, "but if we can actually take place, then we'll celebrate the sport together. So as a normal manager, I would advise the IOC to minimise the worst-case risk by moving the dates." Ramhorst watched on screen as the Olympic flag arrived in Japan on Friday. The images gave him a lot to think about: "Of course you can try to simulate a normal situation. But it is ignorant to want to keep the date of the event. It must now be about gaining time."
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
