Without them, the Kieler Woche sailing festival could not take place: Around 350 men and women are once again helping to organise the event this year as volunteers. For many, the work begins long before the major event, and some are involved at regular intervals throughout the year.
The Regatta Committee
For example, Head of Organisation Dirk Ramhorst and the Regatta Committee, in which 13 members from all areas of Kieler Woche discuss the weal and woe of the Grande Dame of German regatta sport every fortnight, plan, solve problems and hatch ideas. Sporting directors such as the Principal Race Officers Fabian Bach (inshore) and Eckart Reinke (offshore), jury members, staff from the Kiel Yacht Club, from the marketing organisation Point of Sailing and media experts are all involved here.
In addition, the race organisers discuss their plans for the very different classes and regatta courses every six weeks. The to-do lists were also long before the 130th Kiel Week. The harbour masters at the Olympic Centre helped with the partial clearance of the harbour. 26 large and small Kieler Woche partners prepared their action programmes for employees and guests, show performances and stands in Schilksee.
All the preparations of the large Kieler Woche ensemble traditionally culminate in the nine-day summit festival in the third full week of June each year, during which the volunteers work hard to ensure that the sailors can enjoy the best possible service and good sport on land and on the water.
The regatta secretariat
The core team in the regatta secretariat of the Kiel Yacht Club (KYC) ensures that this large sailing orchestra of helpers behind the scenes is well and harmoniously staffed. Jan-Ole Scholz and Kathi Hauck are where all the threads that have to do with sailing on the water come together. As the executives of the sporting organisation manager Dirk Ramhorst, they are everything at the same time: tacticians, navigators, pit people and grinders in the Kieler Woche organisation team.
"Everything away from the harbour edge is our daily bread," says Jan-Ole Scholz, summing up the huge and constantly changing range of tasks. The KYC duo plans the race programme, communicates with the race committee, the class associations, the clubs and sailors. Kathi Hauck and Jan-Ole Scholz are the contact persons for all Kiel Week water issues, including infrastructure. All coordination with harbour masters, the waterway police, the harbour office, the Lübeck shipping office and the DSV is handled by the stress-free North Germans. The same applies to the coordination of jury and race officials and media requirements such as the press boat fleet. Resources on the water are a key issue.
Jan-Ole Scholz: "We are also responsible for organising the volunteers, staffing and team cohesion." The 29-year-old worked as a volunteer at Kiel Week during his Master's degree in Agricultural Sciences, became enthusiastic about the job in a lively environment and came on board at the Kiel Yacht Club. His colleague Kathi Hauck studied law and supported Kieler Woche in race management for many years from 1999. She has been supporting the crew in the regatta secretariat for three years. For the nine-day regatta summit, the two Kielers and many team members move to the event office in the Regattahaus in the Kiel-Schilksee Olympic Centre, where all the wires come together. Here, a handful of event professionals merge with the dedicated army of volunteers to form a team. Together they form the engine of Kiel Week.
