Regatta: Admiral's Cup, Ocean Race Europe, SailGP - three summer hits ahead

The coming weeks and months will be breathless for the crews involved - and for all regatta sports fans. Three major sailing events are already in sight: firstly, the unofficial world championship for sailing teams officially begins in Cowes on the Isle of Wight on 17 July.

Admiral's Cup: three German duos take part

With the duos from the Bayerischer Yacht-Club (Humphreys 39 "Ginkgo"/Dirk Clasen; TP52 "Red Bandit"/Carl-Peter Forster) and the Regatta Verein Greifswald (GP 42 "X-Day"/Walter Watermann; TP52 "Imagine"/Holger Streckenbach") as well as the Hamburg Sailing Team (Millenium 40 "Edelweiß"/Thomas Reinecke; Tison 48 "Elida"/Daniel E. Baum), German sailing has three teams at the start.

And there will be even more German participation in the British summer sailing summit in the historic Solent region, where the America's Cup and the Admiral's Cup itself were once born: Boris Herrmann and part of the Malizia crew will be racing for the Yacht Club de Monaco team on the Carkeek 40 "Jolt 6". Find out more here.

Also flying the German flag, but competing for the US team, are Stefan Jentzsch and his crew on the Botin 56 "Black Pearl". They form a duo with two Donald Thinschmidts - Junior and Senior - and their Sydney GTS 43 "Abracadabra". This gave rise to the creative team name New York Yacht Club - Black Magic, which is otherwise more familiar from New Zealand's America's Cup history.

Many favourites for the Admiral's Cup

The Admiral's Cup will be organised with the classic Channel Race at the start, a series of short races and the Rolex Fastnet Race at the end under IRC. One of the favourites is the team from the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, for which serial winner Karl Kwok is providing both boats and two powerful teams with the TP52 "Beau Geste" and the Botin 41 "Beau Ideal".

But other two-boat teams are also expected to do well in the 15-team Admiral's Cup competition. Click here for the entry list. The last Admiral's Cup took place in 2003. The Australian team will now be the defending champions in the revival. German teams have won the trophy four times in 23 editions since its premiere in 1957.

The winners of the 24th edition will be decided after the century Fastnet race. The long course around the infamous Fastnet Rock marks the final summit for the Admiral's Cup challengers. The organisers are expecting around 480 boats on the start line for their own 100th anniversary - a new record! Sailors aged between 14 and 81 from 41 nations are expected to take part, including many German teams beyond the participating Admiral's Cup fleet.

After the Admiral's Cup honour: off to Kiel!

After the Fastnet final in the French port of destination Cherbourg and the Admiral's Cup award ceremony on 1 August, some of the top players will be heading straight to Kiel. This also applies to Boris Herrmann and his Malizia team-mates. The Imoca best will gather in Kiel at the beginning of August for the start of the 2nd Ocean Race Europe. Paul Meilhat's "Biotherm" has been in the Schleswig-Holstein Sailing City since 5 July. Most of the others will follow at the beginning of August.

After the Admiral's Cup on 10 August in Kiel, seven teams will start the European race, the final of which will take place on 21 September in the destination port of Boka Bay in Montenegro. In addition to Team Malizia, the two French racing teams Paprec Arkéa with skipper Yoann Richomme and Biotherm with Paul Meilhat, the Swiss team Holcim-PRB with skipper Rosalin Kuiper, Team Allagrande Mapei Racing (Italy) with Ambrogio Beccaria and Thomas Ruyant at his side, as well as two teams with outsider chances, will be competing for podium places in the Ocean Race Europe: Scott Shawyer's "Canada Ocean Racing - Be water positive" and Alan Roura's last-minute challengers from Team Amaala (Switzerland/Saudi Arabia).

The Kiel hosts and the Ocean Race organisers will open the Ocean Live Park along the Kiellinie on 6 August. Admission is free. For five days, sailing will be celebrated there in all its colours. Sailing in the Ocean Race Europe, Europe as a sporting stage, the health of the oceans and the magic of the seas will be the focus of a firework of stage programmes, interactions with the sailing teams and many hands-on and show activities.

Fan pleasure: Pitlane Tours in Kiel and Sassnitz

From the end of July via the Ocean Race Europe homepage also tickets for pit lane tours and visits to the Imocas in Kiel can be booked. The starting signal for the Ocean Race Europe will be given on 10 July at 3.45 pm. The organisers are expecting around a quarter of a million visitors to Ocean Live Park over five days. It is also likely to be crowded on the water. There, it will be important to keep the corridors clear for the Imocas and to respect the organisers' announcements. Once the sea-going foilers have disappeared into the horizon, the focus moves on to Sassnitz.

Summer highlight number three follows just over two weeks after the Admiral's Cup final and six days after the start of the Ocean Race Europe. The Formula 1 of sailing celebrates its German premiere off Sassnitz on the island of Rügen. For the Germany SailGP Team by Deutsche Bank, it is the long-awaited first home match. The German premiere will take place on 16 and 17 August. The Sassnitz Sail will take place at the same time, so that modernity and tradition will embrace each other in the picturesque Baltic Sea region.

Preparations for the event summit of the year have long been in full swing in Sassnitz. A racing stadium and two XL grandstands are being erected on Europe's longest accessible outdoor pier, which will offer a total of around 11,400 seats over the entire weekend. Tickets can be purchased here. Live moderation with sailing experts, DJ music entertainment, interactive challenges, the SailGP simulator and many more attractions will be served up in the stadium and on the grandstands.

Berths for the SailGP: there are still a few...

After guest berths for the Sassnitz SailGP were initially quickly booked out, there is now some capacity again, especially for smaller boats, following a request from YACHT on 11 July. However, anyone wishing to visit the Rügen harbour for the SailGP with their own boat should contact the harbour master at the Marina from Sassnitz town harbour quickly to find a place.

They can do it! Click here for the latest trailer for the Ocean Race Europe:

Sailing thriller off the chalk cliffs! Click here for the preview of the Sassnitz SailGP:

A brief look back at the 1993 Admiral's Cup, when Germany's sailors won the unofficial world championship of sailing nations for the fourth and final time: