Sailing World Cup: World Cup cancellation: Kiel too imposing?

Officially, the applicants for the rights to organise a Sailing World Cup are not yet allowed to communicate the decisions that have already been made. However, Isaf itself has already published the result on its website. The names of the lucky winners are displayed there after the battle for a World Cup role. The regattas in Hyères, France and the Olympic area of Weymouth are the winners in the competition to be involved in the World Series. Qualifying regattas for the World Cup will be held at the Spanish Princesa Sofía regatta and in the Dutch waters off Medemblik. This means that all the well-known organisers of major European series are in the running. Only Kiel is not.

The disappointment about this is at least as great as the lack of understanding about the decision. It was rumoured from Kiel that the Isaf, with its format focused on small fleets with top sailors, may feel too small for the large and impressive Kieler Woche. It is quite possible that overlapping sponsor interests also played a role in the decision. Isaf may have asked itself how it should have presented itself at Kieler Woche with its own partner Rolex and its strong partner Tutima.

While the decision in favour of the classic in Hyères, France, still seems understandable, the choice of Weymouth as the second European World Cup is at least surprising. According to coastal gossip, the conditions there have recently not only been poor in terms of sailing, but also financially. With the World Cup status, the British, who have been flagging since their extremely successful Olympic regatta in 2012, can now show off again in Olympic sailing. The highly committed Kiel team will be denied this for the time being.

"We think that we could have harmonised well with the conditions set by the World Sailing Federation and are naturally disappointed," said Niko Rickers from the Kiel Week marketing agency Point of Sailing. "Of course, we wish the winners the best of luck and will now see how we move forward. You can make a virtue out of necessity..." The Kiel team will probably work hard to further strengthen the European Eurosaf series. They could benefit from the fact that the popular Spanish regatta off Mallorca was also "only" selected as a qualifying regatta for the World Cup and will possibly compensate for the setback with a Eurosaf regatta and get into the same boat as the Kiel team. This would give Kiel a strong partner on the way to expanding the Eurosaf series.