The 127th Kieler Woche is underway: Tradition and the future meet at Kieler Woche

The contrasts between the Star Boat World Championship and the first appearance of the iQFoil surfers at a Kiel Week could hardly be greater: The keelboat class, designed in 1910 with a glittering history and stars such as "Mister America's Cup" Dennis Conner, Paul Elvström, Willy Kuhweide or Torben Grael and Iain Percy, was Olympic until 2012 and continues to offer world-class sport with Olympic champions and America's Cup greats at the top. The Olympic journey of the iQFoils, on the other hand, is only just beginning. The "flying" surfers will compete for Olympic medals for the first time in 2024 off Marseille in one discipline for men and one for women. At Kieler Woche, the Star Boat World Championships and the new surfing spectacle demonstrate the enormous diversity of sailing, which needs both: its history and a modern future.

At the start of the second half of Kieler Woche on Thursday, Diego Negri and his Berlin co-skipper Frithjof Kleen took the lead in the Starboat World Championship. The Italian-German duo followed up their fourth place from the previous day with two commanding victories. Foreskipper Kleen, 2012 Olympic sixth in the Star boat with helmsman Robert Stanjek and winner in the final of the Star Sailors League 2017 with Laser Olympic champion Paul Goodison, said at the Kiel-Schilksee Olympic Centre after his team's sweep: "The winds were light, but the game was not, because there is a lot going on at the start with the large fleet and you don't want to get disqualified. We were able to score points with little risk and excellent speed." Not all World Championship teams felt the same way: With the defending World Championship title holders Mateusz Kusznierewicz/Bruno Prada (Poland/Brazil), the Italian star boat experts Enrico Chieffi/Nando Colannino (Italy) and the Austrian opening winners Hansi Spitzauer/Christian Nehammer, three top teams received black early start flags and therefore have a heavy burden to bear after two days of cancellations. In second and third place in the field of 82 star boats after three races are Croatian Laser silver medallist Tonči Stipanovič with Tudor Bilić and Frenchman Xavier Rohart with Ante Sicic. Click here for the results (please click!). The World Cup will continue until Saturday.

The iQFoilers take their chance off Kiel - Germany's best and the youngsters are in action. After five races, top favourite Sebastian Kördel from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) leads the men's event ahead of his club mate Nicolas Prien, who was able to snatch a race win from Kördel in his home waters. Among the iQFoil surfers, Theresa Steinlein (NRV) was in the lead after four rounds ahead of Sophia Meyer from Windsurfing Verein Berlin. All surfers have to contend with seaweed, which is more of a problem in September than in the regular Kiel Week time slot in June. "It feels like someone is constantly stepping on the brakes of your board," said Kördel, who is currently getting to know many new team-mates from the German Sailing Team in Kiel and finds the immersion in the Olympic sailing world "interesting". The 1.91 metre tall Olympic hopeful is one of the best in his profession and only just missed out on a medal in fourth place at the recently concluded iQFoil World Championships in Silvaplana, Engadin. Already a member of the German Sailing Team's prospective squad, the surf pro makes no secret of the fact that he wants to fight for Olympic victory in three years' time: "If I go somewhere, I want to win."

In total, only around 550 participants are taking part in the races in the smaller boat classes in the Olympic half of Kiel Week this year. Of the ten Olympic disciplines, only three are taking part on the fjord in this exceptional year: the iQFoil surfers, the iQFoil women and the Ilca-6 women (formerly Laser Radial), whose fleet is led by Poland's Agata Barwinska after three races with three wins on the day. The best German starter is Julia Büsselberg in fourth place overall after the first day of racing. Following the postponement of Kiel Week to September due to the coronavirus pandemic, the other seven Olympic disciplines were not even announced due to their proximity to the recently concluded Olympic Games in Japan and with a view to collisions with continental or world championships.

Click here (please click!) to see the intermediate results of all classes in the second half of Kiel Week..