High class racing with a summer festival at Travemuende Week

Diversity is the big bonus point of Travemuende Week. Like no other event, the regatta week at the mouth of the Trave River blends together summer festival and high-class sailing. The many facets of the sport will be displayed on the waters of the Baltic Sea for the 122nd time this year from the 22nd to the 31st July So it is no small wonder that in the last week of July, established sailors in traditional boat classes will race side by side with the young and wild in their respective championships on the Bay of Luebeck. Folkboats and Laser II dinghies as well as the 49er juniors and the International Canoes will even determine their world champions.

The Travemuende Week logistics are perfectly suited to offer the large international Gold Cup fleet not only great racing, but also a fantastic social programme. “We’re expecting at least 60 boats, if not more,” says Heino Haase, chairman of Luebeck’s Folkboat fleet, who is responsible for the organization from the class’ side. Even crews from afar afield as the United States intend to charter boats to compete in the Gold Cup. Side by side with a strong German fleet coming from freshwater lakes and the Baltic Sea, there will be crews from Denmark, Sweden, the U.K. and the Netherlands.

They will all come together for a festive opening on Saturday, 24th July on the historic four-mast bark Passat, who will celebrate her 100th birthday this May. Races will then take place on race course alpha from Sunday through Friday (29th July). Expectations are flying high for the German crews, and according to Heino Haase, the TW might even see the comeback of current Gold Cup holder Christoph Nielsen from Berlin, who had announced his retirement from racing after he had become the 2010 German Champion.

The Travemuende Week social programme will also have a lot to offer for the Folkboat crews with a fleet evening, beach club party and a grand prize-giving event at the Columbia Hotel Casino Travemuende. Thursday night (28 July) will also see the so called Nations’ Cup, in which six sailors from each country will race each other by paddling the two-ton boats alongside the Passat.

Travemuende Week will also be the perfect setting for the Laser II Worlds. “The Bay of Luebeck is a fantastic sailing area. Right from the beginning, we have been in close touch with the organizers from Luebeck Yacht Club, and it has been great“, says Vanessa Freitag, President of the German class association. The Laser II sailors also appreciate the international know-how of the TW race managers and jury. They are expecting entries from the U.K. and Italy, maybe even from the USA and Canada. And, of course, from the host country, with the German crews being among the favourites within the expected 35-boat fleet, as the current European Champions Lisa Buddemeier and Matthias Duewel are from Kiel and Hamburg.

Socially, the Laser II Worlds will be framed by a reception onboard the Passat on Saturday, 23 July, and a prize-giving ceremony and party on Friday, 29 July. A special Worlds Dinner in Luebeck for the international guests will further manifest the diversity of the TW ranging from top class sailing sport to first rate ambience.

For further information please visit the event website.