The perfect start to Travemünde Week on Friday evening, with a festive ceremony in glorious sunshine, was followed by sailing days that couldn’t have gone better and a festival programme that attracted around 240,000 visitors to the promenades and stages on the first weekend.
Minister President Daniel Günther (right) and Mayor Jan Lindenau (left) opened the regatta and festival week in glorious sunshine. Photo: Christian Beeck/TW
Mayor Jan Lindenau’s hopes that Travemünde Week would continue in the same vein as the first few hours of the opening were not disappointed. The bad weather clouds gave Travemünde a wide berth, the sailors were treated to sunshine and excellent winds, and the visitors celebrated peacefully and exuberantly. The verdict on the opening weekend of the 136th edition of the regatta and festival week was unanimous: this is how it should be!
After two days, the overall race director could look back on a regatta programme on the triangular courses that really had no gaps whatsoever. All races were sailed in easterly winds with a breeze between 12 and 20 knots. There were also challenging waves that tested the teams. ‘You rarely get such a perfect weekend. The Bay of Lübeck really showed itself from its best side,’ said overall race director Anderl Denecke, delighted with the start.
The Hobie sailors experienced some intense days on the race course. Photo: Christian Beeck/TW
The Hobie sailors made the most of the weekend. They had only booked two days in the Travemünde Week programme, but sailed eight races. On their second day of racing, they even had the course all to themselves. The regatta management decided spontaneously to separate the cats from the monohull classes. ‘This showed how flexibly we can respond to the wishes of the classes when circumstances allow. It meant that the courses could be tailored to the needs of the sailors,’ said the regatta management.
The organisers are now looking forward to the appearance of the three Topcat classes, which will crown the international champions by Saturday and thus ensure high-ranking title awards at Travemünde Week 2025.
Well-filled promenades and a peaceful atmosphere among visitors were reported by officials on the first weekend of Travemünde Week. Photo: Christian Beeck/TW
The Hamburg-based agency uba, which is responsible for the land programme, is hoping for the great atmosphere among visitors to continue. “The first few days have been very nice. The atmosphere at the festival site was very good and, above all, peaceful. The opening weekend exceeded all expectations. This is how we want to experience Travemünde Week. It couldn’t be better,” said Uwe Bergmann, uba’s managing director, enthusiastically. He counted almost a quarter of a million visitors in the first three days. Travemünde Week is therefore heading for high visitor numbers over the course of the week.
With the evening laser shows on the Passat, which will run from 10.45 p.m. on Saturday, the festival will offer a visual treat in the evening hours over the coming days, which should keep visitors on the Trave promenade.
The police were also satisfied. The first weekend was ‘quiet and peaceful’. Preventive checks led to only a few complaints, and the number of violations was insignificant given the large number of visitors. The security concept worked well, according to the Lübeck police.
A fixture at the sailing weeks: the starting ship ‘Seestern’
Wherever regattas are held, the ‘Seestern’ is usually not far away. Since 2007, Jens Höltig from Kiel has been making his lovingly converted wooden cutter available as a start boat for sailing events. Before that, he helped out with another boat. However, he has been involved in regattas since childhood, when his father worked as a press boat driver during Kiel Week. The Seestern is currently the only start boat at the Travemünde, Warnemünde and Kiel Week regattas. Over a beer after returning from the regatta course, he explained what motivates him and his wife to still be at the start line, in the truest sense of the word, even after decades of regattas.
Jens Höltig and his wife Christine have been using their cutter ‘Seestern’ as a starting boat in regattas for almost two decades. Photo: Katrin Heidemann
Höltig has always been involved in regattas, he says. His father worked for the city of Kiel from 1956 and sailed the ship of the same name, which was used as a press boat during Kiel Week. Jens Höltig first came on board in the mid-1960s at the age of six, got his first taste of regatta life and was immediately hooked. Later, he sailed with the DLRG on the ‘Seeadler’ and ‘Adler’ during Kiel Week and was skipper of his own sports boat for the former commodore of the Kiel Yacht Club, Otto Schlenzka, who died in 2015. As a sailor, Höltig is at home in the 75 National Cruiser class and in Folkboats.
In the early 1980s, the sailor became a start ship skipper virtually overnight. “I got a call saying that a ship had broken down. They asked if I could step in at short notice. Two and a half hours later, I was on the Alpha course with my boat, which I was looking after at the time. Until 2004, I was the start boat on the sea course at Kiel Week with the cutter I was looking after. Then the boat was sold and I was out of work for two years,‘ recalls Höltig.
The boatless phase did not last long for him. A new owner was being sought for the ’Seestern”, which he had looked after for a long time. In 2006, he took over the twelve-metre-long, four-metre-wide, 21.5-tonne wooden cutter and rebuilt it with the active support of his shipyard colleagues. ‘We worked on the boat for eight months. At times, the “Seestern” looked like an empty nutshell,’ says Höltig’s wife Christine, who is usually on board. Since 2007, the cutter has been used as the starting vessel for the team led by race director Stephan Uden from the North German Regatta Association (NRV) at Kiel Week.
Over time, more sailing events have been added to the list of events at which the ‘Seestern’ is used as the starting vessel. Since 2021, the Seestern has also been a fixture on the regatta course at Travemünde Week. In the past two years, it has also been one of the start boats at Warnemünde Week.
The atmosphere on board the Seestern is not only good after work. The race management teams appreciate the relaxed atmosphere on the cutter. ‘It’s great to work on the “Seestern”. You always feel safe and in good hands here. And on top of that, we have a skipper with perfect weather knowledge,’ praises the team around race director Stephan Uden from the NRV. “Things have to be relaxed and stress-free during the regattas. Everyone feels at home with us, and that’s how it should be. After work, everyone still sits together in a cosy atmosphere,” says Höltig.
And if the Seestern is not available for a regatta, it is a matter of honour for the cutter’s owner to organise a replacement vessel. Only when this has been arranged can he go on holiday with peace of mind. And that is exactly what he and his wife Christine plan to do this summer with the Seestern. ‘Otherwise, our holidays were always taken up after the regatta season. Now we’re both retired, we have time and have rediscovered holidays with our “Seestern”,’ say the couple, looking forward to their time off. And so this summer, the ‘Seestern’ will not only be seen on regatta courses, but will also set sail for Denmark with its crew – a summer holiday that the crew and boat have more than earned.
Lübecker Nachrichten offers families a great programme on Tuesday
Tuesday is LN Family Day at Travemünde Week. The LN and Ostsee Aboservice will set up their stands on the beach promenade and will also be there with the LN Buzz. From 11 a.m., there will also be a children’s Olympics.
The eye-catching LN Buzz will be stopping off at Travemünde Week on Tuesday. Photo: Nicole Sanner
The youngest visitors can let off steam at various play stations: rope skipping, ring toss and Kubb, the so-called Viking chess.
All children have free access to the hands-on activities. And there are also prizes to be won: street chalk and LN bucket hats. In addition to fun and games at the LN stand, many other stands at the TW will be tempting visitors with culinary delicacies and drinks. Those who download the LN news and podcast app will save money. By downloading the app, visitors will receive a 20 percent discount on all food, non-alcoholic drinks and children’s activities upon presentation.
Festival tip: He was a police cadet at the Schwanitz police station, a scrap dealer and a pizza baker: there is hardly a profession that Cem Ali Gültekin could not take on in his signature role as a somewhat clumsy small businessman in the cult ARD series ‘Nord bei Nordwest’. The actor is visiting Travemünde Week on Tuesday: at 3.30 p.m., he will be talking to LN editor Lars Fetköter on stage at the Nordermole about the cult series, his views on Lübeck and Travemünde, and his bus tours as a comedian.
