The weather forecast is right, the number of entries is good and the build-up is underway: The 135th edition of the Travemünde Week is in the starting blocks and the organisers from the main organiser Lübecker Yacht Club, the Hanseatic City of Lübeck and Lübeck Travemünde Marketing GmbH are looking forward to the ten great days, which will be opened with the traditional “Heißt Flagge” signal on Friday, 19 July at 6 pm by Lübeck’s mayor Jan Lindenau. At a press conference, the sports management and organisers of the festival took a look ahead to the programme from 19 to 28 July.
The sheer number of competitions and participants shows that the Travemünde Week has a high status worldwide. 20 different regattas are on the programme – from the IC Canoe and Flying Junior World Championships to the European Javelin Cup and six German Championships to the ranking list regattas and the programme for sea sailors. “The latest figures from this morning show that 27 nations will be represented in Travemünde – from all over Europe, but also from America, Asia and Australia. A total of 745 boats with almost 1500 participants have registered,” says Jens Kath, Sports Director of Travemünde Week, and he continues: “There is a wide range of athletes, from children in the Teeny and Optimist classes to experienced Olympic participants and world champions. Peter Gilmour, an America’s Cup winner, is also taking part. So we can rightly claim: at the Travemünde Week, kids meet sailing legends.”
With 244 starters, the Optimists will have the largest fleet at the start of their German Youth Championship, while the Dragons will have the most prominent sailors at their Grand Prix, including Peter Gilmour and 1996 Olympic champion Yevgen Braslavets.
A large contingent of helpers will be on hand to manage this programme – from rescue services, but also from many clubs, especially of course from the Lübeck Yacht Club. “It’s a huge team of helpers. It is always a special pleasure for us to welcome them to the helpers’ evening on the Passat and to offer them a relaxed evening. This large TW family ensures that everything runs smoothly on the water and on land so that the participants from all over the world feel at home with us,” said Lutz Kleinfeldt, Chairman of Lübeck YC.
In addition to the guests and sailors, the Travemünde Week is particularly committed to the environment. As an event for wind-powered sailing, this is obvious. However, travelling to the event, setting it up and holding it all take their toll on CO2 emissions. “We initiated a sustainability process last year, which we are continuing right up to certification. This includes not only taking stock, but also introducing very specific measures,” says Frank Schärffe, Managing Director of Travemünder Woche gGmbH. “Avoiding plastic waste and disposable crockery has been part of this for years. To this end, we will be testing the use of inflatable boats with electric motors this year. They are currently being brought over from Sweden. We are also setting up a collection centre for used sails so that they can be recycled. We are also cooperating with the Schleswig-Holstein Sailing Association and the Schleswig workshops, which sew bags from the sailcloth. And we will be reforesting a mixed forest near Scharbeutz in cooperation with the Schleswig-Holstein state forestry organisation to compensate for this. We are also offering all guests and sailors the opportunity to purchase a maple seedling.”
Visitors can once again expect a wide-ranging programme on land. Bands from various genres will perform on the Stadtwerke Lübeck festival stage in the Brügmanngarten, the König Pilsener stage at the pilot station and the SlowDownStage on Priwall – from singer-songwriters to regional pop and Top 40 bands to world star Ray Wilson. The former Genesis singer will provide a musical highlight on the first Saturday, 20 July, on the stage in the Brügmanngarten, reported Undine Heider, Managing Director of the uba Hamburg agency, which is organising the land programme.
As was the case last year, the festival area will once again run from Bertlingstrasse in the north along the Strand- and Travepromenade to Fährplatz. On the opposite side, on Priwall, a programme is also planned for all ten days, so that there will be a promenade circuit around the mouth of the Trave via the ferries.
An eye-catcher in the land programme will be the Ferris wheel, which will be set up in the Brügmanngarten this time. And the two beach clubs on the Nordermole are responsible for the long party nights. Entertainment and culinary delights will therefore be provided along the entire festival mile.
Christian Martin Lukas, Managing Director of Lübeck Travemünde Marketing GmbH, is very happy with the appeal that Travemünde Week has developed in recent years: “When Frank Schärffe came to us with the request to develop more themes and more appeal for Travemünde Week, we were very happy to take it up. We used the funds made available to us by the city council to make Travemünde Week more visible throughout the area and also in Lübeck city centre. We have developed a brand that speaks a good visual language. Making the design of Travemünde Week visible was a big task, and we are getting better at it all the time.”
According to Christian Lukas, the Travemünde Week is not just a boat, but a whole fleet that more and more people are jumping on board. Examples include the Classical Beat concert series and the City of Lübeck’s Urban Art cultural project, which are presented during Travemünde Week.
Frank Schärffe also emphasised the close ties with the city of Lübeck. Without the support of the city since Corona times, the Travemünde Week could no longer be financed. The state of Schleswig-Holstein also makes a major contribution to the success of the event with its support through the Sportland Schleswig-Holstein project. The Possehl Foundation is one of the many sponsors and supporters. “We are very happy that this institution exists in Lübeck,” says Schärffe.
The Travemünde Week also has an extraordinary partnership with boot Düsseldorf. “We are celebrating 50 years of solidarity this year. That is certainly extraordinary in business life,” says Schärffe, who, in addition to the official regatta programme, is particularly looking forward to the Volksbank Rotspon Cup, when Lübeck’s mayor Jan Lindenau competes against Reinhard Meyer, the Economics Minister of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and will thus once again ensure great media interest in Travemünde Week.
According to Christian Lukas, the Travemünde Week is not just a boat, but a whole fleet that more and more people are jumping on board. Examples include the Classical Beat concert series and the City of Lübeck’s Urban Art cultural project, both of which are taking part in Travemünde Week.
Frank Schärffe also emphasised the close ties with the city of Lübeck. Without the support of the city since Corona times, the Travemünde Week could no longer be financed. The state of Schleswig-Holstein also makes a major contribution to the success of the event with its support through the Sportland Schleswig-Holstein project. The Possehl Foundation is one of the many sponsors and supporters. “We are very happy that this institution exists in Lübeck,” says Schärffe.
The Travemünde Week also has an extraordinary partnership with boot Düsseldorf. “We are celebrating 50 years of solidarity this year. That is certainly extraordinary in business life,” says Schärffe, who, in addition to the official regatta programme, is particularly looking forward to the Volksbank Rotspon Cup, when Lübeck’s mayor Jan Lindenau competes against Reinhard Meyer, the Economics Minister of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and will thus once again ensure great media interest in Travemünde Week.
The complete festival programme in german
Captions from above:
The organisers are looking forward to the start of Travemünde Week (from left): Sports Director Jens Kath, LYC Chairman Lutz Kleinfeldt, Birgit Stamp-Oehme, Project Manager of TW, Undine Heider, Managing Director of uba, Frank Schärffe, Managing Director of Travemünde Week gGmbH, and Christian Martin Lukas, Managing Director of LTM . Photo: segel-bilder.de/Travemünde Week
The biggest sailing celebrities come to the Travemünde Week with the kites. Photo: segel-bilder.de/Travemünde Week
World star Ray Wilson rocks the Stadtwerke Lübeck festival stage on 20 July. Photo: Stefan Strassenburg