Anyone walking across pier B in Passathafen after the race has finished, when the competitors gather for a beer, will quickly notice that many decades of sailing experience are gathered here. Most of the Dyas sailors have been regular guests at Travemünde Week for many years and have fond memories of the event. This includes two veterans of the class: 68-year-old Michael Weber from Koblenz, who belongs to the Rhein-Mosel Yacht Club, and his 72-year-old club colleague Jens Leicher.
Dyas sailors Michael Weber (left) and Jens Leicher have been guests at Travemünde Week for decades. Photo: Katrin Heidemann
“In Koblenz, we have a small but beautiful sailing area on the dammed Moselle. I’ve been sailing there for a good 60 years, since I was a child. In the beginning, we had a small converted lifeboat, then we got a Pirat, and later we sailed 420s. When I was older, I sailed as a Dyas bowman, for the first time here in 1976,” Weber recounts his sailing career. The sailor first came to Travemünde Week as a child in 1965, when his father was sailing a Schwertzugvogel.
“I have many great memories of Travemünde. The entire harbor complex on the Priwall is beautiful, the Passat and the beach. We also got used to the Maritim high-rise at some point. When we first came here, we were a little confused by it. I felt the same way about the new buildings on the Priwall. At first, you think all the beautiful green meadows are gone, but Travemünde has to develop. I don’t just like coming here to sail, I like the whole atmosphere, and a visit to Niederegger is also a tradition, of course,” says Weber.
The Koblenz native raves about the Dyas, which is very popular in German-speaking countries: “The boat is better suited for lighter winds, but we also like to sail in the waves here. The Dyas is challenging because you have a trapeze and a spinnaker. Nevertheless, it is very safe and stable and righting itself after capsizing. It’s a great all-round boat that’s really fast in two wind forces.”
Weber still remembers well the time before reunification at the Travemünde Week, when sailing near the border was not always without its problems: “You always had respect for the border zone. Even as children on the beach, we always had to be careful not to accidentally end up in the GDR. A club mate once drifted eastward in a storm on a Corsair. The Bundeswehr picked him up so he wouldn’t be stranded in East Germany.”
The Dyas sailor has fond memories of how things used to be slower at the TW regattas, when there was only one long race a day and time to visit the beach on the rest day. “Back then, the course was endless. You never saw a buoy, you sailed by compass and guessed where it should be. In the past, up to 1,000 boats would set sail in the morning during Travemünde Week. It was a real experience. Unfortunately, there are fewer of us now. Demographic change is also affecting us,” he says.
On the other hand, the entire organization of Travemünde Week has become much more professional. Take the regatta course, for example: “Back then, everything was organized with all kinds of motorboats, and motor yachts were hired. Today, there are lots of inflatable boats.” But despite all the changes, the 68-year-old still enjoys coming back to Travemünde. Because some things have remained the same: the Baltic Sea, the “Passat” and the festival mile.
His club colleague Jens Leicher, also known in the class as “Shorty,” remembers many wonderful years at Travemünde Week—times when there were 48 Dyas at the start, a wagon fort on the Priwall meadow as accommodation with a beer tap, three master brewers, and 700 liters of beer that “simply evaporated by the end of the week.” He also has fond memories of sailing close to the border during the GDR era, but says it always went well. “Minesweepers and speedboats were used as start boats. They fished you out and collected you if you drifted off course,” he says. On his way to the championship in Berlin by land, however, he was thoroughly searched by the GDR border guards. “I still had a signal pistol with me from the Travemünde Week. It was mandatory. But there was a huge fuss at the border. They thought I wanted to blow up the GDR,” says Leicher with a laugh.
He took part in the Travemünde Week for the first time over 50 years ago in a 420. He has been a regular participant since the mid-1980s, and has long been involved with the Dyas class. The 72-year-old still runs his own small shipyard and is the point of contact in Travemünde for his fellow class members when technical problems arise with the boats. Before heading off for a beer at the pier, he quickly recounts an anecdote about how he finished a race ahead of the rest of the field during the 2014 Travemünde Week and there was a discussion about whether this could be considered a “normal situation.” Then the two Dyas veterans grab their beers, toast the two successful races of the day, and look forward to the final day of their International German Championship.
Michael Weber started the final races of the championship in fourth place with his bowman Ralf Stuhlemmer, father of the Olympic bronze medalist in Tokyo in the Nacra17 class, Alicia Stuhlemmer. Jens Leicher and Maik Middendorf are close behind him in fifth place.
boot Düsseldorf and LYC: Friends for life
For the crew of the world’s largest water sports boat show, boot Düsseldorf, Travemünde Week has been a fixed item on the calendar for over 50 years – and not just at the trade fair in January, when the new Travemünde Week poster is unveiled at a festive reception. The Düsseldorfers also enjoy visiting Lübeck Bay in the summer. A good opportunity for a short interview with boot Director Petros Michelidakis.
Maintaining a strong and friendly relationship: boot Director Petros Michelidakis (centre), LYC Chairman Lutz Kleinfeldt (left) and TW Managing Director Frank Schärffe. Photo: Christian Beeck/TW
Petros, you have been part of the boot team for exactly ten years and have been responsible for the world’s largest water sports boat show since 2016. These have been eventful years – where is boot headed?
By standing alongside the athletes here in Travemünde, we are also very close to the heart of the sport. We experience first-hand how sailing is developing, for example, and can share these insights with a wide audience at boot in Düsseldorf. That is actually the path I see for boot in the future: a combination of trade fair, sport and experience mixed with partnerships in the summer to demonstrate both expertise and proximity to the sport. I like to say that boot and Travemünde Week are friends for life. Without the sailing weeks, we would miss the direct contact with the sailors and the experience of the regattas on the water. In return, the sailing weeks at the trade fair have the opportunity to present sailing and the events to a broad public with thousands of visitors. It really is a unique combination and friendship.
The Passat is, to a certain extent, your home in Travemünde. It was here that you launched your new “We love water” campaign last October, and it is here that you invite people to a “Klönschnack” (a chat) on the four-masted barque every year. It’s a great celebration, as it has been in previous years. Where does this close connection to the traditional cargo sailing ship come from?
The presentation of “We love water” on the Passat’s tarpaulin last October was an absolute highlight, and we were very proud that our friends in Travemünde, above all the late Holger Bull, made it possible. Holger embodied the wonderful connection between tradition and sport. His tireless dedication to the Passat was simply unique, and it is also thanks to him that we were able to attach the new tarpaulin with the “We love water” lettering there last October. We will miss Holger very much. On the first Saturday of Travemünde Week, we traditionally invite friends of boot and young active people.
Since last October, the new slogan for boot Düsseldorf has been emblazoned on the tarpaulin of the Passat. Photo: Christian Beeck
That sounds like a continuation of the partnership. Will you be on board in Travemünde in the future?
The partnership with Travemünde Week was boot’s first involvement in a sailing regatta and demonstrates how serious the trade fair is about supporting sport. Our former trade fair director Kurt Schoop, who himself spent many years of his life in Travemünde, considered cooperation with active people in northern Germany to be very important, and he recognised more than 50 years ago that boot needed to fly the flag locally. Sailing was and is at the heart of boot, which is why we will continue to nurture and maintain our partnership with Travemünde Week in the future. The regatta venue at the mouth of the Trave is simply unique, and it is a great pleasure to be on board at the Lübeck Yacht Club. That’s why I’m always thrilled by the great picture with our blue boot flags in the background. It’s a fantastic week of racing and an eventful time here in Lübeck Bay.
