High class and new in 2023
A new design, a big anniversary and a top-class regatta program: The 134. Travemünder Woche (July 21 to 30) has a lot to tell in 2023. After a two-year pandemic break, the starting signal for the regatta and festival event could finally be given again at the reception of the Travemünder Woche within the framework of the boot in Düsseldorf – the world’s largest water sports exhibition, which is the most loyal partner of the Travemünder Woche. And the boot comeback offered the opportunity to present the new face of the sailing week to representatives from sports, politics and business at the traditional meeting on the first Sunday of boot, to explain the connection to Lübeck Travemünde Marketing GmbH and also to present the main organizers, the Lübecker Yacht-Club, in its 125th anniversary year. Year of existence to celebrate.
Ole and Leevke – the new picture
A fleet of golden boats on a surging sea of blue waves, which grow out of the beard of the sea bear “Ole” or fly out of the hair of the Travemünder Deern “Leevke”: This is the new image of the Travemünder Woche – the combination of cheerful festival action and high-class regatta sport. The close interlocking of the public with the sailing sport has always been a unique selling point of the Travemünder Woche, now this symbiosis gets even more tailwind. The redesign of the external presentation of the overall event will in future be the responsibility of Lübeck und Travemünde Marketing GmbH, which has launched the new image of the sailing and festival week in cooperation with the TW organization.
The Travemünde Week and the tourism development strategy for our seaside resort go together like the beach and the Baltic Sea.
Lübeck’s Mayor Jan Lindenau
“Travemünde Week and the tourism development strategy for our seaside resort go together like the beach and the Baltic Sea. We are underlining this in a special way with the new image,” said Lübeck’s mayor Jan Lindenau about the new communication concept. The mayor emphasized that the strengthening and further development of the Travemünde Week after the pandemic years with many restrictions is a key project for the city of Lübeck.
The closer coordination with LTM has already proven itself in intensive cooperation over the past months, reported Frank Schärffe, Managing Director of Travemünder Woche gGmbH: “We have developed a new visualization of the overall event, a new logo and a new website. This will further strengthen the presence of the Travemünder Woche in the city and adapt the festival face more to the tourism concept. Of course, the organization of the regattas remains in the proven hands of the organizer trio of Lübecker Yacht-Club, Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and Zürcher Yacht-Club.”
125 years Travemünder Woche
The fact that the tailwind for the Travemünder Woche is gaining strength this year is a perfectly chosen moment for the main organizing Lübecker Yacht-Club, as the club celebrates its 125th anniversary this year. birthday. “The regattas of the Travemünder Woche were the reason for Kaiser Wilhelm II to initiate the foundation of the yacht club 125 years ago. To this day, hosting the Travemünder Woche is the statutory purpose of the LYC and an element of identification for the members. A large proportion of the approximately 850 sailors in the club are associated with the TW – whether as organizers, as helpers or as participants,” reports Lutz Kleinfeldt, chairman of the Lübeck Yacht Club.
The TW reception at boot was therefore not only the starting signal for the regatta week, but also for the LYC celebrations, which culminate in a reception on August 30 for the foundation day and in a big ball in November. In the club’s anniversary year, the sailing ambassador, the club yacht “MEU”, will also embark on a grand Atlantic voyage for the first time. In August, shortly after the Travemünder Woche, the yacht will set sail from Lübeck under the leadership of skipper Clara Weimer and will sail to the Caribbean and back for more than one and a half years. The skipper reported on the upcoming big plans during the boot appearance of TW and was pleased to have found a great advocate in boot director Petros Michelidakis, who made the connection for further support of the offshore project.
For the anniversary year, we naturally wanted to present an exciting program.
Jens Kath, Sports Director
Great tasks also lie ahead for the TW’s sporting directors, Sports Director Jens Kath and Overall Race Director Andreas Denecke. “For the anniversary year, we naturally wanted to present an exciting program. And our hopes of being able to host top events have been exceeded. As in 2019, we were keen to have the lake sailors with us with the International German Championship (IDM). In the fall, we then won the bid not only for the title fights with full crew, but also for the IDM of the two-person crews. With the championships of the kites and the Olympic kiters we have further top events on the national level at the start”, says Jens Kath, who, however, looks with special excitement to the international championships: “The Sailing Champions League has again given us the contract for the finals. This was already a highly exciting top event last year. But there is more: the European Championships of the O-dinghies and the World Championships of the J/22. And with the Junior World Championships of the 49er and 49erFX as well as the World Championships of the Formula 18 we have highly racy classes at the start. The catamaran sailors of the Formula 18 will come from all over the world, and with the two skiff classes there are athletes at the start who are already looking towards the Olympics.”
The Travemünde Week will also have to cope with high demands in terms of infrastructure with the organization of these world championships, as numerous large containers with the boat equipment of the international participants are expected. “The range of championships is huge – from sea-going yachts, to highly sensitive skiffs and catamarans, to the small kite-foilers. There are also very different demands on the shore organization and the regatta organizers. We cope with this with our years of experience as well as the cooperation with specialists from the individual classes and race committees from the Lübeck Yacht Club, the North German Regatta Association and the Zurich Yacht Club,” explained Denecke, who himself is a member of both the LYC and ZYC.
The new poster from Frauke Klatt
At the finale of the reception, in good tradition, the freshly printed poster of the regattas was presented to the representatives of the fair. For more than 25 years, Lübeck’s Maritim artist Frauke Klatt has designed the image for TW. And even with the redesign of the external presentation of the overall event, Frauke Klatt’s painting remains a central element of the regattas. The current poster showing skiff sailors cheering for victory will find its place in the exhibition rooms. Wolfram N. Diener, Managing Director of the fair, and Petros Michelidakis, boot Director, accepted the poster and emphasized their attachment to the Travemünder Woche. “It is great what work the Lübeck Yacht Club does. Exemplary also the project to sail with the training boat around the Atlantic. We need much more of such initiatives,” said Michelidakis and announced that he would again be represented at the Travemünder Woche with a boot reception at the Passat.
.
