The organisers of the Travemünde Week present the fresh poster for the TW 2025 (from left): Lutz Kleinfeldt, Anja Kamrath, Lorenz Buchler, Frank Schärffe, Jan Lindenau, Petros Michelidakis, Sascha Osterwalder, Andreas Christiansen, Frauke Klatt, Jens Kath, Marius Berlemann and Ralf Schulte. Photo: segel-bilder.de
In half a year, Lübeck’s fifth season will begin: the Travemünde Week. The countdown for the remaining 180 days until the opening of the regatta and festival week was launched at the boot in Düsseldorf. Traditionally, the fresh poster and the sailing programme were presented at the reception for the 136th Travemünde Week (18 to 27 July) at the world’s largest water sports exhibition. The invitation to tender has been online since Sunday and the registration portal has been activated.
The reception on the first Sunday of boot is always a meeting of friends. The sailors come to the TW stand and in the evening to the stage at the Sailing Center to find out about the regattas in the summer. The reception is a meeting and a small talk between the organisers and volunteers, the sponsors, the representatives of the city of Lübeck and the management of Messe Düsseldorf – a big reunion of the huge TW family.
‘From now on, there are still 180 days to go, but work on the Travemünde Week 2025 already began a few months ago,’ said Lutz Kleinfeldt, the chairman of the main organising club, Lübecker YC. ‘What is being prepared now will bring together around 400 volunteers this summer, who are always very much looking forward to it and take time off work for the event,’ said the LYC president. And he was pleased that the family continues to grow, because with the Berlin YC joining as co-organiser, the number of clubs responsible has increased to four.
The NRV from Hamburg has always been a permanent member of the Travemünde Week community. What’s more, Andreas Christiansen, the Commodore of the NRV, recalled the beginnings of the regatta week when, in 1889, the former NRV chairman Hermann Wentzel and his brother-in-law Hermann Dröge sailed a regatta off Travemünde, thus laying the foundation for Travemünde Week. ‘For Hamburg, the Lübeck Bay is the perfect sailing area on the doorstep, and the Travemünde Week is the most beautiful regatta week for us,’ said Christiansen, who celebrated his greatest successes in Travemünde. In 1973, he won the Folkboat Gold Cup at the Travemünde Week.
For the Zurich YC, the Lübeck Bay is not exactly on the doorstep of their own club. And yet the co-organisation, now in its sixth year, is close to the Swiss club’s heart. ‘Our club member Anderl Denecke, the overall race director of the Travemünde Week, brought us together. Unfortunately, the start of the collaboration fell directly in the Corona break, but now we feel completely at home,’ said Sascha Osterwalder, regatta president of the ZYC. ‘It’s always exciting for us to see which classes are sailing here. Last year, we were the race committee for the International Canoe World Championship, the sailing canoes. At first, we couldn’t even imagine what that was. But it was a great class. Now we are excited to see which class we will be supporting in 2025.’
Lorenz Buchler is also excited. The race director of the Berlin YC took on his first tasks at the Travemünde Week two years ago, and then his team was already responsible for several regatta decisions at the TW 2024. ‘We at the Berlin Yacht Club have decided to partner with the Travemünde Week and are very much looking forward to the task,’ said Buchler, who, in addition to his own involvement, is also focusing on the Topcats. ‘I was active in the class for many years and know the sailors. That’s why I won’t be taking care of them as a race director, but rather another class, because I would be too involved. But if I have a day off on my course, I’ll stop by the Topcat course.’
For Jens Kath, the Sports Director of the Travemünde Week, the Topcats with their three international championships are a highlight of the 136th Travemünde Week. ‘In addition, we also have the premiere of the Short Track European Championships for the 49er and 49erFX. It’s an exciting new format in which eight boats always sail against each other in elimination races – similar to our Trave Races. We are excited to see whether this format will catch on internationally.’ In addition, there will be five German title fights, ranking regattas and the races on the lake course. “The start of the long distance race will be particularly exciting. We are planning it in the Trave, right after our opening ceremony on 18 July,” says Kath.
New ideas and projects are an integral part of the Travemünde Week – whether on the water or on land. For Frank Schärffe, managing director of Travemünder Woche gGmbH, sustainability has become a major issue in recent years: ‘As a major event, we are aware that we have to do our part to conserve resources. This has resulted in many commitments that we have imposed on ourselves – from reducing waste, to saving water and fuel, to using e-mobility.
Two years ago, we started preparing a sustainability report that should lead to certification in the future,’ said Schärffe. To reduce the carbon footprint that will always remain at an event, a tree planting initiative was launched last year. ’A great campaign. We were able to finance over 1000 seedlings for a forest near Scharbeutz.All participants and visitors can take part and book their tree through our website to offset their travel. The first bookings for 2025 have already been received.”
In this way, the Travemünde Week is committed to the environment and is becoming more and more aware of it – not only in Travemünde, but also in the region. ‘As a city, we are very happy to be involved in the Travemünde Week. It is one of our outstanding events,’ said Lübeck’s mayor Jan Lindenau at the TW reception. ‘The connection has become stronger and stronger in recent years. I would even go so far as to say that there is no gap between the Travemünde Week and the city of Lübeck.’ Although the events are concentrated in Travemünde, the TW is also becoming more and more visible in the city centre. ‘The merchant class identifies with the Travemünde Week and presents the event through posters, banners and flyers,’ says Lindenau.
And the water sports are also to come into the city. To this end, Ralf Schulte, managing director of Newport Marina, has initiated a new sporting challenge, which he is implementing together with the Travemünde Week organisation. ‘On 19 January, we will be holding the Seven-Tower SUP, a SUP race around the old town,’ reported Ralf Schulte. The race is intended to attract both ambitious athletes, with a 10-kilometre course, and amateur athletes, with a course for everyone. ‘We want to offer a compact water sports programme directly in our marina in the old town and are delighted to be organising it in partnership with Travemünder Woche.’
Active partnerships are part of the DNA of the Travemünde Week. For example, the connection to boot in Düsseldorf has existed for over 50 years and is therefore the longest existing partnership on both sides. That is why boot presented its new ‘We love Water’ campaign last October to mark the arrival of the LYC club ship ‘Meu’ after its great Atlantic voyage: ‘The arrival of the “Meu” was simply fantastic and I was very pleased that we were able to welcome her with our brand new “We love water” logo on the Persenning of the Passat at the entrance to the Trave. The partnership with the Travemünde Week is our longest-standing cooperation with a sailing regatta. That’s why we were particularly pleased when you gave us the go-ahead to travel to the Bay of Lübeck with our new campaign and present it to you,’ said boot director Petros Michelidakis.
And Marius Berlemann, who has been Managing Director Operations at Messe Düsseldorf since 1 August 2024, added the following about the success of the campaign: ‘With “We love water”, we have created a sense of community for all water sports. Surfers, motorboat drivers, sailors and divers see themselves as a common community. Here at boot, the slogan is really taking off. The joy that fans feel for their sport can be felt in all 16 exhibition halls of boot.”
The handover of the poster to the exhibition management marked the end of the reception. The poster, designed by Lübeck’s maritime artist Frauke Klatt, shows the Topcats in full sail in 2025.
For Marius Berlemann, this is a good reason to continue counting on another successful journey of Travemünder Woche and boot: ‘boot’s summer activities are an important part of our trade fair concept. They bring us to the people who are actively involved and allow us to experience the sport side by side with them. Therefore, I can assure you that boot will continue to stand side by side with Travemünder Woche in the coming years, and that the blue boot flags will fly at the entrance to the Trave. Furthermore, it is an honour for us that you use boot every year to present your new poster. Many thanks to Lutz Kleinfeldt for the Lübeck Yacht Club and Frank Schärffe for the Travemünde Week and last but not least, of course, to the head of the Lübeck city council, Jan Lindenau. I am very much looking forward to being on board with you for the first time this summer.”
