Travemuende Week 2011 - Four Worlds and four Europeans

by Andreas Kling on 30 Nov 2010
Luebeck Bay has long been known as a superb venue for sailing championships, but the 122nd edition of Travemuende Week (22 to 31July 2011) looks set to amaze more than a million regular visitors to this famous regatta and festival on shore.

Four World Championships and four European title contests, plus further German and regional championships make the last week in July, more than ever, a truly international gathering of top sailors and a top-class event.

Travemuende Week will also be the perfect venue for the birthday of a grand old lady, as Travemuende’s famous landmark, the four-masted bark ‘Passat’, will be celebrating her 100th birthday next year.

A little younger, but still an enjoyable sight for all lovers of classic sailing, is the 68-year-old, long keel Folkboat class, which will be one of the many attractions to look forward to in the Passat harbour in 2011. Around 80 crews and their boats are expected, sailing for the Gold Cup in the Folkboat World Championship from 24 to 29 July. Before the event begins, the crews of three Folkboats will meet for the traditional warm up race at the Niendorf 'Treibyacht' (16 to 17 July).

The Folkboats will be only one of the international highlights of Travemuende Week this summer. The fleet expected for the World Championship of the International Canoe (23 to 30 July) will be of a similar size. This rather wobbly design, with its unique sliding hiking seat, enjoys great popularity – especially in North America. The speeds these skiffs can achieve will be seen on the ‘Charlie’ race course in front of the Mecklenburg shoreline.

Around 30 young – and young at heart – teams are expected for the world title contest of the Laser II class (23 to 29 July). The set-up of this two-man dinghy is much easier to handle than on the slightly bigger Olympic 470, but it is just as much fun to sail and has great speed potential. There will be ten race courses in the Luebeck Bay, including the re-opened race course ‘Echo’, close to the Brodten shore, for the Laser II class.

The 49ers are celebrating a ‘junior’ world premiere at Travemuende. For the first time, there will be a World Championship for the under-23 age group in this Olympic skiff (24 to 31 July). 'The growing number of young sailors now has made the 49er also a World Youth Championship class,' explains Heiko Thoelmann from Hamburg, President of the German class association. 'This World Championship thus provides a chance for the young sailors to sail without having to compete against the ‘old hands’ of the Olympic scene. This will be a big event at the Travemuende Week.'

Another class contesting its European Championship at Travemuende Week is probably the most spectacular design in the dinghy world – the International Moth (25 to 30 July). In recent years this open design class has emerged as a real rocket ship with its hydrofoils, flying above the water on their centreboard and rudder wings.

The Europe dinghies, originally related to the Moths but a separate class for 40 years now, will also arrive in large numbers in Travemuende. Eighty girls and eighty boys could be at the start line for the European Youth Championship (25 to 29 July). The European Championships for the J/22 keelboats (23 to 26 July) are also expected to attract strong entries, especially from competitive Dutch teams and the German Baltic coast. The Javelin class Europeans completes the program of continental title matches.

The Tornado class demonstrates its loyalty to and preference for Travemuende Week by hosting its 2011 World Championship at the event. The catamarans’ International German Championship will also take place in Luebeck Bay next year. The Tornado class is hoping to be approved as a mixed class at the Brazil 2016 Games after the vote for the re-entry for multihulls in the Olympic program at the ISAF annual conference in Athens, Greece. And the fast catamarans are certain to provide a real spectacle during their races on the Trave. As in 2010, the races will be held close to the promenade on the river Trave, giving the public a ringside view and once again making a great addition to the racing festival. The setting for the Tornados’ memorable contest on short courses is alongside none other than Travemuende’s elegant elderly lady - the 100-year-old ‘Passat’.

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