Star Euros head to Germany

Kiel will play host to the 2009 Star European Championships

The sixth edition of the Rolex Baltic Week will be featuring the Star Class European Championship for the second time. After the 2006 event, the oldest Olympic class will once again be carried on the Baltic Sea in Germany. The regatta will take place from 5-12 July 2009 in the modernized Olympic sailing centre in Kiel-Schilksee. The news was delivered by Dierk Thomsen, Vice Commodore of the International Star Class Yacht Racing Association (ISCYRA) and Vice Chairman of the Kieler Yacht-Club (KYC) during this year’s Star Class European Championship on Lake Balaton in Hungary.

“We want to present the sailors an extraordinary event both on the water and on shore. And we are very happy to have won Rolex as our partner to fulfil this,” said Thomsen. The renowned manufacturer of Swiss timepieces with its German branch located in Cologne is known and loved for providing a top-class social event programme. The sixth Rolex Baltic Week will start with an opening party, and end with a festive prize-giving ceremony. This summer’s edition will be held from August 27 until August 31 in Travemuende and features the Rolex Farr 40 Europeans.

In the post-Olympic year of 2009, the organizers of Kieler Yacht-Club hope to have about 60 to 70 crews from Europe and beyond, as the event takes place between Kieler Woche and the Star Worlds in Varberg, Sweden.

The Star Class is known for always sailing open championships inviting non-Europeans to take part, which allowed Americans, Mark Mendelblatt and Mark Strube, to win the 2006 Rolex Baltic Week. In 1998, the Star Class Europeans were sailed in Kiel which saw a different US crew win the title with, Mark Reynolds and Magnus Liljedahl taking victory. “That was a very nice event, as everyone was personally cared for by the organizers and still remembers the special atmosphere,” said Dierk Thomsen from Kiel.

Germany’s fleets have also scored wins at World and European Championships. The German helmsman of this year’s Olympic crew, Marc Pickel of Kieler Yacht-Club even builds his own tailor-made Star boats in his own Kiel based boatyard. “Being polite hosts, we think that hospitality should come before winning the title ourselves,” says Thomsen with a smile on his face. In any case, he expects thrilling races and great sailing off Kiel. The detailed race programme will be published by the end of the year, after the international racing rules and the new class formats are fixed.