Kieler Woche 2020 to take place in September

The 49er fleet at Kiel Week presents lots of international stars on the race course - at Kiel Week part 2 © Kiel Week / Sascha Klahn

The current corona pandemic has an impact on almost all areas of public and private life - Kieler Woche is no exception. Kiel's unique sailing but summer festival can therefore not take place at the end of June this year as usual and will be postponed to the period from September 05 to 13, 2020.

Kiel's Lord Mayor Ulf Kämpfer explains: "We as a city have decided this step together with the organizers of the sailing regattas. The decision was not easy for us - but in consideration of the current development it is the best solution".

First of all it is now necessary to overcome the major challenges of the corona crisis together. "We all hope to return to normality as quickly as possible. Then there will be time again to sail, celebrate and enjoy the Kieler Woche together", said Kämpfer.

For City Mayor Hans-Werner Tovar, one thing is certain: "Kieler Woche is not only a sailing event, but above all an international festival of encounters and international understanding. Therefore a rescheduling is reasonable in the current situation. I am already looking forward to celebrating with our friends from our twin cities and all over the world - this time with a little delay.

"Of course, we could have waited a little longer with the final decision. But since we also wanted to give a sign to the international sailors, we have made our decision now", explains Dirk Ramhorst. The head of organisation of the Kieler Woche regattas and his team are now tackling the next organisational steps together with co-organisers, associations and volunteers. "We have received great support and understanding for this decision from our partners. We would like to thank them for this. And we are happy that in these difficult times partnerships are lived out in this way", says the regatta organizer.

In the next few days, he said, the focus will be on informing the active participants and classes and possibly adapting the programme to the new requirements. "We still have a lot of fine-tuning to do, among others with the German Sailing Association and the World Sailing Federation. First of all we wanted to create facts for the planning", Ramhorst makes clear.

The Kieler Woche office will now exchange ideas with all partners and coordinate the planning of the festival week for September.