After the Ocean Race Fly-By last year, Kiel can look forward to the next major sailing event. The Ocean Race Europe will start in 2025 in the self-proclaimed “Sailing City”. The Malizia team with Hamburg skipper Boris Herrmann is also there.
Kiel’s mayor Dr. Ulf Kampf (SPD) and Herrmann presented the plans for the European offshoot of the Ocean Race on Wednesday in Kiel. “Becoming a starting port is a great honor for us. This is a very, very big thing for us,” said Kampfer. “We want to have great sailing in Kiel even outside of Kiel Week. I’m really looking forward to it.” It is the second edition of the Ocean Race Europe after the first race in 2021.
“To be able to start in Germany’s model sailing city is of course the jackpot for us.”
—Boris Herrmann
Rosalin Kuiper also at the start with Holcim
The second Imoca class regatta through Europe will start on August 10, 2025 in the Kiel Fjord and will take the Malizia Seaexplorer and Co. across all European seas. Herrmann’s former co-skipper Rosalin Kuiper will also be at the start, who will then have taken over the helm at Team Holcim. “I’m super happy that we’re starting in Kiel,” said the Dutchwoman, who joined in from Switzerland.
“Unforgettable” Ocean Race Fly-By
Last June, the Ocean Race around the globe made a short visit to Kiel. More than 100,000 spectators watched the fly-by of the Imoca racing yachts on both banks of the Kiel Fjord on June 9th before the eventual Ocean Race winner 11th Hour Racing and the Malizia set course for The Hague.
“That was a spectacular passage that will remain unforgettable for us. Kiel showed itself at its best, a perfectly organized fly-by,” said Herrmann after the short visit to the fjord.
Starting shot on August 10, 2025 in Kiel
The starting signal for the Ocean Race Europe will be fired here in August 2025 and Kiel will have to prepare itself for an onslaught of sailing fans who want to be there when Herrmann and Co. set sail to sail through the Baltic Sea, North Sea, etc Sailing the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
One kilometer long event area on the Kiel Fjord
“We want to transfer the motto of Kiel Week ‘Free and outdoors’ to the Ocean Race,” said Mayor Kampf. “Everyone should get something out of it.” For this purpose, a one kilometer long event area will be set up on the Kiel Fjord. “Here we want to show what this race is about,” explained Uwe Wanger, Managing Director of Kiel-Marketing GmbH. “This is an event for all of Schleswig-Holstein.”
“We want to have great sailing and protect the seas.”
— Kiel’s mayor Dr. Ulf Kampfer (SPD)
The Ocean Race Europe has the motto “Connecting Europe: Racing to restore our ocean and waters” and is scheduled to make up to five stops on the way to the destination port in the Mediterranean.
The next big Ocean Race around the world, in which Herrmann came third with the Malizia last year, will start in January 2027. Then Kiel would like to not only be a fly-by location, but also a destination port for a stage.
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Schleswig-Holstein Magazine | 02/14/2024 | 19:30 o’clock
