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World's largest sailing event

June 22, 2015

Cast off! Over three million visitors are expected during the Kiel Week, an annual sailing festival which combines ship races, concerts and street performances.

https://p.dw.com/p/1FlVJ
Keel week. Copyright: Carsten Rehder/dpa
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Rehder

The actor Axel Prahl and Schleswig-Holstein's state premier Torsten Albig signaled the beginning of the festival with the traditional ship's bell and horn on Saturday (20.06.2015).

Almost 4,000 athletes from nearly 50 countries compete in the regattas. After a successful kick-off, the Olympic and paralympic class sailing competitions were postponed because of a lack of wind. The Kiel Week also holds a marine meeting which attracts 50 ships manned by 4,500 sailors from ten countries.

The program includes over 2,000 events. International food specialties and a wide variety of music can be discovered. Almost all concerts are free. Artists such as Anastacia, Milow, Billy Ocean, Maggie Reilly and the German winner of the Eurovision Song Contest Lena Meyer-Landruth will be performing.

The Kiel Week runs until June 28.


ot / ej / eg (dpa, Kieler-Woche.de)