Messe Düsseldorf CEO Wolfram Diener opens Kiel Week 2022

The first weekend of Kiel Week 2022 was filled with big hellos, a great show and lucky boot.club winners for the Düsseldorf trade fair organizers.

The sunshine over the Kieler Foerde, decent offshore winds ensured a fast pace in the regattas and a relaxed cheerful opening created the typical Kiel sailing flair on Saturday. Also on board, unmistakably with its waving blue flags in the Olympic harbour, was boot Düsseldorf. Messe Düsseldorf CEO Wolfram Diener opened the Kiel Week together with Lord Mayor Dr Ulf Kämpfer, City President Hans-Werner Tovar and Regatta Director Dirk Ramhorst. In his welcoming speech, Diener left no doubt that Messe Düsseldorf will be hosting boot 2023 and emphasized the long-standing partnership between boot and Kiel Week, which will already be 30 years old next year. Their beginnings can even be traced back to the 1972 Olympics, where the former head of the trade fair, Kurt Schoop, was able to establish the first friendly contacts with the Kiel Yacht Club as the head of protocol for the sailing competitions. Kiel Week and boot have a very special symbiosis, Diener emphasized. "The international significance of both events is without exception. Both at the regattas of Kiel Week and at boot Düsseldorf, the whole world is on board. This way we create a unique atmosphere, which is extremely important especially after the pandemic. Finally, we can welcome people from all over the world again. We enjoy this here in Kiel and will also experience it in Düsseldorf in six months' time," explained Messe Düsseldorf’s CEO and wished the active participants, the Lord Mayor and the Kiel Yacht Club a successful Kiel Week 2022.

An exciting day on the Kieler Foerde was experienced by the winners of the raffle in the boot.club. Kerstin (17) and Ole (8) took part in the trip on a regatta boat on behalf of the winning Freynhagen family from Flensburg. The 17-year-old Danish Kerstin lives with the Freynhagens as an exchange student. Ole is the second oldest of the four boys in the family and, like his ten-year-old brother Emil, is already busy sailing himself in an optimist boat on the Flensburg Foerde. Skipper Axel Schuen (Neander Shark), as an experienced expert of the sailing scene, drove the two together with boot press spokeswoman Tania Vellen to the edge of the regattas and vividly explained their course. This way, the young sailing fans could experience the start and finish of a race. They were also present during the training of the 49ers and watched with great interest and excitement how a boat is righted after capsizing. Ole told them that he had to capsize "on purpose" in order to practice this. At the end of the trip, the two were visibly impressed by the sporting activity on the Foerde and Ole paid huge respect to the manoeuvres and the rapid speed of the boats. To round off an eventful trip to Kiel Week, Kerstin and Ole enjoyed a delicious ice-cream topped with boot blue beads in front of the glittering Baltic Sea backdrop.

Home port for international water sports

boot Düsseldorf will once again anchor on the Rhine from 21 to 29 January 2023.

boot Düsseldorf has been the home port and motor for international water sports for 53 years. It offers boating in all its facets from 21st  to 29th January 2023 and has the top brands on board. Both sailors and motor boaters will find a comprehensive range of boats here, from entry-level boats and dinghies to luxury yachts. Diving, surfing, paddling and fishing are also in the spotlight at boot. With the innovative and technically sophisticated products of the exhibitors, boot is the international innovation platform for its sector and, apart from the pandemic-related break, the starting signal for the new water sports season every year in January. With its comprehensive range of tourism products in the destination seaside for holidays and sports on, by and in the water, it attracts all people who want to spend their leisure time by the sea, rivers and lakes. Attractive stage programs with interesting interview partners from the industry, the latest trend sports offers and a top-class mix of workshops and meetings for both leisure sports enthusiasts and experts make the fair unique worldwide. boot Düsseldorf is once again in 2023 the first address for both the water sports enthusiast family and international experts.