International Lake Constance Week
The International Lake Constance Week was an important European water sports event on Lake Constance until 1972 . On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of its establishment, the Lake Constance Week was revived in 2009.
history
Emergence
Around 1909, sailors and motorboat enthusiasts around Lake Constance started the Lake Constance Week as a joint sporting event. Before that, there were individual rowing regattas or motorboat races that were not linked to one another. The origin of the term “International Lake Constance Week” is not certain. A newspaper is said to have mentioned the name for the first time.
The Lake Constance Week quickly developed into a social highlight of the year and a meeting place for the upper classes, industrialists and the nobility. The sport was pushed into the background; it was increasingly about exchanging ideas on a sporting and social level, enjoying the lake and its ambience in an appropriate circle, maintaining contacts and doing business as well as presenting new technical developments. Small-scale espionage is said to have taken place.
In the last years of the First World War , the Lake Constance Week was no longer held. It was continued after 1918.
1920 to 1939
In 1920 the Lake Constance week was resumed. The event was affected by the Great Depression and customs barriers and was held until 1939.
1949 to 1970
In addition to the sailing regattas on the water, there were the then emerging motorboat races, rowing regattas, airplane and automobile demonstrations and various social events. This is how the Lake Constance Week developed into a symbol of sociability and sportiness, whereby the Kiel Week was initially overshadowed. The trade magazine “Yacht” spoke of the Lake Constance Week in 1952 as the “most important European water sports event”.
After that, the Lake Constance week suffered from its size. For events with over 1000 people, there was a lack of infrastructure, logistics and financial resources on Lake Constance. In addition, there were changes in the regatta sailors' wishes for harder races, which could not be guaranteed due to the lack of safe wind conditions on Lake Constance. In the 1960s, sailing finally split up into touring sailors, regatta sailors on Lake Constance and ambitious regatta sailors who increasingly proved themselves at sea. Organizational problems of the clubs and associations led to the discontinuation of the Lake Constance Week in 1972. Until then, she performed intermittently in several cities around Lake Constance.
Revival 2009
After a 37-year break, a new edition of the International Lake Constance Week took place around the port of Constance from June 4 to 7, 2009, and was attended by around 80,000 people. The organizers were German and Swiss yacht clubs as well as the city marketing of Konstanz .
The highlights in the program of the first new edition were:
- Sailing regattas for sailing boats of different classes over different routes in the Konstanz funnel
- Yacht meeting with around 140 sailing yachts in the old town harbor of Constance
- Concours d'Elegance for sailing yachts
- Various rowing competitions in the harbor of Constance and a style rowing competition
- Water ski cups for licensed riders and amateurs as well as a water ski show for spectators
- Concours d'Elegance (classic car meeting) on the harbor promenade
2010 and 2011
In 2010 the International Lake Constance Week took place in Konstanz from May 27th to 30th. The initiating 13 German and Swiss water sports clubs wanted to establish the week like their historical role model as a sporting and social event and innovation show. In 2011, an event also took place from May 26th to 29th on the historic harbor mile in the old town of Konstanz. Two anniversary events were celebrated in this context:
- 100 years of Lake Constance Sailing Association: the BSVb celebrates its founding year and presents the development of sailing on Lake Constance
- 125 years of the automobile: Baden-Württemberg celebrates the invention of the automobile and Lake Constance Week is an official partner
Since 2012
The International Lake Constance Week has been held every year since 2012.
See also
- Regatta around Lake Constance
Individual evidence
- ↑ The oldest program of the Lake Constance Week, which is in the holdings of the Konstanz City Archives, is dated to 1909.
- ↑ a b c d e Andreas Schuler: Anniversary event for the International Beodenseewoche in Konstanz. The legend comes to life . In: Südkurier from June 3, 2009
- ↑ Lisa Jahns: Sailing trip through history. In: Südkurier of May 18, 2013, p. 22.
- ↑ Joachim Schuhmacher: Organized water sports in the 20th century. The Lake Constance week for sailors. In: Harald Derschka and Jürgen Klöckler (eds.): Der Bodensee. Nature and history from 150 perspectives. In: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2018, ISBN 978-3-7995-1724-9 . Pp. 224-225.
- ↑ See Joachim Schuhmacher
- ↑ suedkurier.de: 80,000 visitors to the International Lake Constance Week. Retrieved December 14, 2012 .
- ↑ International Lake Constance Week: That's going on . In: Südkurier from May 19, 2009.
- ↑ Elegance and originality . In: Südkurier from June 3, 2009
- ↑ bodensee-woche.de: Highlights of the International Lake Constance Week 2010 from May 27th - 30th in Constance. Retrieved December 2, 2012 .
- ↑ International Lake Constance Week 2011. Archived from the original on June 19, 2010 ; Retrieved December 23, 2010 .
literature
- Joachim Schuhmacher: 150 years of water sports - diversity and change at the lake . In: Watersport magazine IBN , issue 18, 1997, pp. 14-20
Film reports
- SWR / SR: summer, sun, ships. SWR 2009. Broadcast on July 19, 2009 from 8:15 pm to 9:15 pm. (Film impressions of sailing boats, water skis and motor boats as well as from the port of Constance on the occasion of the International Lake Constance Week in 2009. Historical recordings from the Tagesschau of the 1950s and from Zeppelin, Maybach and Claude Dornier.)
