The 23rd Match Race Germany will take place in 2022

Match Race Germany © Robert Hajduk / www.shuttersail.com

The 23rd Match Race Germany will take place on its regular date over Whitsun. The upcoming edition of the German Match Race Grand Prix will be sailed and celebrated from 2nd to 6th June in 2022.

25 years after its premiere in 1997, the match race stage on lake Constance will once again sail into the international spotlight, attracting tens of thousands visitors to the heartbeat chamber in Langenargen's famous Gondola Harbour and to the surrounding shores.

The event, which was originally planned for this autumn, has become impossible due to the current pandemic situation and the restrictions still to be expected in September. "As a popular sailing festival, we are a major event where people should be able to get together in a relaxed and worry-free way", says Event Manager Harald Thierer of the organizing Match Center Germany. "After the big Shore Festival with all the clubs in Langenargen had to be cancelled recently, we have been in close discussions with the city of Langenargen and our partners. We share the belief that another postponement is the only right answer for the sport and the public. As the licensing situation was unclear, concepts for large events with tens of thousands of visitors did not seem safe enough from our perspective."

Harald Thierer explains: "We have made Match Race Germany what it is, because we have always been at full throttle. This decision is the only way we are able to grant the sailors from all over the world, the spectators and our partners including their many guests a happy and exciting togetherness. According to our expectations, it would not be possible this year. We know and we hear every week, how much the sailors and all our companions are missing Match Race Germany. Everyone is looking forward to the comeback after the challenging Corona pandemic. But a Match Race Germany with a stifled power can't be what it should be and what everyone involved deserves."

The postponement of the 23rd Match Race Germany does bring the favourite date over Pentecost back into play for next year. Then, in the 25th year of the history of Match Race Germany, whose premiere in 1997 marks the roots of the success story of the leading German duelling sailing summit, the comeback should be perfectly possible in early summer of 2022.

"We are an event by, for and with many people. Our concept puts people at the centre. They come to us - especially after the pandemic - with great expectations. We don't want to let them down and only be semi-attractive. Thus, we will just wait a little longer to be able to celebrate the new beginning on all levels and to be the popular Sail-and-Tainment event that everyone looks forward to", says Sports Director Eberhard Magg.

In 2022, the World Match Racing Tour will also resume full speed. The leading World Tour had to be held in a reduced size during the pandemic but did not lose any if its power and determination and now heads towards its final in December (15th - 19th) in China which will be contested in Fareast 28R yachts. Match Race Germany will again be a World Tour Event next year.

Current pictures and information can be found at www.matchrace.de, information on the World Match Racing Tour at www.wmrt.com