The slipping off of the Kiel Yacht Club has always been a sociable event, a colorful and lively happening in spring. A crane is ordered for the large community action to bring as many yachts as possible from winter storage into the water in one day. Masts are set with mutual help, there is barbecues and jokes. Looking forward to the season is in the air. At least that's how it was until a year ago the first wave of the pandemic began to sweep through Germany. Nor did she stop at sailing.
Meetings were forbidden, port facilities were blocked, winter storage was cordoned off. Also in the Kieler Yacht Club (KYC) no ships were brought into the water together a year ago. "The most difficult thing, however, was that you couldn't plan at all," says Carsten Krage, Chairman of the KYC, recalling the restless days in March 2020. "Everything was in a state of upheaval." A shipyard finally brings the ships into the water, nothing else was initially impossible.
For a year now, the sailing clubs in this country have been turning the norms, processes and fixed dates on their heads. Board members and members had to and must ask themselves how community can function in times when it is not easily possible in the community and new ways have to be found.
So how have clubs got through the Corona crisis so far? What happened to Wednesday regattas, youth training, club ships, general meetings and the chatter at the bar? What solutions can club life be maintained despite the pandemic - or is everything idle?