The Kiel Week is a must-attend event for world champions and Olympic champions. "If you want to become an Olympic champion, you have to be able to win the Kiel Week," the scene says. The regattas, in which world elite and "active players from next door" compete, unite class with mass. In order to control the onslaught on the Olympic Center Schilksee, the sailing competitions have been divided into international classes and Olympic classes since 1993, which divide the racing days among themselves. The ocean-going yachts, in turn, have their own programme further out on the offshore courses.