Laura Kühlewind: The boss of the Seebahn

Laura Kühlewind has been associated with sailing since she was a child. “Our family has been involved in sailing for generations and I grew up with it. During the holidays we always went on the family boat. And on the weekend, when everyone else was partying, I was on Hiddensee with my parents and the boat,” she remembers. Laura Kühlewind started sailing in the Opti sailing club when she was nine years old. She later worked in the Zoom 8 class before moving to Laser Radial in 2005. At the age of 14 she also started helping out as a sailing trainer. “When I wasn’t on the water myself, I was training others,” she reflects. It wasn't until I spent a year abroad in the tenth grade that I lost contact with the sailing club.

After graduating from high school, she completed a voluntary social year as a sailing coach in Warnemünde, which brought her into contact with a seminar for referees and race directors for the first time. Kühlewind completed the examination to become a regional race director and regional referee. Since the spring of last year, the primary school teaching student has been the national race director and is therefore also allowed to lead higher-level regattas, such as during the Warnemünder Woche.

She describes her tasks as a race director with the help of an illustrative example: “Just as in Formula 1 a road is set as a race track, we lay out the course depending on the wind and class. After that, I direct my crew on the buoy-laying boats and the starting ship.” In addition to setting the regatta course, Kühlewind cites positioning the marks, carrying out the start and crossing the finish line as important tasks. “We are usually the first and last on the water,” she says.

Being responsible for the sea railway as a race director is a first for the Rostock native: it is her first assignment in the big ship sector. The Mecklenburg spa regatta and the long-distance race “Rund Bornholm” have already been successfully completed under Kühlewind’s direction. Until the end of Warnemünder Woche There are still up & down races coming up. “Being the boss of the longer big ship regattas for the first time was very exciting. The remaining Up & Downs are more similar to the dinghy regattas that I already know. In any case, I enjoy being a race director at the event Warnemünder Woche totally fun. I hope to come back,” says Laura Kühlewind.