Sailing Aarhus is a non-profit, sport event organization and the largest organization for water sports in Denmark with 3000 members. The mission statement is to promote and encourage sailing by attracting and organizing regattas, events and related social activities. The organization has and will host a number of European and world championships in different ship classes of the International Sailing Federation. Headquarters is located in the sports-political centre in Idrættens Hus Vest at the Stadium of Aarhus. [1] [2]
Sailing Aarhus was founded in 1999 by initiative of the five yacht clubs in Aarhus, Denmark: Kaløvig Yacht Club, Egå Yacht Club, Aarhus Yacht Club, Yacht Club Bugten and Marselisborg Yacht Club and the City of Aarhus (Sport Aarhus Events) and the Danish Sailing Association. The first comprehensive project was to prepare and complete a bidding campaign for the ISAF Sailing World Championships 2003 in Aarhus (The World Championship for all Olympic classes). Aarhus did not win the bidding round but was outmatched by Cadiz, Spain but in 2014 it was awarded the world championship in 2018 for all 10 olympic class. [3]
Aarhus is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality. It is located on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula, in the geographical centre of Denmark, 187 kilometres (116 mi) northwest of Copenhagen and 289 kilometres (180 mi) north of Hamburg, Germany. The inner urban area contains 273,077 inhabitants and the municipal population is 340,421. Aarhus is the central city in Business Region Aarhus and in the East Jutland metropolitan area, which had a total population of 1.378 million in 2016.
Denmark, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, is a Nordic country. Denmark proper, which is the southernmost of the Scandinavian countries, consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and an archipelago of 443 named islands, with the largest being Zealand, Funen and the North Jutlandic Island. The islands are characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts, low elevation and a temperate climate. The southernmost of the Scandinavian nations, Denmark lies southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and is bordered to the south by Germany. The Kingdom of Denmark also includes two autonomous territories in the North Atlantic Ocean: the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark has a total area of 42,924 km2 (16,573 sq mi), land area of 42,394 km2 (16,368 sq mi), and the total area including Greenland and the Faroe Islands is 2,210,579 km2 (853,509 sq mi), and a population of 5.8 million.
The Danish Sailing Association is the national governing body for the sport of sailing in Denmark, recognised by the International Sailing Federation.
The organization has an extensive network in business and the world of yachting and has close relations to the City of Aarhus within the fields of education, development and environmental research as well as a number of additional authorities and organizations. Sailing Aarhus has a performance contract with The City of Aarhus to attract and host international sailing events and the association is cooperating with the City of Aarhus, the Danish Sailing Association and Team Denmark to manage the “Danish Olympic Elite Training Center” – also called Team Denmark Kraftcenter Aarhus.
In 2014 the A.P. Møller Foundation donated DKK 36 million to the construction of Aarhus Internationale Sejlsportscenter on Aarhus Docklands, which will become the new national watersports stadium. [4] [5] [6]
