History

The race takes place every 2nd year (from 1968 to 1986 and then from 1989 in rotation with the "Skagen Race"). On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the "Edinburgh - Regatta" in 2007 Dr. Meinhard Kohfahl looks back:

The idea came up 1966, when the german sailing yacht "Gaby" (LOA 7,0 m), with Skipper Erich Böhm and crew Dr. Meinhard Kohfahl (both Seglervereinigung Cuxhaven, SVC), were on a cruise to Scotland and Norway. When in Granton (Edinburgh), the Royal Forth Yacht Club (RFYC) celebrated the "Firth-Of-Forth-Week" including the "Dragon-Cold-Cup" (with "Blue Bottle", dragon of the Queen and Uffa Fox as helmsman) and a "Handicap-Race".

We were invited to participate in this race. Because we had no local knowledge and were short of crew, Pearl Walker, wife of Les Walker (RFYC), joined us as crew. On the party after the race the idea came up about a race from Germany to Granton in 1968, when the RFYC would celebrate its 100 year anniversary. One of the commodores at that time was, as far as I remember, Kenneth Gumley.

From then on Pearl Walker started to learn German and she helped the German sailors on every occasion, so they named Granton "Pearl Harbour". This was the beginning of a close contact between the RFYC and the SVC.

In the following years we even had a youth exchange between the two sailing clubs organized by Frank Mallard (RFYC) and Dr. Hannes Roß (SVC).

For many years we have two races on the seas. This is the "Pantaenis Rund Skagen - Regatta" (Helgoland round Skagen to Kiel) with half the distance in the Baltic and a real off-shore-race crossing the North Sea, the "Edinburgh - Regatta" (from Helgoland to Granton). To avoid competition we sail these races alternating every 2nd year.

Earlier "offshore-races" were organized by the "Segelkameradschaft ‘Das Wappen von Bremen'" (SKWB):

Helgoland - Burnham: 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939

Helgoland - Borkum: 1949

Bell Rock Regatta (Helgoland -round Bell Rock - Helgoland): 1951, 1960, 1966