A club for military personnel, the "Marine-Regatta-Verein" ("Naval Regatta Club"), was established in 1887 in Kiel by officers of the Imperial German Navy.
In 1914, the German Emperor got the fateful news of the assassination of Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, while he was competing on a regatta organized by the Kaiserlicher Yacht Club.