On February 12, 1887, sailing enthusiasts among the naval officers in Kiel founded the Marine Regatta Association (MRV). Prince Heinrich, brother of the future Emperor Wilhelm II, became its patron. At its founding meeting, the association had 112 members; by 1891, it already had 500, the vast majority of whom were naval officers.
In the summer of 1928, on the orders of the Reich Minister of Defense, all naval officers and civil servants had to leave the Imperial Yacht Club because of its imperial tradition. For this reason, the Marine Regatta Association was re-established (alongside the Imperial Yacht Club). At the beginning of 1937, the Reich Sports Leader decreed that the Imperial Yacht Club be renamed the “Yacht Club of Germany” (YCvD) – the Imperial Yacht Club was to be forcibly merged with the Kiel Sailing Association (KSV) and other yacht clubs with “names that were no longer appropriate” to form the Yacht Club of Germany (YCvD). The Imperial Yacht Club avoided this by dissolving itself on October 28, 1936.
