Bulletin 4 - August, 13th 2007

Lord Mayor Roland Methling:
Crews and Organisators managed incredible tasks
„The 17th Hanse Sail Rostock belongs to the history till today. Crews from 14 nations, national and international visitors experienced the cordial hospitality of Rostock’s inhabitants. But they also got to know all capers, the „weather god“ sent to our breadths. Under this sometimes complicated conditions captains, crews and organizers managed great challenges to present four unforgettable days to all the Sail-fans. I want to say „Thanks a lot!“ to everybody and I also want to include the sponsors and furtherer in my acknowledgement. We already got the acceptance of various ships, which want to participate in the 18th Hanse Sail Rostock from August, 7th to 10th 2008. All friends of this maritime event are hearty invited to be on target for Rostock in 2008.

Manager of the Sail Holger Bellgardt
“The Hanse Sail 2007 has been a logistic challenge in the water as well as ashore and in the air” resumes Holger Bellgardt. “I appreciate the hundreds of voluntary assistants, involved companies and –last but not least- my team for the assignment at conditions which have sometimes been very stringent.” The Hanse Sail won internationality. This fact has been proved by ships from 14 different nations and international top-class guests who visited the Hanseatic city of Rostock, says Bellgardt. “We want to tie up to this in 2008. We are going to network our new partners and strive towards the participation of further naval training ships. Together with those we could celebrate the 50th anniversary of the training ship of the German Navy – Gorch Fock- in 2008 which has already registered for the next Hanse Sail.”

The weather was a brake concerning the turnover
For the marketers and their turnover the weather at the Hanse Sail 2007 was more than bad. Thus every summary of the 500 carneys and salespersons was different. A lot of salesmen long for turnovers like those of last year. The sunny opening day gave reason to hope for attractive sales figures but the following rainy and foggy days pressed the carneys. According to the evaluation of Jörg Vogt, the administrator of the Großmarkt Rostock GmbH, it can be said that Saturday was the day, when most of the visitors came to the Hanse Sail. Reasons for that are for instance the fireworks, the attractive stage programmes and parties. The number of visitors at the next morning, however, was rather low. Jörg Vogt underlines that the 17th Hanse Sail, compared to previous Hanse Sails, was not the most successful concerning the sales figures. With regard to the mood the Hanse Sail 2007 was one of the most peaceful Sails.

„After the Sail means before the Sail“
Despite of all the efforts and little of sleep for organisers, partners and assistants of the 17th Hanse Sail on the last day of the big maritime event, everybody also gets nostalgic feelings. These feelings don’t last very long, because the 18th meeting from August, 7th to 10th 2008 is coming and its preparations already began. Some parts of the programme are already certain, for example that Latvia is going to be the partner country of the Sail as well as the fact that the training ship of the German navy the “Gorch Fock” is going to participate in the Hanse Sail once again. Other ships which did not come to Rostock yet were canvassed, like the Swedish brig “Trekroner” and especially the gorgeous rebuilding of the East Indian “Götheborg”.Rostock’s mayor Roland Methling knows as well as the manager of the Hanse Sail Holger Bellgardt that it takes a lot of endurance to gain new participating ships and international partners. So the latest news of Laila Nordfors from the Swedish Gävle are so much the better: “We want to be a member of the Baltic Sail in 2008!”

German Navy – Successful Days at the Hanse Sail 2007
The German Navy is absolutely happy with the Hanse Sail 2007. Nearly 30.000 people visited naval vessels on four splendid days at the Naval Base „Hohe Düne“, in Rostock and Warnemünde. The outstanding number of more than 15.000 visitors came on board of the German frigate „Hamburg“ during the open ship times. Although the weather conditions were sometimes really bad, around 10.000 people came to visit the Warnemünde Naval Base. Parts of the German Army, Air-Force and the civilian administration were presented. A great number of visitors also visited the fast patrol boat „Hermelin“, moored at the city harbour of Rostock. More than 3.200 visitors were counted, who saw the ship and met the crew. Rear Admiral Ulrich Otto, Head of the German Naval Office in Rostock mentioned that all this shows a very strong interest of the public in the German Navy and her sailors.

Regatta sank in the fog
Although he sacrificed his last white chemise, nothing could change the situation. Pasi Hietanen, Captain of the Finnish 3-mast gaff schooner “Linden” had to return without doing anything. The 14th regatta of traditional sailing vessels in the occasion of the Hanse Sail at Warnemünde had to be cancelled because of dense fog and few wind. “It’s a pity, because participating in the Hanse Sail regatta is a special highlight for me and the crew. Races between traditional ships don’t happen very often”,regrets the 46 year old man. 28 traditional sailing vessels registered at the race manager Dr. Dieter Goldschmidt, to complete nine sea miles to Heiligendamm. Some of them are the winner of the last year the Swedish brigantine “Baltic Beauty” as well as the plural winner the schooner brig “Greif” from Greifswald.
May it be a little consolation to all Captains of traditional sailing vessels: The 18th Hanse Sail will happen definitely. Maybe the sun will shine from August, 7th to 10th 2008.

The ships are still in the foreground
Those, who think fried sausages, beer, hoax and lark or the fair come to the fore at the Hanse Sail, will be disabused very soon. „We are here because of the tall ships,“ family Meier explains „the show program round about the Sail is not of interest for us“  As rigorous as family Meier is not every visitor of the maritime event. But Karin Seiffert and her boyfriend also came from Thuringia to Rostock just because of the windjammers. „We just drift and we decide spontaneously if we rest at a stage or not.“ they say. Ulf Gröning and his daughter from Rostock, however, consciously came to the Sail to see the German band „Revolverheld“. „It was quite nice.“ the father mentioned. The married couple Raddatz from Berlin, who danced in front of the salsa-stage on Saturday, said: “We love dancing, therefore it was our duty to come here.“ But after their arrival they first of all also inspected the ships at the city harbour. Sebastian Schultz decided on the short-run to visit the concert at the IGA-park and was highly impressed afterwards. Furthermore he dotes that the concert was gorgeous. All in all most of the guests visited the Hanse Sail because of both; the ships and the amusement.

Days of rest for water planes
Yesterday Dietmar Riess, the pilot of the helicopter “Eurocopter AS 350” from Mainz, was longing for better weather about 11.00 a.m. First test flights proved that the fog and clouds were unacceptable for passenger’s flights. On Friday four “Cessnas” and a “Haveland Beaver” beneath the world’s biggest one-motor water plane the “Cessna 208 Caravan” were already forced to rest in the rain. Although many visitors of the Hanse Sail surprisingly attended at the meeting of sea planes at Rostock-Marienehe. Many also looked at the five Swedish, Dutch and German water planes or followed the model plane flights. One of the enthused sea plane passengers on the first day of the Hanse Sail was the director of the Rostock-Laage airport. As a pilot of water planes having a valid licence she was allowed to fly a Dutch plane on her own.

In great demand till the last days: sailing trips on the Baltic Sea
Even people, who decided spontaneously that they want to do a sailing trip on the Baltic Sea, were able to snuffle „Hanse Sail sailing air“. Aficionados of beautiful ships hired at traditional sailing vessels like the 3-mast-topsail schooner “Swansborgh“, the tjalk „De Albertha“ from the Netherlands or the Polish brig „Fryderyk Chopin“. The “Tall Ship-Buchungszentrale” of the Hanse Sail organisation sold nearly 14.000 seats for day or night sailing trips. In comparison to the last years a lot of Hanse Sail visitors booked their trips on the short run. Round about 80 firms sailed with their customers or employees on various ships.

Sailing arena
The winner of the „Skipie 650“ match race, which was carried out in Germany fort he first time, came from Poland. Artur Pomorsky and his crew beat during the final race on Saturday afternoon Ingo Köhn and his crew. „It is a pity since it was a close thing.“ Köhn regrets. Parallely the race of the „NDR- Segeltalent 2007“ started, where 23 children between nine and 14 years showed their sailing talent. Matthias Bohn and the tornado-sailor Gunnar Struckmann moderated and commentated this great event. The winners were Charlotte Oberg from Hamburg and the acting German champion of Optimist Malte Winkel from Schwerin.

Colours of Poland dominate the 5th tournament of the Hanse-Sail-Coup
The crew members of the “Kublai’s Kahn II” don’t go strong at the 5th “Rostocker Pilsener Hanse Sail Cup” only by their strength and acquirements, but also with female charm. “Four ladies dribbled, centred and dropped the ball which was a real pleasure to look at”, says the leader of the tournament Gerhardt Wendt. Unfortunately, it was not enough for the team of the Bureau Hanse Sail to win a cup. Although it wasn’t their day, it was the day of the Polish seamen. The team of the training ship “Iskra” will now take the cup away to Poland. With an end result of 4:0 their fellow countrymen of the first team of the “Dar Mlodziezy” have been put at the second place of the match. The play-off in the occasion of the third place could not be decided in such an easy way. Accompanied by frenetic callings like “Polski!” and “Mexico!” the team of the Mexican Cuauhtémoc fought acrimoniously and firstly skilled against the vehement offenders of the second team of the “Dar Mlodziezy”. Finally the South Americans lost the match 0:2, so the results of the tournament in 2007 have been clearly dominated by Poland.

Fast en route
Smooth transports concerning the supply of the ships, fast transfers of guests and crews were great challenges during the Hanse Sail. The offer of Mercedes to finance a special bus lane between Rostock and Warnemünde was accepted thankfully. Firms like the car dealership Goldbach with the brand Subaro or Honda Motor Europe energetically supported the car pool of the Hanse Sail Bureau. Those persons, who were able to drive this wonderful cars were also happy of course. Anton Matthes from Görlitz for example is during his holidays in Rostock a driver of the Honda –Shuttle and is sold on the fact that he is able to shuttle captains and photographers from several countries.

Polish Guests First at Naval Cutterrace
In spite of poor weather conditions on Friday the race of the naval cutters at Warnemünde Naval Base became a full success. The team of the Polish sailing training ship „Iskra“ from Gdynia reached the first place.  The cup donated by the Rotary Club of Heiligendamm will now travel to Poland. Rear Admiral Ulrich Otto, Head of the German Naval Office expressed in his speech during the awarding ceremony that he would be very pleased to see the „Iskra“ and her crew next year again at the Hanse Sail 2008 for a new competition. The police of Rostock made the second place followed by the “Bundesamt für Schifffahrt und Hydrographie” and the team of the Naval Office Rostock. Special thanks go to a crew of tourists who spontaneously took part in the race. Last but not least many thanks go to the teams of the Mexican Navy, the Job Office Rostock and finally to the German Frigate „Hamburg“.

“Ride Like The Wind” – the big concert at the Hanse Sail
Despite the dirty weather the concert “Ride Like The Wind” has been a great success. “Fantastic” and “breath taking” combined the enthusiastic audience. Highlights have been a male choir performing the Dirty Dancing theme song “The time of my life” as well as a small violin playing girl with a stomach upset. Also the Symphonic Pop Orchestra, the singers, the dancers and the light show overpowered the audience. This fascinating concert in the occasion of the Hanse Sail should definitely be repeated.

Despite stormy capers the Buchungszentrale kept calm
Joint-sailors were angry. The Russian ship “Sedov”- chused by several persons for an adventure tour- was not able to reach the Hanse Sail on time. It arrived on Saturday night, shortly before mid night, at the city harbour. The head of the “Buchungszentrale” Mandy Schultz and her crew made a very good job of it. By order of some guests she rebooked, cancelled and listened to some unfriendly comments. Most of the clients, however, were peaceful and were able to relate to the unpleasant circumstances. “The crew of the “Sedov” picked up their joint-sailors after a short sleep at 09.30 a.m. and so the visitors experienced their sailing adventure they have longed for the last days.” Mandy Schultz explains in a friendly way. One can see that the 220 re-bookings from Thursday and Friday were more than stressful for her. Additionally she said that one could rename the booking office into rebooking office. There is something in it.

Saxons rule the bob run
Christian Tegel and Andreas Zschoke from SC Oberbärenburg had to wait very long till somebody reached a better minimum time than the Saxon team Kraft/Wuckelitzsch with their record of 4:51 sec. After 66 heats the Swabians Eric Kapp and Danial Zetleitner reached the goal in 3:04 seconds. Better than the Swabians was a team from Saxon again: Philipp Eisermann and Maik Müller. During heat number 82 they covered the distance of 25 meters in incredible 2:99 seconds. At the cliffy wall of the “Allround Events Dennis Dykman” the Saxons dominate again: Silvia Hofmann and Jens Ilgen from Kreischa climbed with pick and rope to the top and won a journey to Oberwiesenthal. “Sometimes my cohabitee Silvia and I climb up the hills of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains but without any equipment. We are amateurs in climbing up cliffy walls; therefore we are highly surprised that we won this journey during our flying visit at the Hanse Sail”, Jens mentions.

Our Sail-series 3
Latvia – partner of the Hanse Sail 2008
Latvia is going to be the partner country of the Hanse Sail Rostock in 2008, because of its presidency of the Baltic council. Latvia will celebrate its 90th anniversary and the capital Riga celebrates its 810th anniversary in the same year. In 2004 the country with an area of 64.589 square kilometres, which is a little bit smaller than Bavaria, entered the NATO and the European Union. Riga is not only the capital, but also the geographical centre of the afforested country with moraines and hills. The main part of the sparsely populated country is divided into national parks, nature reserves, rivers, lakes, forests and of course a long coast line which turns Latvia into an insider tip of nature loving people. All in all Latvia has a population of 2.4 million inhabitants and it is famous for its folklore and its folk music. In 2008 Latvia is going to introduce itself to the visitors of the Hanse Sail personally.

Weather
The cyclone “Leander” presented itself by plenty of heavy rain in combination with squalls just this weekend which brought cold shivers to the visitors of the Hanse Sail. However the organisers of the event as well as their aids, participants and guests dealt with the weather in a relaxed way. High spirits everywhere! Therefore they will be compensated on Monday by decreasing clouds at a temperature of 22 degrees, soft wind and temporary sunshine. It will stay dry.