Sail-Column
GORCH FOCK to be flag ship of the 16th Hanse Sail
GORCH FOCK as flag ship. In the 50th anniversary year of the German Navy, the training sailing ship will lead the colourful field of brigs, barques, sloops and schooners. At the biggest meeting of traditional ships in the Baltic region, 250 big sailing ships and museum ships are expected in the city harbour of Rostock and in the seaside resort of Warnemünde.
Among these are the Ukranian fully rigged ship, the KHERSONES, the Swedish barque GUNILLA and the brig FRYDERYK CHOPIN from Poland. As a giant amongst the sail ships, the German Navy frigate MECKLENBURG-VORPOMMERN will be moored in Warnemünde. The patron of Hanse Sail is the Mecklenburg - Vorpommern Premier, Dr. Harald Ringstorff.
To the newcomers of the 16th Hanse Sail belong not only the two newly-built brigs, the GERDA from the Swedish town of Gävle and MERCEDES from the Netherlands, but also an exotic ship. KUBLAI'S KAHN II is the only high-sea farable junk in the world that sets sail from Venice in February for its home port of Rostock. Two globetrotters will present their four-masted boat with brown sails that originates from China, to Rostock’s sailing event visitors (www.weltsichten.de).
The 10th Baltic Sail again in 2006 joins together the Baltic Sea port festivals. Ships taking part offer cruises for several days between the sailing events. The series of events starts at the Baltic Sail Halmstad (20th-23rd July) on the West coast of Sweden and at the Lithuanian Sea Festival of Klaipeda (21st-23rd July), they stop off at the Baltic Sail Gdansk/PL (27th-30th July) on their way to the Sailfesten Karlskrona/S (3rd-6th August). From here they set sail to the Hanse Sail Rostock (10th-13th August), followed by Helsingør/DK (18th-20th August) and Travemünde (24th-27th August). The Baltic Sail was created in 1996 when a Rostock initiative called for a revival of the traditional sailing ships on the Baltic. Flag ship for this group in 2006 is the schooner brig GREIF that has not yet missed one Hanse Sail in Rostock and which will again be here in August.
Cogs meet cruise liners: On the eve of Hanse Sail (9th August) the trading ships of medieval times and the imposing "swimming hotels" should cross paths in Rostock’s port entrance. Whilst the cruise liners, among them the 238 metre long AMSTERDAM, cast off from the Warnemünde passenger terminal, the first Hanse Sail guests, the WISSEMARA, LISA from LÜBECK, UBENA from BREMEN and the KIELER HANSEKOGGE should arrive to the joy of the onlookers.
Iceland is the partner country of the 16th Hanse Sail: In 2006 Iceland is leader of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) and is therefore the traditional partner country for Rostock’s windjammer meeting. We await which way the partner country of glaciers and hot springs will present itself on the Warnow, full of suspense. The Baltic Sail partner city of Klaipeda is organising folklore, culinary and tourist offers as well as Lithuanian themed days during Hanse Sail.
A concert of "royal" proportions in the IGA Park. Within the framework of the Mecklenburg Vorpommern festival, the "Prinzen" from Leipzig will, for the first time, play with the North German Philharmonic Ochestra of Rostock. Three concerts are planned for Rostock’s orchestra accompanied by the successful pop group. The premiere will take place during Hanse Sail (11th August).
Highlights of Rostock’s Hanse Sail will again be the regatta of the traditional sailing ships and the huge firework display on Sail Saturday (12th August). There will again be a meeting of historic canons. The integral part of the festival mile is already traditional, an international market. The program contains a medieval spectacle, shanty singing with seven choirs and, for the first time, a “harbour symphony” in the city harbour. Rostock’s church bells and ships’ horns, accompanied by musicians from the University for Music and Theatre, will produce a unique orchestra. The SEAT Kitesurfing trophy will stop off on the beach of Warnemünde. The best German kitesurfers will fight it out for points and places at one of the scoring stages of the German Championship. Seaplanes from home and abroad invite passengers for the 6th Sea-flying meeting, to experience the maritime festival also from the air.
In the sailing stadium of the city harbour it will be just as tense. Sport boats, Zeesen boats or dragon boats of the local sailing and sport clubs will fight out their competitions here, right next to the sailing event’s visitors. It’s a question of the “Seepferdchen Match Race trophy” from Rostock’s sailing clubs and the “NDR sailing talent 2006” for the new generation sailers from the German coastal states.
It should be the biggest model-ship exhibition in Mecklenburg Vorpommern. Preparations in the Hanse Messe Rostock are already running at full speed so that the history of shipbuilding, shipping and Rostock’s ports can be explained on a small scale (22nd-13th August).
Rostock is preparing itself for a "hot summer": The openair musical of Rostock’s "Volkstheater" which carries the same name ("Heißer Sommer" in German) gave the name for the joint advertisement campaign, which advertises Rostock’s maritime highlights, the "Warnemünde Week" (1st-9th July) and Hanse Sail Rostock; as well as the vibrant musical "Heißer Sommer", that can be seen from the 24th June onwards in Rostock’s city harbour. The finale of Rostock’s "hot summer" is of course the 16th Hanse Sail.