Press conference of the country, July 15th 2008

Sail of attractive novices and old friends

The 18th Hanse Sail Rostock offers from August 7th to 10th 2008 an exciting programme in the water as well as ashore and also in the air. About 250 traditional saling ships and museum ships create jointly a fascinating maritime picture of joy at the Warnow and in front of Warnemünde with cruisers, big ferries, ships of the German Navy and a lot of sport boats.

More than a million visitors will look forward to attractive ships like the Dutch clipper “Stad Amsterdam” (constructed in 2000) and the Rumanian sailing training vessel “Mircea” (constructed in 1938) which will visit Rostock for the first time.

Being the world’s biggest maritime festival the Hanse Sail Rostock presents also in 2008  numerous anniversaries. The centre of attraction will be the 50th anniversary of the sailing training vessel “Gorch Fock”. Therefore a special stamp as well as a 10 Euros commemorative coin will be presented on August, 7th at the passenger’s quay at Warnemünde. The German Navy which is a longstanding partner of the Sail enriches the festival with the participation of the “Gorch Fock” furthermore with open days at the Naval Base Hohe Düne or an open ship at the corvette “Braunschweig”.

Moreover the 75-year-old steamer “Stettin” which participated in the Sail since 1991 will celebrate its anniversary as well as the lightship “Fehmarnbelt” and the Tjalk “Jan Huygen” which both celebrate their centenary. A good friend of the Hanse Sail is the 82-year-old Russian 4-mast-barque “Kruzenshtern”. The second highest historical but still active windjammer which is also the cover of the “Hanse-Sail-Magazin aktuell”. A close connection has been established  with the Polish “Dar Mlodziezy”, which participated in the Hanse Sail 2007 for the first time.

Maritime cultural heritage in action
Compared to other maritime festivals all over the world Rostock offers to its visitors the added advantage of experiencing the traditional sailing ships in action next to looking at them at the open ship. As soon as the traditional sailing ships navigate in the direction of Rostock from a dozen of different countries at the beginning of August, two special events will take place: On the one hand there is the “Hiorten regatta” from Karlskrona to Rostock which means an exciting duel of the Dutch “Artemis” and the German “Greif”.

More relaxed but nevertheless also spectacular is on the other hand the 3rd cogs race of five medieval replicas from Bremen, Kiel, Lübeck and Wismar. At the first time two international guests will participate: The Dutch “Kamper Kogge” and the “Tvekamp Af Elbogen” from Sweden. The cogs race in the direction of the Hanse Sail Rostock is the beginning of many events in Lübeck, Wismar an Rostock. In 2009 these three cities are going to think back to a special event which took place 750 years ago. In 1259 they formed a defensive alliance which meant the basis of the Hanseatic League.

During the Hanse Sail the ships will be moving all the time. The traditional regatta of the traditional sailing vessels on Saturday of the Sail as well as day trips or evening trips on board of the ships having as a motto “Enjoy a trip!” are recommended by the organisers, because the special atmosphere on board of the galeasses, brigs and schooners creates a feeling of goose pimples. Who reserves in time gets the chance to enjoy a trip on his favourite ship. Free places are still offered for example on board of the “Stad Amsterdam”, “Dar Mlodziezy”, “Minerva” and “Kvartsita”.

In the occasion of the 8th meeting of the sea planes visitors have also the possibility of enjoying a sightseeing flight with helicopters, sea planes and for the first time on board of a fyling boat, which means a special experience of taking off and landing.

Impressive watershow at the City harbour and on the Warnow
The Hanse Sail grows up every year and presents a sports event in the City harbour, on the Warnow or in the area in front of Warnemünde including a lot of special acts. At the Segelstadion at the City harbour (August, 9th and 10th) sailors fight for the “NDR Segeltalent”, a title of the best upcoming sailor of Northern Germany. On Sail’s Sunday (August, 10th) the first race of the Rostocker Ruderclub will take place in the occasion of the Hanse Sail. At the “Hanse-Sail-eight” oarsmen will row individually a distance of 1000 metres.

The “ZK 10 Ranglisten Regatta um den Ostseepokal” takes place at the Hanse Sail since 1991 the and will also happen on August, 9th. At the 18th Hanse Sail the Hanse Sail Office presents as a reward a challenge cup which stays at the “winner over all” until Hanse Sail 2010.

Sports supported by motorcraft can be seen at the first water-ski shows at the City harbour on August, 7th. It will be prooved if the historic tug “Pionier” is strong enough to pull the skiers. A special guest of the 18th Hanse Sail is the one hand circumnavigator Bernt Lüchtenborg who is going to present  his new project “sail2horizons” a two-time non stop sailing trip around the world. Lüchtenborg will guide the traditional sailing vessels by his yacht “Horizons” during the sailing parade on August, 9th.

Lots of highlights at the cultural festvial Hanse Sail
An artistic highlight of the 18th Hanse Sail will be set on Sail’s Friday (August, 8th) at eight after eight p.m. at the IGA park by the “Symphonic Pop Orchestra” conducted by Frank Hollmann with the stage programme “Colours Of The Wind” which presents a variety of well known soundtracks. The show is presented by 56 musicians, 20 members of a choir and 13 dancers. (Ticket hotline +49 (0)381 609350). At the evening of the Sail’s opening (August, 7th) the 2nd Hafensinfonie titled “Luft und Wind” will take place from 11.00 p.m. at the City harbour. Seven Thyphones, the famous brass band “Fun Horns” as well as the percussion players of the “Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock” build an amazing orchestra. Rostock’s church bells will join in.

On about a dozen of stages like the ones of NDR, Antenne M-V and LOHRO, the local radio stations, a various programme will be shown. The stage Hanse Sail also offers a great variety from “Peter Schilling & Band”, Rock ‘n Roll bands to shanty choirs and Latvian actors. Latvia is the partner country of the Hanse Sail 2008 and will point the International Market. The atmosphere of the event market influences the whole City harbour, but also at the sea channel and the promenade of Warnemünde with the stage at the lighthouse.

One of the highlights are the fireworks on Sail’s Saturday which start at the same time at 10.30 p.m. at the City harbour and at Warnemünde. Also the quay of Gehlsdorf will get noisy when historic cannoneers meet again. About 40 cannons will shoot salutes and so every inhabitant of Rostock knows: It’s Hanse Sail. However Hanse Sail is almost over when the “Miss Hanse Sail” will be elected for the 4th time at the stage Hanse Sail on Sunday August, 10th.

Exhibitions and other quiet moments
At the Baltic Point Warnemünde an exhibition of the prize-winning Finnish underwater photographer Jukka Nurminen can be seen. Maritime photos will be presented at the “Rostocker Hof”. On Friday the main churches of the city centre of Rostock and Warnemünde open from 9.00 p.m. to 12.00 p.m. for moments of devotion and small concerts.

Baltic Sail. The Hanse Sail Rostock is the most important event of various events in the Baltic area with the name Baltic Sail. In this occasion maritime festivals will take place before and after the Hanse Sail Rostock at Gdansk (Poland), Klaipeda (Lithuania), Halmstad and Karlskrona (Sweden) as well as Lübeck-Travemünde.

Hanse Sail Office
Warnowufer 65, 18057 Rostock
Tel. +49 (0)381 208 52 33, Fax +49 (0)381 208 52 32
hansesail@rostock.de

Press
Tourismuszentrale Rostock & Warnemünde
Tel. +49 (0)381 381 23 64, Fax +49 (0)381 381 26 18, sabine.weigend@rostock.de

Booking of sailing trips and flights
Tall-Ship Buchungszentrale, Warnowufer 65, 18057 Rostock
Tel. +49 (0)381 208 52 26, Fax + 49(0)381 377 74 66
tallshipbooking@gmx.de