Bulletin No. 5 - August 9th, 2009

Roland Methling: Outstanding Advertising for Rostock
Beautiful weather and the participation of almost 250 ships turned the Hanse Sail for locals and guests into an imposant festival with huge national and international advertising. Official guests of the Hanse Sail were deeply impressed by the atmosphere and fascinating maritime images at the pier and near Warnemünde. One could characterize the Sail with the slogan: “Sailing to break the trend!” Feared declines due to the economical crisis like a decrease in visitor figures or in bookings of sailing excursions stayed away. Au contraire, quantitative and qualitative increases are recorded.

Background for that is the undaunted appeal of the Sail. It relies on the creativeness of hundreds of professional organizers, sponsors and voluntary friends and partners of the festival. I would like to thank them for their efforts. Now, we are anxious about the year 2010 and the 20th anniversary of German Unification and the planning for the 20th Hanse Sail, from August 5 to 8. I would like to invite you for that, too.

Holger Bellgardt: An extraordinary Hanse Sail
Head of the Hanse Sail office Holger Bellgardt says at the very end of four maritime days that is has been an “extraordinary beautiful Sail”. That is also a reward for the year-round preparations of his team, sponsors and numerous partners that participated in the 19th edition of the Hanse Sail. The festival is tainted with sadness, though, because of a fatal accident in city-harbor “that hit us hard”, says Holger Bellgardt. The rush of visitors has been above last year’s figures – especially at the stages, spontaneous bookings of sailing excursions, also on the market, the wharf and the pier. “Altogether there have been 1 million visitors during all four days.

We assume that we have gained quality and internationality”, says Bellgardt. A feared drop due to the economical crisis stayed away. More tickets have been sold than in the past two years. The weather permitted nice pictures on the Warnow and the Baltic Sea as well as a great atmosphere on the Sail. “That is a good basis, yet, also a claim for the 20th Sail in 2010 that we are already excited about”, says Holger Bellgardt as a conclusion.
 
Run for the Marine
The swimming units of the Marine have experienced a run during the Hanse Sail. More than 23.000 people took the opportunity to visit ships, boats and the naval base in Warnemünde. 4.000 visitors alone went on the prettiest ship of the Marine – the training ship GORCH FOCK – during the Open Ship event on Sail-Friday.

The frigate MECKLENBURG-VORPOMMERN opened its gates on several days and ca. 7.200 visitors have been counted there. The speedboat S 71 “Gepard” pulled 3.000 guests of the Hanse Sail to the city-harbor. In the naval base in Warnemünde the submarine “U 24” was a magnet for 9.000 visitors.

The GORCH FOCK will leave for several weeks at the end of August for a training excursion to Cape Verde Islands and the Azores. The frigate Mecklenburg-Vorpommern sets course for St. Petersburg, where it will arrive next week for a short visit at the harbor.

Sail-merchants defy the slackening of the economy
The economic crisis seems to have stopped right before the market of the 19th Hanse Sail. Marlies Urbigkeit, who runs a lottery drawing on the shopping mile, is satisfied with the buying mood of the visitors. “People, obviously, saved their money for the Sail. We just came back from the Barther Hafentage where business has been dull.” Compared to previous years it has been a positive summary even at the first evening of the Sail.

Robert Gormanns, operator of the Big Wheel on the Sail-market, says: “The Hanse Sail is the top-event of the year for us with its visitor figures and its flair.” Altogether, around 500 merchants have built up their stands and carnival rides on the 3-kilometer long shopping mile in Warnemünde and Rostock in the past days. Jörg Vogt, manager of Großmarkt GmbH in Rostock, explains: “That is just as many as we had last year. The demand for this event is undaunted. We have had more inquiries than we have spare places.” The Rostocker brewery, alone, has been represented by more than 30 stands.

NDR-stage with positive results
The extensive show and stage program of the NDR in Rostock’s city-harbor has been a magnet for visitors of the Hanse Sail 2009. „More than 30.000 visitors came to our concerts in the evenings”, says Elke Haferburg, director of the broadcast studio Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The NDR presented three top-class pop stars: NDR 1 Radio MV and “Nordmagazin” got 2raumwohnung on stage, NDR 2 got Marquess to Rostock and N-Joy opened the stage program with Stefanie Heinzmann. In addition to that NDR Info offered jazz as well as satire and cabaret. 

Thank you, Captain Peter Dottermusch
Relief? Melancholy? Who knows! Seamen do not talk much about emotions. And much less do captains. Peter Dottermusch (62) will retire only a couple of days after the 19th Hanse Sail. Together with his employees the chief of the headquarters Warnemünde of the Wasser-und Schiffahrtsamt Stralsund ensured that the Hanse Sail would work properly on the sea - not only in 2009 but in all the 18 years.

Captain Dottermusch and the nautical assistants are responsible for “security and the easiness of traffic” in the harbor-area of the hanseatic city. That is the officialese German term. It means that they are responsible for safe and free ship traffic from and to the harbor.

Each Hanse Sail has been a trial of strength of condition and nerves for the modest man and his crew. All Sail-ships have to enter the canal/Neuer Strom in Warnemünde. And all of them are coming during the day of the big fleet within a short time period. In addition to that there are wherries, ferries, passenger ships and an armada of sailing ships and cruisers. Highly sensitive people cannot do the work of Dottermusch & Co. The native-born Leipziger has learned his profession in Rostock on DSR-ships, travelled the sea and got his patent as a captain. The head of the Hanse Sail thanks Peter Dottermusch for a long and fair cooperation.

„It prickles“ – Sail-visitors are fascinated by big ships
Beautiful weather, great atmosphere and then there are these huge ships – the 19th Hanse Sail with more than 230 traditional sailers has thrilled its visitors. 62-year old Stefan Stiehler from Zwickau, who visited the windjammer-meeting with his wife for the first time, was very impressed by the naval ship GORCH FOCK and the Russian SEDOV. “I’ve seen the GORCH FOCK on TV and I always thought it would be great to look at it in live.” Even prettier has been the entrance of the SEDOV in Warnemünde. “When you stand at the pier and this huge ship comes closer and closer – it prickles”.

7-year-old Maxime Freund from Rostock was also very impressed. His favorite is the ice breaker STETTIN. He and his father took the occasion to visit the engine room of the ship. Whoever came to the Sail to party was just right here,too. 18-year-old Tina from Lage walked along the shopping mile with her friends at city-harbor. “Fish-sandwiches and a great atmosphere”… - that is what she liked she sayed. “And the ships, of course.”

Aent Kingma turns APHRODITE into a field of relaxation on the water
The brigg APHRODITE carries her name with good reason. The name giver was also known for her stunning beauty. The same effect has the brigg that, truly, is a well-patronized and lionized ship. As a classical Sailer it was built in the Netherlands and is registered and certified as a commercial passenger ship there. 54-year-old Aent Kingma is the captain of the ship and with his wife Ellen he owns the APHRODITE.

“We are always booked well, especially by companies that have been keeping faith with us for years”, says the friendly full-bearded captain and refers to the Grand Hotel Heiligendamm and the company Inros “which we always go on excursions with during the Hanse Sail.” Yet, it is not just a comfortable trip for the participants. Here and there the APHRODITE offers the opportunity to climb up the yards for setting sails. Bracing, gibing, pulling the sheets, and casting off are taught on board under guidance of the crew. “That is the typical “learning by doing”-effect and it is an unforgettable experience for water lovers.”

„Without the support of sponsors we couldn’t do the Sail”
Let’s picture Rostock’s port and a heavy cargo ship at the pier. The shipment needs to be discharged. A lot of departments are in charge for that – lifting force will contribute to success. This comparison is supposed to illustrate a résumé of the 19th Hanse Sail. “Without the support of sponsors and patronizers we could have done neither this year’s Sail nor the Windjammer-Meetings of the other years”, said head of the Hanse Sail office Holger Bellgart in an interview with journalists from Hamburg, Frankfurt on the Main, Berlin, Leipzig, Schwerin and Rostock.

“In the name of the crews and innumerable visitors of the Hanse Sail we give thanks for the support on the overall organization of one of the biggest traditional sailer-meetings of the world”, added Bellgardt. 

Vicarious for more than 50 companies and institutions who supported the Hanse Sail 2009 the internationally experienced head of organization mentioned with special thanks: the Hanseatische Brauerei Rostock, Coca-Cola, OSPA-Rostock and the Ostdeutsche Sprakassenverband, Eurawasser and Scandlines.

Lithuania – Partner of the jubilee-Sail
It was in 1992, during the second edition of the Hanse Sail, when the red-green-yellow colored flag of Lithuania waved for the first time. This “old” country will be partner of the 20th Hanse Sail – the jubilee-Sail – in 2010. In early Middle Ages Lithuania reached up to the regions of Belarus and Ukrania. Baltic tribes already settled there around 3000 BC. Ruler Mindaugas, who was crowned king with the blessings of the pope, founded the state of Lithuania in 1250. Together with Poland it later formed a united kingdom. When Poland got divided it was under Russian rule from 1795 on.

After World War II and the breakdown of the czardom, Lithuania became formally independent, yet, was ruled dictatorial up to 1940. That was followed by 50 years of Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. Since March 11, 1990 Lithuania has been an independent republic in the Baltic.

It became a member of the EU and the NATO in 2004 and belongs to the “Schengener Area” for one and a half years now. There are numerous fertile relations between Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the Republic of Lithuania. The Lithuanian harbor-city Klaipeda, formerly known as Memel, for instance, is a dedicated partner in the Baltic Sail-group and friendly connected to Rostock’s Sail-office.

Flaschenpost
+++ The benefit-campaign of the Hanse-Tour-Sonnenschein gained 102.500 Euro. Organiser Helmut Rohde states that a lung-function-machine for small children can be purchased from that money. +++ 10-year-old Florian Kaupa from Laeven, a member of the water-skiing club Feldberg since Mai 2009, showed off his first skiing skills at the Hanse Sail: “It was very exciting but awesome”. +++ The audience was standing in rows of six to see Petra Knüffel and her dancers of the line-dance-club “The Roadrunners Saloon Wildwest” from Kuckuck near Güstrow. “We practice once a week. We were quite successful on the Sail.” +++ Little boy Leon Korosch from Rostock gets his face painted to look like Spiderman. Claudia Kraemer from the child-care agency Rostock uses paint pots for that. Aside from Spiderman, one can see fairies, princesses and pirates at city-harbor. +++ Fullback of the football-team FC Hansa Tim Sebastian won the victory of the sailing competition of the Celebrity-Race although it was far from his soccer terrain: “That was a 3:0-victory. It would be great to make the same points on the match against Bielefeld.” +++