Sail on Thursday

Special opening of the 21. Hanse Sail on the NDR-stage
On Thursday, 11th August 2011, the 21. Hanse Sail Rostock will be opened by the patron of the maritime event, the prime minister of the state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Erwin Sellering on stage of the NDR. The this year’s ceremony will be a bit more calm as in previous years, the mayor of the Hanseatic city Rostock Roland Methling, the ambassador of the kingdom Norway Dag Stangnes, the head of the Admiralty rear admiral Dr. Horst-Dieter Kolletschke and Rostock’s citizenship president Karina Jens take part. ‘We react with the waiver of the opening gun salutes and with contemplative words of commemoration to the latest horrible events in our this year’s partner country Norway’, justified Roland Methling the modified programme in contrast to the previous years. A further reverence for the kingdom Norway as the partner country of the 21. Hanse Sail is on stage the welcome of Gunnar Utgard, captain of the worldwide oldest active full-rigged ship SÖRLANDET (year of construction 1927). A special guest is the captain of the replica of the famous BOUNTY (1961) from the USA Robin Walbridge. ‘Both ships and captains stand’, so the head of the Sail office Holger Bellgardt, ‘for the gratifying large number and variety of the big windjammers, which come to the 21. Sail. Among these ist the GORCH FOCK, which documented the close relations between the German Navy and the Hanse Sail, such as the jump of weapon divers with flags within the opening ceremony.

‚Beyond the horizon’  – Japanese captains show fantastic photos
As a sign of solidarity and the German-Japanese friendship the Hanse Sail Office realizes together with the Hanse Sail Association the exhibition ‘Beyond the horizon’. Pictures of the ocean, with its wild, natural beauty, will be shown at the ‘alten Strom’ in Warnemünde and in Rostock’s town hall at the ‘Neuen Markt’. Moreover, you can see pictures of living on board of a ship, in the busy harbours in the world or in the shipyards. Japanese seamen are the creators of these pictures; they photographed impressive moments with their camera. A wish of the seamen is it, to build cultural bridges over the oceans and to bring people closer together. The pictures can be seen for the first time in Germany. On Monday, 8th August, there was the exhibition opening by the mayor of the Hanseatic city Roland Methling. From Thursday, 11th August, there will be a second part of the exhibition in Rostock’s town hall at the ‚Alten Markt’ . Both exhibitions can be visited until Sunday, 14th August. Already at the first opening day the brilliant pictures of the Japanese seamen met with great interest by visitors and tourists.

Jumping into the river Warnow – for the first time with sailors of the guest ships
Already for the third time the Hanse Sail offers a real magnet for the audience: ‘Rock the Ramp’. With bikes, skateboards, bobby-cars, rubber rings, inline-skates and other vehicles, aerial manoeuvres are in focus. A four metre long and twelve metre long ramp is the heart of this venture. The event takes place next to the ‘Kieshafen’, on the ground of the MS ‘Georg Büchner’ and the ‘Werft-Dreieck’. For the first time there will be a ‘Sailor jumping’ on Thursday. The water diving club Rostock jumps from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. into the river Warnow. At the show diving from board of the cog ‘Lisa von Lübeck’ the athletes present bold jumps. The ‘Lisa’ expects visitors at the berth 92, in the city harbour, at the Silo-peninsula.

A view into the history of the partner country Norway at the Hanse Sail 2011
Nearly 12 000 years ago, hunters and collectors followed the melting ice of the last ice age on their way to the North, on the ‘Nor Ways’. In the today’s Western Norwegian Blomvåg the scientist found tracks. About 900bc the first Norwegian state developed. Harald Håfagre – ‘Schönhaar’ – united the tribes to a kingdom. A history of changes was significant for the former Nordic state. Norwegians discovered about 1000 America, occupied the Orkney and Shetland Islands and the Normandy too. Complications in the personal unions between Denmark and Sweden last not forever and since 1995 the country is an independent kingdom. Not a member of the EU, but co-founder of the UN, Norway operates politics of international understanding.

The weather
Because the summer 2011 feels like autumn, the 1st Sail-day seems to promise raw weather. The Sail-guests would be well advised to come to Warnemünde or the city harbour with protecting clothes and an umbrella. Definitely today. But there will be a high-pressure area from the Normandy… this would be the hope for the weekend!