The Mecca of Dreams

From 25 to 29 August, Bremerhaven will once again be going the extra nautical mile. More than a million people are expected to visit the new "Havenwelten" tourist complex.

Whether big or small, young or old, a yearning for the open seas and the romantic notion of a sailor's life is something that people have always dreamed about. Taking a trip on a really big windjammer is part of that longing. Bremerhaven has become a Mecca for these dreams. Since 1986, this major seaport, where the river Weser enters the North Sea, has regularly invited visitors to its windjammer festival. "Sail Bremerhaven", under the patronage of the German Federal Chancellor, is one of the major maritime events in Europe. This year's event, to be held from 25 to 29 August is set to attract more than 200 sailing ships from 17 countries. Well over a million visitors are expected to attend the eighth Sail festival, in Bremerhaven.

Fully-rigged ships, barques, barquentines, brigs, schooners, cutters, tjalks, yachts, Kuffs, smacks or Ewers. Over five summer days in August, the maritime city of Bremerhaven will be opening not only a big picture-book of large and small windjammers, but also a chapter in the chronicles of the city's history. Even before the first port was built on the outer Weser back in 1827, small windjammers were already being launched here. With large deep water vessels like the Preussen, Potosi, R.C. Rickmers or Padua, the Rickmers and Tecklenborg shipyards achieved global renown. Up until 1927, the large and rapid clippers from these yards - more than 250 in total - were launched on the river Weser. And some of these remain to this very day, as museum ships but also in active operation under sail.

The Russian four-masted barque Krusenstern (114.5 metres long with a sail surface area of 3,553 square metres) is one such vessel. In 1926, this legendary Flying-P Liner was built in Bremerhaven and originally named Padua. The Krusenstern will be among the large windjammers to moor in the New Harbour, Old Harbour, Emperor's Harbour and on the quays of the Weser for Sail 2010.

However, the flagship of Sail will, as always, be the Gorch Fock barque of the German Navy. Bremerhaven will be the last German port of call for the white barque, which measures almost 90 metres in length, before it sets sail on a one-year voyage around the world as Germany's floating ambassador. The vessel was built in 1958 in Hamburg and has a sail surface area of 2,037 square metres. In Bremerhaven, though, she is the host ship of both the Navy and the city of Bremerhaven.

The Indonesian barquentine Dewaruci from Jakarta has the longest journey to make to Sail 2010. The 58-metre long sail training vessel was built in Hamburg in 1953 and now belongs to the Indonesian Navy, serving the country as a political and economic ambassador. The same can be said of the Polish fully-rigged ship Dar Mlodziezy (109 metres long with a sail surface area of 2,936 square metres), the Russian fully-rigged ship Mir (109 metres long with a sail surface of 2,936 square metres) - the world's fastest square-rigger - or the magnificent Italian frigate Amerigo Vespucci (101 metres long with a sail surface area of 2,100 square metres), which was built in 1930 as a fully-rigged ship and which is regarded as an embodiment of splendour and beauty.

The youngest member of the large windjammer family is the barque Sea Cloud II (117 metres long with a sail surface area of 2,800 square metres). She is one of the elegant and luxurious square-riggers which have been commissioned for tourism purposes, quite the opposite of the Norwegian fully-rigged ship Sørlandet (65 metres long with a sail surface area of 1,300 square metres), for example. The classic windjammer, built in 1927, sails primarily with a young crew.

From South America comes the schooner Capitan Miranda (60.21 metres long with a sail surface area of 722 square metres) as a training ship of the Uruguayan Navy, from England the barque Tenacious (65 metres long with a sail surface area of 1,200 square metres), from Bulgaria the barquentine Kaliakra (52 metres long with a sail surface area of 1,080 square metres) and from the Sultanate of Oman the schooner Shabab Oman - the 52-metre long sail training vessel of the desert state's Navy, from Poland the barquentine Pogoria and from the Netherlands the schooner Oosterschelde, to name just a few examples from the sailing naval review.

And then there are the special features in the large fleet of vessels at Sail. These are replicas of original sailing legends spanning almost seven centuries: the fully-rigged ship Götheborg is a mighty and magnificent East Indiaman dating from 1734 - a 58-metre long merchant vessel which was rebuilt according to original plans. The Bremen Hanseatic cogs date from the 14th century, the Russian frigate Shandart, nearly 30-metre long, is the replica of a Tsar warship dating from 1703 and the French topsail schooner La Recouvrance (41.6 metres long with a sail surface area of 430 square metres) dates from the year 1818. The original ship defended the French maritime routes off the coast of West Africa, while the replica is also a contemporary witness of French history. In addition to these vessels are the many cutters, smacks, tjalks, Ewers, skütjes and schooners. Unlike the replicas, these are original vessels, some of which are over 100 years old and which are representative of the development in trade of the northern European coastal towns.

Space will be in short supply in Bremerhaven's ports between the city and river Weser. Sail Bremerhaven 2010 follows in the tradition of its successful predecessor events and this means that every metre of quay space will be used. Smaller vessels will be moored alongside one another, while visitors will be able to stroll along the quays and squares, experiencing and joining in the event. The aim of Sail 2010 is to represent a market place for the cultures of the guest countries, where a great time can be had by all. Sail Bremerhaven's other task, after all, is to present this major international seaport as a gateway to the world. 

In this respect, Sail, with its multitude of sailing vessels, is not just a visual event but a festival which invites its visitors to actively take part. To this end, the Bremerhaven Tourist Board has chartered a small fleet of cutters, tjalks and schooners which will be constantly running sailing trips on the river Weser.

The windjammer spectacle is the centrepiece of Bremerhaven's new "Havenwelten"  tourism complex which lies directly on the Weser embankment. Together with private investors, the city has invested well over EUR 500 million here in new structures. Sail Bremerhaven 2010 will also present the marinas, the Climate House, the German Emigration Center, the German Maritime Museum and the "Mediterraneo" Mediterranean shopping centre, creating an attractive emphasis between modern urban development and authentic maritime qualities.

Sail 2010 also has its first chance to organise the entire event from the museum harbour, the Old Harbour of the German Maritime Museum to the Emperor's Harbour and thus Bremerhaven's International port. The organisers of Sail are seizing this opportunity and linking together all of the city's inner ports, from north to south, along with the Weser dyke and the quays on the river. For the first time, Bremerhaven will be presented in all its unity as a maritime resort with its roots in the history of the city and the region.

At the forefront and over and above everything that happens on the water, in the quays and on land is the message with which the poet Joachim Ringelnatz ended one of his works: There is a roar of freedom, a smell of the world. Sailing ships are planks which have become nature. What they see both brightens and broadens our thoughts.

Further information is available online at  http://www.sail-bremerhaven-2010.de/ or from the Sail Bremerhaven organising committee, H.-H.-Meier-Straße 6, 27568 Bremerhaven (phone +49 (0)471/94646-400) or via e-mail tietjen at bis-bremerhaven.de