Hanse Sail 2014 (en)

The website of the Hanse Sail currently has a small article on us at the top of their front page. The article is about our beautiful and most faithful Marianne. But on the downside, this article is not on how amazing this lady has been, but more on her fitness, or better the lack thereof. If there’s something on the boat that’s not rusting, then it’s most definitely rotting away in some other way. That is exactly why the Office of the Hanse Sail has decided to help us out with … a fundraiser! “Let’s get ‘em home!” is the name of this kind initiative. With your help, we will be sure to make it home in one piece. And as a small thank you, your name will be shown on both the Hanse Sail and our own website and of course, the Hanse Sail office will gladly issue receipts for your donations. So here is the presse release of the Hanse Sail (translated). We hope you like (or better dislike) what you see!

Fund-raising campaign: Let’s get ‘em home!

The round-the-world sailors plan to be back for the Hanse Sail 2014

Captain Ben Bart & Smutje Hannes Hafenklang are the dulcet names of the two young sailors, who are not just about covering as much distance as possible in little time. Not only their names are dulcet, but so is their baggage. Benjamin Schaschek (26), from Berlin, and Hannes Koch (24), from Rostock, are not just in it for the miles, but also in it for the music. With the help of portable recording equipment, the two have recorded musicians in numerous harbors and countries. Each recording session takes places separated in space and time, so that each musician is recorded individually, most of the musicians ever having met. The first recorded track is played back on the following musicians headphones, who then plays to be recorded, slowly building a song layer by layer. The words “world music” are brought to a whole new dimension. But on the contrary to the usual articles, this post here is not to tell exciting stories about pirates or the newest music production. The ‘Büro Hanse Sail’ would like to help the Sailing Conductors, especially since their boat has been around for over 36 years and still has to withstand strong winds and waves on this incredible journey. Their starting point were the Salomon Islands, located north-east of Australia, and their current location is Richards Bay in Soutch Africa.

20.000 Kilometers covered so far

„We have been sailing for 18 months now, have been to 11 countries and three continents and covered more than 20.000 Kilometers. Ahead of us lay another 20 countries on two continents, and approximately the same distance to travel in 24 months. We knew what we were in for concerning distances and knowing that it would be a lot of work, but what we were not fully aware of was the incredibly great experiences that we’ve made so far. The great people we have met and beautiful places we’ve been to, have shown us already that this is truly a once in a lifetime experience. And we are trying to make the very best of it”, is what Hannes wrote to the Büro Hanse Sail in his email in September 2012. The Sailing Conductors first personal contact to Hanse Sail Manager Holger Bellgardt was at the “boot” boat fair 2012 in Düsseldorf. The media was highly interested in the Sailing Conductors unconventional sailing project and the two sailors had the chance to give a number of presentations at this exhibition. The style of the presentations and also of their regular blog posts is laid back and easy going. Their stories generally do not reveal a whole lot about problems they encounter. “With the exception of funny accidents we generally leave back our problems in each country. Like real sailors I guess”, continues Hannes’ email. So this is the first time they would like to give insight into some of their problems, which are real money- and time-vampires.

Pictures show the slow deterioration

“To be honest, we are pretty surprised ourselves of how lucky we were in many critical situations and how far we’ve actually made it. And we achieved all this on a very, very tight budget. It’s all blood, sweat, and tears. The list of things to fix on our 36-year-old Marianne is getting longer by the day. Most of the fixes are in the DIY category, which we actually enjoy doing very much. But with some of the to-do list entries we have too little experience or money”, says Hannes.

Der Knopf vom Herd ist ab. Abhilfe schafft nun die Zange. / The knob on our stove fell off a long, long time ago – pliers do the trick.

Undicht – Wasser im Boot und tägliches Pumpen sind die Folgen. / Leaky boat – water gets in and air goes out.

Auch vor Musikinstrumenten macht der Rost nicht Halt. / Rusty guitars? You name it, we got it!

Unsere selbstgenähte Flagge. Blass und zerfetzt. / Our homemade flag – sun-bleached and fringed

Rost so weit das Auge reicht. / Rust everywhere.

Auch der Rucksack platzt aus allen Nähten. / Small things like ripping seams are also a hazard to our equipment

Der Lack ist ab. Sämtliches Holz an Deck benötigt einen neuen Anstrich. / We need new finish for all wooden components.

Schon nach einem Monat funktioniert der Ladecontroller für unser Solarpanel nicht mehr. / Only one month after installing our charge controller for the solar panel, it broke

Was nicht rostet schimmelt. So auch unsere Kissen. / If there’s no rust on it – there’s mold on it. Our pillows.

Bis eben ging er noch. Anschlussterminal unseres Kühlschranks ist komplett durchgerostet. / It still worked just a minute ago. Our fridge plug is too rusty.

Wahnsinn, wie teuer das Internet in Madagaskar so ist. / Madagascar internet – not the cheapest

Leuchtet nicht mehr. Die Kontakte unsere Navigationslichtes sind durchgefressen. / No more navigation lighting – Rudolf was a hardworking rat and messed with the cables.

Der wichtigste Knopf unseres GPS-Systems will nicht mehr. / The main button of our GPS system came off a while ago.

Bordratte Rudolf hat auch vor unserem persönlichen Besitz nicht Halt gemacht. / Stowaway rat Rudolf even chewed away at our undies.

Wir benötigen DRINGEND neues Antifouling. (Der nicht mehr vorhandene rote Lack) / We URGENTLY need new antifouling (the red protective paint that’s basically gone)

Wer weiß wie lange das noch gut geht… / I’ll give it a month.

Die Reling will nicht mehr im Teak halten. / Our rail could fall off any minute now.

The shown images are just some of the things representative for the slow decay that’s taking place. What doesn’t have rust on it, has mold on it. Some of these parts they are able to do without, but taken together, these sometimes small things add up and are a serious threat to the entire project. Let us help get “Marianne” back home so she and her sailors can arrive on time and most of all in one piece for the Hanse Sail 2014. Please wire your kind donations to: Recipient: Hanse Sail Verein e.V. Subject/purpose: sailing conductors. Account No.: 19516658. Bank code: 20030000 IBAN: DE14200300000019516658 BIC: HYVEDEMM300. All donations will be listed on www.hansesail.com as well as on www.sailingconductors.com, as long as you do not object to this. We will also be accepting material/item donations at the Büro Hanse Sail. Of course, our PR department would also be glad to report about your donations for others to see! If you have any further questions, please write to: gesine.schuer@rostock.de

Link to the Hanse Sail article.