- Hanse Sail
The
Hanse Sail inRostock is the largest maritime festival inMecklenburg-Vorpommern and one of the largest inGermany .About two hundred sailing ships of all types and sizes from a vast variety of countries visit the coast off the city of
Rostock every year during the second weekend of August. Today, the Hanse Sail forms part of the jointBaltic Sail , which takes place in several countries bordering theBaltic Sea during July and August.History
The first Hanse Sail took place between
July 22 andJuly 28 1991 as "Hanseatische Hafentage" (English: "Hanse atic Harbor Days"). Despite initial skepticism, the first Hanse Sail turned out to be a great succes. This might have been mainly due to enthusiasm sparked by theGerman reunification , as the sea border was open for the first time in decades.Main attractions in past years were Germany's navy training ship "Gorch Fock", the "
Alexander von Humboldt " and the "Peace" fromJamaica .Every Hanse Sail is usually opened by prominent personalities of the time such as
Gerhard Schröder orWolfgang Thierse . This underlines the importance of the event, also for the local tourism industry.Today
Every year about 1.5 million visitors (2003) visit the Hanse Sail. Even though it is accompanied by other cultural events, the ships remain the center of the festival. Besides watching ships, it is also possible to sail on them or enter them while they are anchored.
Many cruise ships head for the cruise port at
Warnemünde during this time, because the shipping companies think that staying in Rostock during the Hanse Sail is a special highlight for their guests.There is also a gathering of sea planes parallel to the festival. Every year about 20
sea plane s come to the Hansesail and offer the opportunity to fly with them for about 30 minutes.The four day event ends on the second Sunday of August and there are
firework s the Saturday before.Next Hanse Sails
* 2008: 07 August - 10 August
* 2009: 06 August - 09 August
* 2010: 05 August - 09 AugustPublic transport
Public transport is significantly expanded during the event. Every 7.5 minutes, the
S-Bahn plies between Rostock "Hauptbahnhof" (Rostock Central Station) andWarnemünde with up to fivebilevel car s. Also many chartered trains come to Rostock, some even steam powered, andDeutsche Bahn operates extra trains.The tram and bus services in Rostock operate a special timetable and on some nights go 24 hours non stop. Due to limited parking lot capacity, a shuttle service with busses is offered to bring the people to Warnemünde.
Funding
Sponsors have included
Norddeutscher Rundfunk , "Hanseatische Brauerei Rostock" (German brewery), "Antenne Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" (radio station) andVolkswagen . Further sources of revenue are letting of boat parking spaces and trading places on markets as well as commercial advertising.The City of
Rostock supports the Hanse Sail financially, because the city largely profits from the event. During the sail, most hotels are usually fully booked and visitors spend money in the town, in pubs and shops. Last, but not least, the sail is good promotion for Rostock and a good percentage of Hanse Sail visitors usually return for a holidayFact|date=September 2007.External links
* [http://www.hansesail.com Hanse Sail official homepage]
* [http://www.hansesail.com/index.php?id=207&L=1 picture gallery]ee also
*
Kiel Week ("Kieler Woche")
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