The

Hanse The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

Sail in

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

is the largest maritime festival in

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar and Güstrow. ...

(

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

) and one of the largest in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. About 250 traditional sailing ships of all types and sizes from a vast variety of countries visit the coast of the city of

every year during the second weekend of August. Today, the Hanse Sail forms part of the joint ''Baltic Sail'', which takes place in several countries bordering the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

during July and August.

History

The first Hanse Sail took place between 22 and 28 July 1991. Despite initial skepticism, the first Hanse Sail turned out to be a great success. This might have been mainly due to enthusiasm sparked by the

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, as the sea border was open for the first time in decades. Main attractions in past years were

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is part of the unified (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Marine'' (German Navy) became the official ...

's training ship '' Gorch Fock'', the '' Alexander von Humboldt (ship)'' and the ''Peace'' from

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. Every Hanse Sail is usually opened by prominent personalities of the time such as

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

or Wolfgang Thierse. This underlines the importance of the event, also for the local tourism industry.

Overview

Every year about 1 million visitors 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 (, literally ''Mouth of the Warnow'') is a seaside resort and a district of the city of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Mecklenburg, Germany. It is located on the Baltic Sea and, as the name implies, at the estuary of the river Warnow (river ...

during this time, because the shipping companies think that staying in Rostock during the Hanse Sail is a special highlight for their guests. There are also sea planes and a helicopter parallel to the festival. They offer the opportunity to fly with them for about 20 minutes. On the Saturday of the event there are

firework Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

s in Warnemünde and the city harbour. The 2015 Hanse Sail featured steam ships also, and the event occurred in August 2015. This was the 25th Hanse Sail since the start. (''Hanse Sail Rostock 2015'') It was predicted prior to the event that 250 sailing ships would attend Hanse Sail in 2015.

Dates of Hanse Sails

* 2015: 6–9 August * 2023: 10–13 August * 2021: 5–8 August * 2014: 6–10 August * 2013: 8–11 August * 2012: 9–12 August * 2011: 11–14 August

Panorama

Public transport

Public transport is significantly increased during the event. Every 7.5 minutes, the

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

plies between Rostock Hauptbahnhof (main station) and

with up to five bilevel cars. Also many chartered trains come to Rostock, some even

steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

powered, and

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

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 buses is offered to bring people to Warnemünde.

Funding

Sponsors have included ''Hanseatische Brauerei Rostock'' (German brewery), ''Ostdeutscher Sparkassenverbund'', and ''OstseeSparkasse Rostock''. Further sources of revenue are letting of boat parking spaces and trading places on markets as well as commercial advertising. The City of

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 holiday.

Gallery

File:Impressionen von der 22. Hansesail 2012 (7764110632).jpg, Spectators at the 22nd Hanse Sail in 2012 (

) File:Impressionen von der 22. Hansesail 2012 (7764370164).jpg, Ship ''Amazone'' (1909), Hanse Sail 2012 File:Impressionen von der 22. Hansesail 2012 (7764591452).jpg, City Harbour Rostock, Hanse Sail 2012 File:Impressionen von der 22. Hansesail 2012 (7764150938).jpg, ''Gulden Leeuw'' (1937) File:Impressionen von der 22. Hansesail 2012 (7764457732).jpg, ''Star Flyer'' (1991) File:Impressionen von der 22. Hansesail 2012 (7764708924).jpg, ''Eye of the Wind'' (1911) File:Impressionen von der 22. Hansesail 2012 (7764603082).jpg, ''Mercedes'' (1958)

References

External links

Hanse Sail official homepage

picture gallery
{{Authority control Festivals in Germany Sailing in Germany Sports competitions in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Sport in Rostock Sailing festivals Boat festivals Sports festivals in Germany