The

Hanse The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label= Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German ...

Sail in

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state ...

is the largest maritime festival in

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) 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, Schweri ...

(

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

) and one of the largest in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. 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 Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

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 (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

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

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mari ...

's training ship '' Gorch Fock'', the ''

Alexander von Humboldt (ship) ''Alexander von Humboldt'' is a German sailing ship originally built in 1906 by the German shipyard AG Weser at Bremen as the lightship ''Reserve Sonderburg''. She was operated throughout the North and Baltic Seas until being retired in 1986. ...

'' and the ''Peace'' from

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

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

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

Wolfgang Thierse Wolfgang Thierse (; born 22 October 1943) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as the 11th President of the Bundestag from 1998 to 2005. Early life and career Thierse was born in Breslau (Wrocław in present ...

. 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, Germany. It is located on the Baltic Sea and, as the name implies, at the estuary of the river Warnow. is one of the world's busi ...

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 a class of low explosive 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 number of devices in ...

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 * 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 the name of hybrid urban-suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble c ...

plies between

Rostock Hauptbahnhof Rostock Hauptbahnhof, also Rostock Central Station (from 1896 until the turn of the 20th century called ''Rostock Central-Bahnhof''), is the main railway station in the German city of Rostock. It is situated well to the south of the city centre, ...

(main station) and

with up to five

bilevel car A bilevel car (American English) or double-decker coach (British English and Canadian English) is a type of rail car that has two levels of passenger accommodation, as opposed to one, increasing passenger capacity (in example cases of up to 5 ...

s. Also many chartered trains come to Rostock, some even

steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporizatio ...

powered, and

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the ...

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