Tag Archives: Rum Regatta

Flensburg Nautics 2012

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The coming weekend, 17th to 19th of August, it’s time for the biennial Flensburg Nautics – a celebration of the city’s maritime history. There will be big sail boats visiting and a lot of things going on.

Some of the big ships that are scheduled to visit are:

You can even get on a sail boat yourself to experience first hand the historical activities on a traditional ship. There are short trips (1-2 hours) and long trips available (6 hours). Booking can be done from the page here.

On the harbour you can go see traditional crafts like rope makers, net weavers and carpenters and by some of them you can take part in them their craft. There will be all sorts of foods and drinks you can try. Plus live music from a couple of stages.

Friday the 17th August there will be a ‘parade’ as all the ships arrive and on Sunday around 3pm-4pm they will all leave again in another parade.

Friday night at 11pm there will be a 30-minute fireworks display, which you can enjoy good views of from all around the port.

From what I can tell from the website it might be even bigger than the Rum Regatta we went to earlier this year and that was a great experience.

Enjoying the Rum Regatta

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The Rum Regatta is a yearly meeting of historic working boats from all over the world that happens every Ascension weekend. It is held in Flensburg Fjord to commemorate the sugar boats docking in Flensburg from the Caribbean in times gone past.

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The weekend started on Ascension Thursday when the boats arrived in Sonderborg harbour in the afternoon. It was lovely seeing these big historic boats sailing into the harbour past Sonderborg castle. It really made you want to turn the time back to when such boats regularly sailed in and out of a harbour.

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The boats left Sonderborg harbour on Friday morning. The boats were expected to leave the harbour at around 11am, after a captain’s meeting at 10am. However, when we arrived at the harbour at 10:30 with the aim of seeing the exodus start, most of the boats were already out of the harbour, waiting for the Flensburg Fjord Regatta to start at 11:30. Therefore, if you are interested in seeing the boats leave would be wise to be there earlier than 10:30 (maybe 10am?) next year!

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The end of the Regatta saw the boats arrive in Flensburg in the afternoon. We went down to Flensburg on Saturday morning once the boats were out participating in the Rum Regatta to soak in the atmosphere and see the boats returning home.

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Along the Museumshafen in Flensburg there was a great atmosphere all day long. The Gaffelmarket was on all day with stalls selling shipping-related items, craftsmen working in wood, metal and rope makers working at their craft, and stalls selling food (mainly fish and other sea food), and of course, rum!

Shtandart arriving in Flensburg after regatta

Once the boats starting arriving in the harbour at around 3pm it was another great scene as they approached on the horizon. Spotting Sebbe Als, which we helped launch a few weeks ago, keeping its own with the other boats made it that much more special.

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The boats were scheduled to leave Flensburg harbour on Sunday morning, seeing the end of the Rum Regatta for this year. A great experience that is surely worth your while to travel to see, either in Sonderborg or in Flensburg. When the boats are in the harbour you can also get the opportunity to look around some of the boats, and some of them also allow the public to join them for a trip out on the water. If historic boats is of interest, you will definitely find something for you at the Rum Regatta!