From the early 18th century Flensburg had a booming trade in sugar and rum. Cane sugar would land from the Danish West Indies (now the US Virgin Islands) to be refined. A side product in this trade was pure rum that would get blended in one of Flensburg’s 40 rum houses earning it the nickname Der Rumstadt (The Rum City).
Once a year Flensburg goes back in time to when the sugar boats from the Caribbean would slide into the harbour with a bounty full of sweetness. From across the world gaff rig boats (with pretty sails) come together for a friendly race in Flensborg Fjord called The Rum Regatta. Up to a 100 of these classic wooden ships will come to this gathering that has been held for the past 33 years.
The programme is not the easiest to read but here is what I think are the highlights:
The event starts off in Sønderborg on Thursday the 17th of May, where the ships should arrive around 3pm after competing in the Herings Regatta.
Friday morning the boats will leave Sønderborg at around 11am to start the Flensborg Fjord Regatta – the race to Flensburg. Here is a video from Sønderborg in 2011
Friday the Gaffelmarkt starts around 10am and boats will come in to the port throughout the day. At noon small boats will race in the Sail-Service Regatta the harbour itself.
Saturday at 10 the boats leave the pier in Flensburg to start the real Rum Regatta at 11. The regatta should last until 5pm with a ceremony to celebrate the winner at 6.30pm
Sunday the boats will leave but the Gaffelmarkt will be open 10am – 6pm, where the event officially ends.
Every month visitsonderborg.com publish a quite extensive calendar of events for the upcoming weeks. May seems to herald in a whole range of festivals and flea markets, and this being spring makes it the perfect time to explore the surrounding countryside. These are the events that caught our eye, but you can have a look at the complete calendar here.
Festivals
During the first weekend (3-6) there is the Graasten market and music festival and the Nordborg city festival. From the 17th to the 20th of May it is the turn of Sonderborg to have its own city festival. There will also be the Rum Regatta in Sonderborg and Flensburg. Nøffelskov Festival then occurs on the 26th of May.
Flea Markets
Flea markets, known as ‘loppemarked’ in Danish, appear to be a favourite activity of Danes, with sports clubs and social associations organising them as a way raising funds for their organisation or charities. On the 14th, 21st and 28th there will be a flea market at `Den Røde Plads` (The Red Square) from 10am-5pm at Stationsvej 2, 6430 Nordborg.
Get Moving
You will probably find something to catch your eye this month, whether you are interested in long-distance running (100km Als Rundt Run on 17th of May) or shorter running distances (1864-run on the 27th of May). If you are interested in something more sedate there is Ladywalk on the 21st of May, or any number of countryside walks organised by Fodslaw as well as other organisations. You can also get a tour of Graasten palace and gardens on the 17th, 27th and 28th of May (though only in Danish or German).
Sebbe Als is a ship built on a real Viking warship found in Roskilde Fjord. It spends the harsh days of winter in The Naust (a low building at the water edge) on Augustenborg Fjord, during which time it is repaired and repainted. Every spring it is then put back into the water and taken to it berth in Augustenborg harbour, where it is docked for the summer season. Below is our experience of launching Sebbe back into its natural environment.
9:20: We arrive at The Naust. “Pirate” Kim is already busy preparing the ground for Sebbe’s exit. We find the other group members in the back room having their breakfast.
9:40: The troops are gathered in front of the Naust. Steen, the chairman of the independent society that owns and operates Sebbe (and its sister ship Ottar, which was launched a week earlier) welcomed everyone and we started getting ready for putting the ship into the water.
The first task involved lowering the ship onto pieces of wood over which it could then be rolled the 10m into the water. This is necessary as the ship is raised on wood during the winter. A lot of rocking, moving and balancing is required at this stage, though not much effort on the part of the general troops.
10:05: Sebbe is ready to roll. All the troop are aligned on each side, one at each oar hole. We are ready to push, pull and tug Sebbe over the rollers and into the sea. “En, tooo, TRE!” says Steen. A lot of huffing and puffing. But Sebbe refuses to move. We try a couple more times, before a slight change of tactic gets Sebbe rolling.
10:20: Sebbe decided to stop moving. Plan B is required. This involves the use of a pulley system to help us push Sebbe into the water. The pulley is set up
10:30: Plan B is ready to be put into action. The troops are back on each side of the boat. “En, to, TRE!”. After a couple of false starts Sebbe starts to slowly make its way close to the water. Until the pulley system starts breaking down.
10:45: We revert back to Plan A. Sebbe is halfway out of the Naust and are ready to head down the slight slope. While using the changed tactics used earlier, where the back of Sebbe is levered upwards as we push, Sebbe slowly makes its way towards the water.
11:00: Success! Sebbe is in the water. The time it has taken this year appears to be close to a record. The larger number of people helping out certainly helped. Sebbe is tied to the bridge off to the left while we all get a well-deserved drink.
11:20: Although the big job of pushing the boat into the water is done we still need to put in the fittings, including the floor boards and the oars. While we were busy relaxing “Pirate” Kim had already started, and soon the rest of us go to work carrying things from the Naust to the boat, while others sweep inside the Naust.
12:30: Sebbe is all together now! Another well-deserved break for lunch that two of the members had gone off to buy for all the rest of us. As befits a Danish lunch we had rugbrod with different toppings (and cake, of course!).
13:20: There is only the last job of the day left: getting Sebbe to its “summer home” in Augustenborg harbour. As the mast will be put up in the harbour we need to row it over to its berth. We all take our places and rowed it we did.
13:55: Sebbe is in its berth. Our day of Viking work is over.
Sebbe is berthed in Augustenborg harbour next to her sister, Ottar. You can see both of them as you cross the road on the bridge dividing the harbour.
The first late night opening in Sønderborg’s shops is tomorrow Friday the 29th. Most of the shops in central Sønderborg will be open till 10pm (unlike normal closing at 5pm).
The streets will be lit by oil lamps and two live bands will be walking around in the streets. The jazz bands Blæserbanden and the local Bosse4Brass will roam the streets playing groovy vibes. Michael Vogensen will play at Rådhustorvet from 6.30pm to 9.30pm.
Several of the shops will have special offers, events or competitions during the evening.
Danfoss Orkestret, though not an orchestra technically, is a 38-man brass band that is quite well-known in this area. Towards the end of March we had written with information on how to get tickets to the Danfoss Orchestra Spring Concert. Did you check that out? I really hope you did.
The music selected for the spring concert was mainly British, with some famous ones such as Yellow Submarine and When the Saints Go Marching In, to some unknown songs to us. There was also one Danish song, keeping everyone feeling involved.
But on to the exciting stuff. During the concert we had a congo line brass band making its way onto the stage, a ‘disorganised’ abandonment of the stage and, last but not least, a conductor in a kilt. And, yes, he confirmed that the rumours about kilts is true! We even had a bagpipe and drum group join and close the show with the orchestra.
I did not know what I was expecting, but I was certainly not expecting this. What was missing in quality (and that was not much), was more than made up for in enthusiasm, fun and just sheer joy of the players (and the audience). I now know exactly why tickets are said to be grabbed within hours of being made available to the public. The standing ovation the orchestra received at the end was more than well-deserved.
When the national team in football is doing badly Denmark’s favorite spectator sport is handball. Especially if the team is doing well as in 2011 when 3 million Danes (60% of total pop.) watched the European Championship finale. Danes will say that the sport is invented in Denmark but that’s not completely true. In any case it is today the third most played sport with 119,000 players nationwide, only surpassed by football and badminton.
This weekend we were again lucky to get our hands on tickets to a match by the local professional sports team. Last time it was the men’s football team in freezing Haderslev we went to see, this weekend it was women’s handball in Aabenraa.
The local team, SønderjyskE has been playing in the 1st Division in the last season and the game we went to see was in the qualifying round to make it into the best league Håndboldligaen. (The handball league system is quite complicated.) The team they were playing were Aalborg DH, a team that is pretty good and beat SønderjyskE last time they met.
After presenting an oversized team jersey and raising it on the back wall the players ran onto the court and the game began.
We had good seats from where we could see the whole court and like a tennis match watch as the game went from one end to the other in fast pace.
SønderjyskE got ahead from the start so that ensured a good atmosphere in the arena. Every time there was a goal or another short break in the game the sound system would boom with schlager music like Lost Souls and Tørfisk.
The local team stayed ahead throughout the game and at one point had a 12 goal lead before they let off their best players and slacked a bit. The end result was a comfortable 35-29 victory to the home team and they are well on the way in the qualifying round.
I’m surprised how much I enjoyed both this game and the last football game, because I’m not really into watching sport except when there are the big tournaments. If I were to compare the two experiences I’ve had watching the local pro football and handball I prefer the handball. The game is faster (both on court and total time at event), it’s indoors, the arena is closer and the beers are cheaper.
Danfoss Orkestret is a 38-man brass band linked to Danfoss. Despite the amateur status it is known for the high-quality, and entertaining, concerts it puts on.
One of the highlights of the Danfoss Orchestra season is its spring concert. This year the concert will be held at Alsion on the 17th of April at 20:00. Another important thing about this concert is that it is free!
Tickets can be picked up at Sonderborg Tourist Office tomorrow (Friday 30th March) at 3pm. You might think that this means that it is easy to get tickets. Unfortunately not! Since it is a very sought-after concert, we are told that people often queue for hours to get tickets. So if you want those tickets don’t leave it too late!
Ann works at Danfoss and they are one of the main sponsors of the local professional sports club so once in a while they get tickets offered for games. Ann was lucky to get tickets for last Sunday’s football game, where the local club SønderjyskE hosted the team from Silkeborg.
The full name of the club is Sønderjysk Elitesport (Southern Jutlandic Elite Sport) and the club was founded as a regional sports club in 2004 when it was decided that city based teams in the region needed better support from fans and sponsors in order to make it in the professional leagues. The club consists of two professional football teams (male and female) based in Haderslev, two handball teams (male in Sønderborg and female in Aabenraa) and an ice hockey team (male) in Vojens.
The football club has over the past decade hovered at the top of the Danish 1st division and bottom of Superligaen, the Danish version of Premier League, with 5 seasons in each league.
This year SønderjyskE is trying to stay clear of the bottom of Superligaen where the bottom two will get relegated. So far it’s succeeding – barely.
We went to see the game against SIF from Silkeborg. A win or a draw would mean that SønderjyskE had a buffer from the two teams getting relegated.
The game didn’t start out too well, with SIF getting a two goal lead before half-time so things looked pretty bleak. The local fans were not deterred though and kept singing and drumming.
Soon after the second half started SønderjyskE made a surprising comeback with two goals in quick succession!
The score was 2-2 and the atmosphere was great, the local team was in the game again. But as SønderjyskE caught up it was as if the team let down their guards or the air ran out of the balloon. SIF scored two more goals and the final result was a disappointing 2-4.
Although it was a cold, grey day to spend a couple of hours standing around we really enjoyed the day at the stadium. We hope to get to see the other teams sometime soon, hopefully in slightly warmer conditions!
So far, Sonderborg has not been connected to the E-road network connecting Europe with a motorway. This situation will be improved in a week’s time when Motorway M51 opens (PDF), reducing the transport time from Sonderborg by around 20 minutes.
The new motorway will connect Sonderborg to road E45, which goes from Sweden in the north, through Denmark, and south to Sicily, at Kliplev. However, before the cars get the benefit of the road, people by their own power have been let lose onto the road to experience it while they can.
Today was the first such possibility, with the motorway races at 5km, 10km, half marathon and marathon distances. Around 9300 runner took part (including your Hej Sonderborg authors!). This being my first organised 5km race I am happy that I finished… though my body feels quite stiff at the moment!
However, if you didn’t get to experience the road today, don’t despair. The second such event is tomorrow, when it is possible to ride your bike and walk on the motorway. Unfortunately, if you haven’t signed up already, the registration has closed. Nevertheless, if you are in the area do drop by. If it is anything like today you can look around at the different stands, munch your way through a sausage from the Lions Club, cheer on the participants, and even ride a Segway thanks to Danfoss Universe (who were also giving away free tickets for next week’s opening of the park!).
Update: Short observations from my first race
Surprised at the number of women ‘athletes’ with heavy make-up
Impressed at the organisation
Very clear that most of the kids had no concept of pacing themselves. They just alternated sprinting a short distance and walked a good chunk more.
Update 2:
Here is a cool time-lapsed video by Mikkel0305 from the day:
Sonderborg Municipality is organising free nature walks with ranger Jesper Tofft throughout the year.
The municipality covers a wide variety of landscapes and habitats and the walks will take you to many of these. Coasts, meadows, lakes, ponds, bogs, beech forests and more. Jesper will talk about the birds, frogs, insects, plants and other things you come across on the walks.
It is free to participate in the walks. You just have to be at the right place at the right time. Do note that the walks will be conducted in Danish so you might consider bringing your own English interpreter (me?) if you are not proficient in Danish.
Søndag 18. marts kl. 10-12
Hartsø på Kegnæs ▪ Vi ser på trækfugle, vadefugle og rovfugle
Søndag 22. april kl. 10-12
Bjørnkær på Nordals ▪ Vi ser på kystnatur, trækfugle og meget mere
Torsdag 10. maj kl. 19-21
Folekobbel og Skeldekobbel på Broagerland ▪ Bøgen er sprunget ud, og vi lurer på Stor Skallesluger og natuglen i deres redekasser særligt godt på.
Torsdag den 24. maj kl. 21-23
Viemosen og Dybbøl Banke ▪ Vi lytter til fuglenes aftensang og kvækkende frøer
Søndag 17. juni kl. 14-16
Fjordmosen og Bosted Made ved Nørreskoven ▪ Enge, sumpskov, strandvoldskyst – måske ser vi sommerfugle
Lørdag 18. august kl. 15-17
Kværs Hede ▪ Den eneste hede i Sønderborg Kommune
Søndag 16. september kl. 10-12
Oldenor og Mjels på Nordals ▪ Havørnens landskab
