Erich Wilts

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Heide and Erich W. on the Freydis II
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Erich Wilts (born April 20, 1942 in Lübeck ) is a German circumnavigator , tour operator and photographer .

Life

Wilts grew up in East Frisia and has a brother. In 1967 he finished studying business administration in Hamburg .

He gained his first sailing experience as a schoolboy with his own gaff rigged wooden dinghy on the Ems . Since 1962 he has been a crew member on the motorless sailing yachts of the Hamburg Maritime Association founded by Albert Ballin in 1903 , including the Ortac , and took part in the Admiral's Cup .

In 1969 he met his future wife Heide Massar on the East Frisian Islands . Together they first sailed in the Finn dinghy , later with the Windy on the East Frisian Wadden Sea and on the Costa Brava . In 1988 the Wilts notarized their inheritance and compulsory portion on the Wilts side.

Until 1990 he worked as a business graduate, most recently as spokesman for the management of a paint wholesale cooperation.

Sailing trips

With their yachts Freydis I and Freydis II , self-built Reinke constructions, steel chine with swivel keel, they made trips to the Baltic Sea , North Sea and the European Arctic Ocean from 1975 onwards , as well as some internationally renowned and award-winning trips to the high northern and southern latitudes. They documented the trips in books, photos, films and lectures. On numerous stages they are accompanied by other sailors as a crew.

In 1981/82 they sailed from the Canary Islands via Fernando de Noronha , along the Brazilian coast via the Falkland Islands to Antarctica , visited Deception Island and, as the southernmost point, the US research station in the Palmer Archipelago . Then they sailed northwards along the Chilean coast , stopped in Lima , crossed the Panama Canal and thus nearly completed the circuit of South America. They returned to Germany through the northern Caribbean. They were then awarded the Trans-Ocean Prize for the trip .

In 1986 they sailed from Leer (East Friesland) via the Canaries, Azores to Newfoundland , Greenland , Iceland in the Scoresbysund / East Greenland and on to Spitsbergen . They hit the pack ice border and sailed across Bear Island to Tromsö in Norway . In the following year they sailed from Tromsö via Hopen to Spitzbergen again and circled the main islands before returning to Germany.

In 1988/1989 the Freydis sailed around Africa with guest skippers, and the Wilts only sailed the leg from the Seychelles to the Comoros .

The wintering quarters 1991: The Argentine research station

In 1991 they started to spend the winter in the crater lake of Deception Island, both of which they knew from 1981. Before they started the winter, for which they were allowed to use the buildings of the Argentinean research station there, they visited the numerous research stations on King George Island in the archipelago of the South Shetland Islands . In a storm, the "Freydis II" stranded right in front of the station, leaking and freezing. With various support, they were able to secure the yacht, make makeshift repairs in November 1991 and sail back to Puerto Williams via Drake Street, where they repaired it.

From 1992 they sailed around Antarctica for seven years until 1998 in stages in a west-east direction to visit the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands and archipelagos on their periphery . They started from Tierra del Fuego, sailed over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia to the South Sandwich Islands , from there to Tristan da Cunha and on to Cape Town , where they wintered. We continued along Africa's east coast to Madagascar , the Comoros, the Îles Éparses and back to Richards Bay in South Africa. From there they started again with the crew, first calling at the Prince Edward Islands , from there to the Crozet Islands , on to the Kerguelen , where they discovered a gearbox damage to the engine. Nevertheless, they sailed on to Heard , from there almost directly north to St. Paul . Finally, after around ten weeks, they arrived in Freemantle, Australia . At the end of 1996 they start crossing the Pacific Ocean from New Zealand. They called at the Kermadec Islands , sailed to the Cook Islands , the Society Islands and on to the Tuamotu Archipelago . They reached Easter Island via the Gambier Islands and Pitcairn . It was not possible to land on Salas y Gómez , and they sailed on to the Juan Fernández Islands to finally reach the South American continent in the Chilean Valdivia . They sailed south along the Patagonian coast, visited Antarctica again and completed the circle of extensive Antarctic circumnavigation on Deception Island after seven years and 44,077 nautical miles.

Immediately afterwards, from 1998, they sailed via Puerto Montt , Robinson Crusoe Island , the Marquesas , Palmerston , Niue and Fijis, initially to Noumea in New Caledonia . That was the starting point from where, in four months, three GEO-Magazin tandems with the Freydis explored Vanuatu , the Solomon Islands and eastern Papua New Guinea - including Rabaul , the Trobriand Islands and the Egum Atoll - one after the other and published about it. On board for GEO were: Andrian Kreye and Roman Bezjak , Michael Stührenberg and Pascal Maitre as well as Peter Sartorius and George Steinmetz as text and photo journalists . Eventually the Freydis sailed to Townsville, Australia .

From 2000 to 2002 they sailed via Australia through the Indian Ocean around South Africa through the Atlantic back to Leer.

2006 to 2008 they were in Alaska and the Bering Sea to Kotzebue / Tschuktschensee .

The Freydis II did not survive the 2011 winter in the marina of Iwaki (Japan) . The tsunami on March 11, 2011 completely destroyed the marina. The Freydis II was initially lost, but was later discovered 4 km northeast on the rocks and flooded. A rescue was rejected by Erich Wilts after an on-site inspection.

As a result, the Freydis III was created from an aluminum hull that had existed for years, an adapted crack of a Reinke 16M with a swivel keel.

In 2017 the Wilts successfully crossed the Northwest Passage .

Awards (selection)

  • From 1975 to 1986 participation in the cruising competition of the cruiser division of the German Sailing Association. Awarded ten plaques from the cruiser division of the German Sailing Association, the first and the last six of them in gold.
  • Heide Wilts was awarded the advancement award of the cruiser department of the German Sailing Association in 1996 for her book On the Route of the Albatrosses as the best sailing sports book of the year .
  • Erich Wilts is a photographer whose pictures have appeared in GEO, Stern , Life , Times , Le Figaro , Terres Sauvages, No Limits and other sailing magazines at home and abroad. He was awarded the international Marian Skubin / No Limits Award.

Works

Travel books

The trips are documented in numerous books written by Heide Wilts and illustrated with photographs by Erich Wilts. In some cases Erich Wilts contributed a foreword or wrote a technical appendix:

  • 1984: Cape Horn lies far to the north. With the "Freydis" to the Arctic . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing. ISBN 978-3-7688-0462-2
  • 1988: Where mountains sail. With the "Freydis" to the Arctic . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing. ISBN 978-3-7688-0605-3
  • 1992: Stranded in the White Hell . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing. ISBN 978-3-7688-0767-8
  • 1996: On the route of the albatrosses . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing. ISBN 978-3-7688-0927-6
  • 2000: Sailing to the end of the world. With the Freydis into the Southern Ocean . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing. ISBN 978-3-7688-1220-7
  • 2003: Wild Pacific Ocean. The Freydis completes her circumnavigation of the Antarctic . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing. ISBN 978-3-7688-1479-9
  • 2008: Islands Beyond Time - GEO Expedition through Melanesia . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing. ISBN 978-3-7688-2499-6
  • 2013: Alaska - Japan. The last voyage of Freydis II . North: Ostfriesland Verlag - SKN. ISBN 978-3-939870-02-9
  • 2018: KO - and packed again! With a new boat to new shores . North: Ostfriesland Verlag - SKN. ISBN 978-3-944841-47-2
  • 2019: escapade. From Japan through the Northwest Passage . Elmshorn: Parimare Verlag. ISBN 978-3-947244-07-2
  • with Heide Wilts 2020: In the storm. Sailing in extreme weather , Husum: Ihleo, ISBN 978-3-96666-017-4

Illustrated books

  • with Heide Wilts 1994: Great moments on all oceans . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing. ISBN 978-3-7688-0863-7 ; French as Les Naufragés des Glaces .
  • with Heide Wilts 1997: Sailing destinations full of wonder. With the "Freydis" to the loneliest islands in the world . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing. ISBN 978-3-7688-1019-7
  • with Heide Wilts 1999: Sailing adventure in the South Pacific: with Freydis around New Zealand and into the Ross Sea . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing. ISBN 978-3-7688-1143-9
  • with Heide Wilts 2002: Islands full of magic: sailing between the South Seas and Antarctica . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing. ISBN 978-3-7688-1383-9

more publishments

  • Video: Icy Adventure - 80 ° North . Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 1988

swell

  • ZDF report Shipwreck Between Fire and Ice , first broadcast on December 19, 1991
  • 3-satellite circumnavigator - looking for or on the run?
  • GEO Season: The Neverending Journey (PDF; 174 kB)
  • SEGELN 1994/04, SEGELN-Talk The gentle ocean sailor
  • YACHT 1999/02 types for eternal ice
  • YACHT 2002/15 Interview: The return - "Simply heavenly"
  • YACHT 2011/13 Interview: "It could have been worse"
  • Wolfgang J. Krauss: Your port is the sea - Skipper-Report , Ullstein 1985
  • Wolfgang J. Krauss: From the addiction of sailing - Skipper-Report , Ullstein 1987

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.gewerbeverzeichnis-deutschland.de/segelablebnis-freydis-gmbh-und-co-kg-69121-heidelberg-sonstiges;514831.html
  2. ^ Heide Wilts (1984): Cape Horn lies far to the north. With the "Freydis" to the Arctic . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing.
  3. ^ Heide Wilts (1988): Where mountains sail. With the "Freydis" to the Arctic . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing.
  4. ↑ a b Heide Wilts (1996): On the route of the albatrosses . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing
  5. ^ Heide Wilts (1992): Stranded in the White Hell . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing.
  6. ↑ Heide Wilts: Wilder Stiller Ozean. The Freydis completes her circumnavigation of the Antarctic. Bielefeld: Delius Klasing
  7. ↑ Islands Beyond Time. With the FREYDIS through Melanesia . Bielefeld: Delius Klasing.
  8. ↑ Several reports in GEO, August to November 2000
  9. ↑ Heide Wilts: Wilder Stiller Ozean. The Freydis completes her circumnavigation of the Antarctic. Bielefeld: Delius Klasing, p. 297
  10. ↑ Heide Wilts (2019): Escapade. From Japan through the Northwest Passage . Elmshorn: Parimare Verlag.
personal data
SURNAME Wilts, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sailor and author of photo books
DATE OF BIRTH April 20, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Lübeck