Rum regatta
The Rum Regatta (other spelling: Rum Regatta ) is the largest gaff sailor meeting in Northern Europe. Since 1980, every year on the weekend after Ascension Day , well over 100 participating ships have met on the Flensburg inner fjord for a regatta , which, however, is more reminiscent of a "disinterested squadron trip".
Rum tradition
The name of the regatta refers to the tradition of Flensburg as a rum city . For many years, rum was the city's most important commodity. From Flensburg the Flensburg merchant ships went to the Danish colonies in the Caribbean . From the Danish West Indies and the Virgin Islands (Jomfruøerne) Saint Thomas , Saint John and Saint Croix , (today the American Virgin Islands ), the West Indians imported the Caribbean sugar cane grown there and processed it into rum in Flensburg the old town of this chapter in the history of Flensburg .
history
The regatta is a purely voluntary basis by since 1980 Association of the Flensburg museum harbor organized. It was intended to bring the gaff sailors of the German-Danish region together once a year for a joint sailing event. The regatta, in which 30 ships took part in the first year, developed into the largest event of its kind in Northern Europe as early as 1987 with 130 participating ships and is now attracting more and more spectators. The regatta has become a maritime folk festival in recent years , which is now attended by tens of thousands of "sea people". Since the early 1980s, boat builders , sailmakers , block makers, cooper (barrel makers ), blacksmiths and wood turners have been demonstrating their craft at the Gaffelmarkt . A shipyard in bottle , fishermen shirts and fish sandwiches can usually be found on the market. As early as 1986, the organizers banned the disposable tableware from the food stalls in order to reduce the size of the garbage dumps.
"Price squander"
Curiously, the aim of the participating traditional sailors is second place, true to the motto: “Better safe and sound than broken and wider”, because this is based on the so-called “price wastage ” or “price squandering ” - the Petuh expression stands for an award ceremony - rewarded with a 3-liter bottle of Johannsen Rum - one of the last two rum houses in Flensburg. The first place is awarded a symbolic and usually rather worthless prize. Many skippers therefore try not to be the first to cross the finish line. The award ceremony was moderated by Rainer Prüss for several decades with short interruptions , but when he reached the age of 70 he finally gave up this task after around 30 years.
In addition to the regatta prizes, special prizes are also awarded which particularly honor the care of the ships, for example the Stilbruch price for blatant errors in the overall picture, but also the best restored ship of the past year.
Attendees
One of the first and most loyal guests was the participating ships of the Danish “Wooden Ship Association” (Træskibs Sammenslutningen) , a strictly organized association compared to the friends of the Gaffelriggs . As a member of the Flensburg Museum Harbor , the adventurer Arved Fuchs also regularly takes part in the rum regatta when he is not on an expedition at this time . A special feature are the original invitations from the organizers, written in German with Danish sprinkles. An addition is often added to the invitation, for example a shackle and tarred yarn for the 20th rum regatta , completed by vouchers , for example for “free fun” or “free singing along”.
reception
The rum regatta served the Flensburg author H. Dieter Neumann as a backdrop for his detective novel Tod auf der Rumregatta from 2016.
literature
- Rainer Prüss: Rum regatta. Better safe and sound than broken and wider . Illustrations by Bernt Hoffmann and Gisela Schaefer. Rainer Prüss and Petra Masolle, Flensburg 2003, ISBN 3-9808924-0-9 .
Web links
- Website of the rum regatta from the Museumshafen Flensburg
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Rainer Prüss: Rum regatta . Flensburg 2003, The international Flensburg Rum Regatta - "International meeting of historic sailing professional vehicles", p. 7 .
- ^ Rainer Prüss: Rum Regatta . Flensburg 2003, Gaffelmarkt, p. 28-31 .
- ↑ Joachim Pohl: Harbor Festival in Flensburg: Good wind and cold feet: That was the 36th rum regatta. In: Flensburger Tageblatt . May 18, 2015, accessed May 19, 2015 .
- ↑ a b Rainer Prüss: Rum Regatta . Flensburg 2003, price squander, p. 76-80 .
- ↑ Joachim Pohl: Harbor Festival in Flensburg: Good wind and cold feet: That was the 36th rum regatta. In: Flensburger Tageblatt . May 18, 2015, accessed May 19, 2015 .
- ^ Rainer Prüss: Rum Regatta . Flensburg 2003, special prices, p. 81 .
- ^ Rainer Prüss: Rum Regatta . Flensburg 2003, Is there also Danske "Gaffler" ?, p. 15 .
- ^ Rainer Prüss: Rum Regatta . Flensburg 2003, The Invitation, p. 18-19 .
- ↑ Tina Ludwig: New detective novel: Rumregatta becomes a murderous crime scene. In: Flensburger Tageblatt . January 5, 2016, accessed May 27, 2016 .