Viking III
The Wiking III is a sailing yacht built in 1923 at the Neptun shipyard in Rostock based on a design by H. Lohmann . At first the ship was called Bonzo II . In 1931 she was bought by the old gentlemen's association of the Academic Sailing Association of the University of Greifswald and renamed Wiking III to serve as a sailing ship for the old men of the ASV. At the end of the Second World War , the ship was laid aground to protect it from being attacked by the Red Army . Students of the sailing section of university sports restored the Wiking and sailed with it until 1962, after which the ship was sold.
After two changes of ownership, the last owner was looking for a buyer. Members of the student department of the Academic Sailing Club in Greifswald learned of this and sought contact. Since the ASV showed no interest in restoring its old ship, the students first tried to found their own association to carry out the restoration. By chance I came into contact with Helmut Pratzel, who had worked on the restoration of the boat as a student in the 1950s. Through his mediation, the ship was donated to the Association for the Promotion of Student Sailing in Greifswald (FSG), which was actually founded to raise funds for the ASV.
Since 2006 the two-master has been restored by a group of students from the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University and in 2011 it was possible to sail again on the Greifswalder Bodden for the first time .
Since then it has been the oldest sailing yacht that is actively sailed in Greifswald. Wiking has been based in Greifswald since 1931.
The ASV Greifswald zu Lübeck names its flagships Wiking to this day. The Wiking VII is currently being sailed there.