Taking a charter yacht to blow up a pipeline? It is a strange story that is currently dominating the news: As reported by an investigative team from ARD-Hauptstadtstudio, SWR-"Kontraste" and "Die Zeit", the saboteurs of the Nordstream pipeline are said to have travelled to the scene of the crime by sailing yacht. Large gas leaks occurred in the pipeline near Bornholm in the autumn.
According to "Spiegel" research, the Bavaria 50 "Andromeda" was chartered from a charter company based in Breege using false passports and loaded with the explosives. The "Zeit" initially reported that the yacht then sailed into the harbour of Wieck on the Darß. But that could not be true: The harbour has a water depth of just 1.40 metres, too little for the Bavaria 50.
Wieck on the Darß or Wiek on Rügen?
The information was later corrected: It was now said to have been the harbour Wiek on Rügen. Like Darßer Wieck, Rügen's harbour is also located on the Bodden and is not necessarily known as a mandatory stopover between Rostock and Bornholm. The approach is via the Hiddensee fairway and then into the Wieker Bodden - why the saboteurs would have taken this diversions is not clear from the research.
The alleged charterer of the yacht identified by "Der Spiegel" is based in Breege in the north of Rügen - which borders on Wiek, which may have led to a mix-up. There is also a harbour near Greifwald called Wieck, but this is unlikely to be the starting point.
Whether it is even possible to transport four divers with their equipment, other participants and all the explosives on a Bavaria 50 - and how the explosive charges were then lowered into the water at the scene of the crime without a crane - all this remains in the dark, as do the sources of the reports. The alleged charterer also does not wish to respond to the enquiry.
At least some experts doubt that it is actually possible to transport the required amount of explosives on a sailing yacht and launch it without a crane.
YACHT has sailed the "Andromeda"
While most of this spy thriller, which is developing into a sailing thriller, is still shrouded in mystery, a quick look at the YACHT archives shows that if at least the name and type of ship are correct, then the YACHT was the first on board. In 2015, we accompanied a special kind of transfer voyage: without explosives and divers, but with almost 150 highly motivated sailors who transferred the Mola fleet of 30 ships from Flensburg to Rügen in autumn. Steep learning curve included.
