What the French have been celebrating for decades with the Vendée Globe or the Globe40 and the makers of The Ocean Race could soon succeed in Germany. Heligoland is to be the start and finish harbour for a new round-the-world race. Its name: Helgoland Round the World Race.
The French have Eric Tabarly, Bernard Moitissier, Loïck Peyron, Franck Cammas, Charles Caudrelier, François Gabart and Charlie Dalin. And a few more capacities. But we have Wilfried Erdmann and Boris Herrmann. So why shouldn't we be able to organise races as big as the Grande Nation! The Helgoland Round the World Race fits right in here!" says Fiete Hansen.
The Heligoland fisherman still vividly remembers the great sailing times when fierce Admiral's Cup competitions took place off Heligoland and national and international sailing celebrities livened up the red rock.
Heligoland Round the World Race: from Lange Anna around the world and back
Once a year, the island is still characterised by regatta sport at the start of the season: Dhe North Sea Week, which was first held in 1922 is closely interwoven with Heligoland. This year, the 91st edition will be held from 22 to 25 May. Click here for impressions from last year. In just under two months, the programme will once again include the legendary 500 nautical mile Pantaenius Rund Skagen, which has been sailed since 1932. In a few years' time, this classic could become a thrilling prologue to the new Helgoland Round the World Race.
Heligoland wants more. With the Helgoland Round the World Race, the challenging North Sea area of Germany's only high seas island is to return to the centre of the regatta world. On long winter evenings, this plan was forged at secret meetings on the island. Sometimes the islanders and other initiators met to exchange ideas in one of the colourful and inspiring lobster shacks, sometimes in the Helgoland Museum or in the bunker tunnel.
One of the meetings for the Helgoland Round the World Race probably also took place at the sustainable family fishery Albatros Hummer. It is said to have been primarily about honouring albatrosses as the symbolic companions of circumnavigators. It is said among sailors that albatrosses harbour the souls of comrades who have remained at sea.
Become a Cape Horn sailor with the Heligoland Round the World Race
The Amicale Internationale des Capitaines au Long Cours Cap Horniers, founded in 1936 and now known as the known as IACHtraditionally uses an albatross in its logo. At one time, membership was only open to masters of square-rigged ships that passed Cape Horn on their trading voyages. Today, IACH membership is open to people of all nationalities who have passed Cape Horn under sail as part of a non-stop voyage of at least 3,000 nautical miles in both the Pacific and the Atlantic above 52 degrees south latitude and without the use of propulsion engines.
Participation in the Helgoland Round the World Race could also provide an opportunity for IACH inclusion in the future. According to initial ideas, the race around the world will apparently take place if Germany is successful in its bid to host the Olympic Games in 2036, 2040 or 2044. According to sources close to the mayor of Heligoland, close dialogue is taking place with the bid campaigns: Hamburg, Munich, Berlin and CologneRhineRuhr.
The circumnavigation from and to Heligoland is planned for the Ultim, Imoca, Class40 and an ORC division, the details of which are still to be finalised, in order to attract as many German owners and their crews as possible. The Helgoland organisers did not want to reveal much more at this early stage. It is clear that the course around the world will call at least two or three European harbours along the coasts of the Netherlands, France and Spain to promote the island in the German Bight on its way to the Atlantic. A detour to Great Britain is still being considered.
Heligoland regatta experts on the planning committee
They will then continue the classic route along the three great capes - Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn - before the fleet sails back up the Atlantic and back to Helgoland. Like many other national and international teams, Team Malizia and Boris Herrmann have already signalled their keen interest in the first major regatta around the world, which will lead from and to Germany.
At last, the North Sea region, where I travelled as a young boy, is at the centre of a circumnavigation." Boris Herrmann
There is also broad support for the idea from German sailing clubs. An important goal of the new circumnavigation is to make the island, which was traded by Germany for Zanzibar in 1890, famous worldwide. "Everyone should know us then. And our flag: green is the land, red is the Kant, white is the beach - the colours of Heligoland are alive!" said a proud pupil from the James Krüss School on Heligoland.
While the organisers are still reluctant to go public, insiders assume that well-known Helgoland regatta sailors will be on hand to provide the initiators with valuable advice. Former Admiral's Cup winner and current Satnav expert Jens Ewerling and former Admiral's Cup and Whitbread Round the World Race participant and YACHT Vice President Fridtjof Gunkel are said to be among the unofficial advisors.
Ralf Steitz, who was born on Heligoland and raced alongside Dennis Conner in the America's Cup in 1995, could also be in discussion as a consultant. And, of course, the well-known naval architect and Judel/Vrolijk & Co-CEO Torsten Conradi. He grew up on Heligoland and discovered sailing as a ten-year-old when the Heligoland Water Sports Club got its first optis in the late 1960s. He knows the island and the sailing area like few others.
Under the sign of the lobster: old trophies for a new race around the world
The prizes for the winners in the four planned classes already exist. They originated in the last century. When Heligoland was the destination of the regatta for the first time in 1925 during the fourth North Sea Week, Heligoland fishermen donated two baskets of lobsters as extra prizes. The gift inspired a young, unknown artist to create a series of four similar bronze sculptures.
The works of art are guarded by the Conradi family in one of their lovingly cared for hotels and holiday homes on the island. They won't reveal exactly where or in which hotel. But YACHT was able to find out this much: The trophies are said to be lobsters cast in bronze, which today also honour the lobster sanctuary off Heligoland.
Many North Sea Weeks participants know the protected area from painful experience: anyone who takes a shortcut and drives into it will be drastically penalised and disqualified. However, anyone who can master this cliff in the future Heligoland Round the World Race could become a "lighthouse on the lobster cliffs" in the new race around the world, according to the Heligoland poet and writer James Krüss.
