Admittedly, there have been so many long journeys on the Shark 24 boat over the past 30 years that it is hardly surprising that two 37-year-olds from Schwerin are now setting off from Lisbon to cross the Atlantic. But that doesn't make the boat any bigger or the challenge any smaller. The boat simply seems to be a popular choice for long-distance sailors who want to turn their journey into a great adventure.
"I read books and reports about people crossing the Atlantic in small boats and just wanted to do it myself," says André Kurreck, hydraulic engineer and initiator of the "Lebe Meer" project. "Then I read that two Germans had already crossed the Atlantic on the Shark 24 in 2003 - and I wanted a boat like that too. It can be trailered, which was important for the trial trips in the Mediterranean and on the Baltic Sea, and I can have it on the doorstep on Lake Schwerin - and it is simply seaworthy and tried and tested."
In fact, the list of long voyages on the Shark 24 is long. Back in autumn 1971, Canadian Clive O'Connor sailed from Canada to New Zealand with his wife and young daughter on "Chi Squared's". The skipper had converted the large storage space in the stern into an aft cabin for the child. After 14 months and 12,000 nautical miles, the ship and crew reached New Zealand in November 1972, around the same time that Randal Peart, also Canadian, was preparing for the double Atlantic crossing. In January 1973, he set off from Chesapeake Bay via Bermuda and the Azores to England. On the last leg of the journey, the rudder fittings broke. He sawed and filed a replacement out of his anchor, which took him all the way to England. But not without capsizing 350 miles off Falmouth. However, the crossing was not enough to deter him - the following year he sailed back to the USA via the southern route.
The same route that the Germans Georg Pferdmenges and Irene van Adrichem took 30 years later with their Shark 24. The two students had an appointment in the Caribbean, van Adrichem was due to start an internship on Curacao - and so they bought an old Shark for 3,500 euros and sailed there. Around 1,000 nautical miles off Barbados, the rudder on board the "Futschi Kato" broke, but with the old auxiliary rudder and wind steering system and 100 metres of towed line, they managed to stabilise the ship's course, make it steer itself and finally reach the Caribbean.
"We have learnt from the problems of the others and had a reinforced rudder blade built," explains André Kurreck, "which should last until the end of the journey." The plan is to sail the ship to the Canary Islands today, 750 nautical miles from Lisbon. It will then remain there until November, the ideal time to set sail for the Caribbean. There, friend and fellow sailor Tim Wolf will fly back home, while Kurreck will make his way to the Bahamas. The return journey will then be by freighter from the USA. Until then, however, there are still a good 5,500 nautical miles ahead of the bow.
The journey can be www.lebemeer.de be pursued.
