"Three ships have already been cleared and can be made ready," Sabine Scharbau informs her colleague Björn Seifert. It is nine o'clock in the morning and the two of them are standing in front of the cleaning equipment store at the charter station in Heiligenhafen marina. Scharbau has already loaded and prepared the cleaning kits for the employees of an external cleaning company. They should have been on site long ago, but the subcontractor has moved them at short notice - today of all days!
Saturday is the main changeover day at the charter station. This leaves only a few hours to clean the returned yachts and carry out any necessary repairs. After all, the new crews want to take over their boats as quickly as possible.
Also out of line:
So Sabine Scharbau, who everyone here just calls "Bee", and Björn Seifert start off on their own. The 59-year-old has been working at the base for over 30 years. Nothing can upset her so easily. Even if the cancellation of the external cleaning team upsets the daily schedule. She quickly redistributes the tasks - and is usually optimistic that the first ships will still be ready for occupancy by midday.
Traces of the cruise just completed removed
While the part of the harbour where the owner's boats are moored is still quiet in the morning, the three jetties where the boats of Yacht- und Charterzentrum GmbH are moored are now bustling with activity. Most of the sailors hurrying back and forth between the harbour and the car park are still busy clearing their boats. And removing the traces of the trip they have just completed: Washing the dishes, unfurling the sails, shooting the ropes, sweeping, taking the rubbish off board. As an observer, one wonders what fits on a ship in view of all the fully loaded transport trolleys being pulled over the jetties.
One person who is no longer surprised by this is Dirk Kadach. He managed the base in Heiligenhafen for 15 years. As well as the one in Flensburg, in Greifswald and in Croatia. He is now responsible for the company's business in Mallorca. He explains: "We rent out yachts on the Baltic Sea both under the name '1st Class Yachts' and under the 'Ecosail' brand. There are currently a total of 68 yachts in Heiligenhafen."
The ships that run in "1st class" are newer, a maximum of six to seven years old. After that, they switch to the "Ecosail" fleet. "They are then still technically perfect, but generally show more signs of wear and tear than the younger ships," says Kadach. As a result, they are naturally cheaper to offer.
Back to "Biene" and her people. "We're lucky, 'Philo' is here to help us," says the head of the cleaning team, visibly relieved. Philippos "Philo" Koch is also a subcontractor who regularly supports her. He and his colleague usually take care of cleaning the outside of the ships. They remove dirt and stains from the hull, deck and cockpit with a water hose, brush, mop and polishing cloth. Today, as an exception, he is helping the others with the interior cleaning. His job on deck is taken over by a colleague. Koch started out as a "boat wiper", as he calls himself, in Heiligenhafen. He has now been running his own cleaning company for three years.
Large and smaller yachts do the same amount of work
There is no shortage of work. Many a ship is left anything but swept clean by the crew. Be it bread crumbs in the oven, leftover food in the fridge, crumbled crisps between the upholstery or toothpaste stains in the bathroom. Not to mention the state of many on-board toilets. Sabine Scharbau knows: "The degree of soiling has nothing to do with the duration of the rental." Some crews would manage to leave a boat as if it had been on charter for a fortnight in just one weekend.
Whether 38 or 46 feet - surprisingly, large boats are hardly any more work than smaller yachts. On the contrary, Björn Seifert even says that the modern, wide and long yachts are actually easier to clean. "You can clean with several people below deck at the same time without constantly getting in each other's way." In addition, the surfaces on the new ships are usually larger and therefore easier to keep clean.
Incidentally, all cleaned toilets are given a hygiene label. "This gives the following crews a better feeling. They can then see that the toilets have been thoroughly cleaned and sanitised," explains Scharbau. There is also an important note on the banderole: "Please only bring in what has been eaten or drunk beforehand". There is hardly a worse job for the team than having to repair a blocked on-board toilet.
This morning it's Mario Graichen. He is one of three technicians from Yachtpoint Service GmbH, to which Sabine's team also belongs. His job is to make the toilet on an Oceanis 43 functional again. He quickly realises that the waste water hose is blocked. Graichen has to remove and replace it. Not so easy, because a cupboard integrated into the wet room is in the way. It has to go.
All kinds of tools and spare parts in the workshop
No problem for the 41-year-old, the cabinet is quickly removed. Now he can remove the blocked hose and install a new one. That, however, is not so easy. Graichen has to fix the connections in the tightest of spaces and with many contortions. At one point, he promptly gets his hand stuck between the hose and the side of the boat and curses: "What a mess!" Putting the previously removed cabinet back in is also millimetre work. It needs to be precisely aligned in order to hit the old screw holes. But after another curse, the trained carpenter manages that too.
After a quick tidy-up and clean-up, Mario Graichen hurries back to the workshop, which is located right next to the office building at the harbour. All kinds of tools and lots of spare parts are stored there: railing supports, for example. They like to get caught between the bollards when mooring or casting off and then bend. "We can replace them here almost on the spot," says Graichen. "If, on the other hand, a sail is damaged, we give it to the local sailmaker for repair."
There are responsible boatmen for each vessel in the charter fleet. If they discover defects or damage or are informed by charter guests that something is faulty, they enter this in an order list. This is then processed by the technicians one by one.
Sabine Scharbau also works with lists on which she assigns her team to the yachts to be cleaned and ticks off the work progress in order to maintain an overview. In future, charter customers will also be able to do this: "We are currently testing an app in Mallorca," says Dirk Kadach. "It not only makes work processes easier for us. Customers can now also see in real time whether they can already take over their ship or when this is likely to be the case." Kadach enthuses: "This is an incredible improvement!"
App to be used in the future
The app uses different colour icons to show how far the cleaning of a boat has progressed: If a certain work step is started, the corresponding icon changes from grey to yellow. Once the work is complete, it turns green. "In this way, travelling crews can gradually see whether interior and exterior cleaning, for example, has already started or been completed. Accordingly, they can decide whether they want to go shopping first or check into their ship first," says Dirk Kadach, explaining the benefits of the new app, which he helped to develop.
In future, it will also be used at the charter base in Heiligenhafen. "I think the charter sailors here will also really like it," Sabine Scharbau estimates. She currently keeps two sets of lists: one on a clipboard in paper form as usual and one digitally for final tests of the app.
However, the work of the technicians and cleaners will remain analogue. And, to a large extent, the boat people too. One of them is Alexander Hoffmann. He shares the work with nine other colleagues in Heiligenhafen. The man from Braunschweig is on site almost every weekend and owns two boats himself, which are regularly chartered out by the base. He is also responsible for a further four boats.
His main task is to hand over the yachts to the arriving crews, familiarise them with the conditions on board and explain the available technology and equipment to them. And to pick up the boats and their crews at the end of the trip.
Three comprehensive checklists
Now Hoffmann's mobile phone rings. It's Nils Dreßen. He and his fiancée Ramona Griebel have chartered the "Helene", a Bavaria Cruiser 37. The couple want to spend their holidays on it with friends, but don't have much sailing experience yet. They are both 32 years old and this is the first time they have rented a boat. Dreßen now wants to arrange the time for the boat familiarisation with Hoffmann.
Dreßen and Griebel only completed their SKS last year. Although they still have a lot of nautical knowledge, they still have a few questions about the boat. "Can you show us how the furling main works?" Dreßen asks the boatman when he arrives later to hand over the boat. "Sure, that's no problem at all," replies the 55-year-old construction planner, "we'll have a look at that in a moment. But first we have to get the compulsory part of the handover over with."
It starts at the lounge table. Here the three of them go through an extensive checklist, check the stowage plans and whether everything has been left where it belongs. They check the sea valves, count the automatic lifejackets and the associated gas cartridges. The galley inventory also needs to be ticked off.
Then it's off to the cockpit. Hoffmann shows the winches and explains which halyards, sheets and outhauls go where and in which clamps they are locked. The three of them then check the running and standing rigging, the rigging, the railing supports and the hull for visible damage. So far, everything seems to be in order. Only the fact that one of the railing supports is slightly bent is noted in the handover report.
"If you notice any damage or defects along the way, be sure to document this, including with photos," Hoffmann asks them. "If in doubt, you can then draw conclusions as to when the damage occurred, such as a scratch in the hull." If it is already yellowish in colour, for example, you can assume that it has been there for some time. "Then something like that won't fall back on you," Hoffmann explains to the new charterers.
It all starts all over again next Saturday
The boatswain then takes the time to explain to Dreßen and Griebel how the mainsail, which can be furled into the mast, works. "It's best to always hoist and set the sail on the port bow, i.e. with wind from starboard," he explains. "Because of the direction of rotation of the spindle over which the cloth is wound." He also points out that it is very important to position the boom at a 90-degree angle to the mast, especially when recovering and reefing the sail. Otherwise, there is too much pressure on the cloth, which not only makes the manoeuvre more difficult. It could also damage the sail.
Then they take a look at the navigation electronics. After all, the sailors should know the most important functions of the devices. When it is the radio's turn, Hoffmann demonstrates, among other things, where channels and noise suppression are set.
Then it's done, the ship is handed over, the crew and their fellow sailors are ready to set sail the next day. Hoffmann gives a few tips for the upcoming trip. After sailing in the bay off Heiligenhafen, the plan is to sail first to Fehmarn and then on towards the Bay of Lübeck.
Alexander Hoffmann's work is done for the day. Mario Graichen and his technical colleagues have also completed their list. As have Sabine Scharbau, Björn Seifert, Philippos Koch and the other members of the cleaning team. Closing time. Until next Saturday - when everything starts all over again.
