For many owners, it was originally supposed to be a typical autumn weekend: For sailors who are rather late, one with mast laying and uncraning, for the very late ones a last weekend on board and for the well-organised ones one with the first winter work in the hall or outdoor storage. This turned into a weekend full of anxiety for many who were not on site in the harbour or winter storage, wondering whether the ship itself and everything on board was moored safely and storm-proof: storm "Herwart" swept across Germany on Sunday with gale-force winds, with wind speeds of over 80 knots measured on Helgoland.
Damage in water and outdoor storage
The German Weather Service had issued a storm surge warning of two and a half to three metres for the North Sea, and two to two and a half metres of high tide were also predicted for the Baltic Sea - in practice, this resulted in images of destruction in marinas along the coast. "We have some damage here in the harbour," reports Christian Rittierodt, harbour master at Marina Wendtorf. "The mooring lines of many ships have broken, and the boats have then bumped into the jetty or the neighbouring ship. This caused damage to the paintwork, but also holes in the hull. One open motorboat even sank because it filled up."
However, "Herwart" also hit ships that were already in outdoor storage on land: Inadequately lashed tarpaulins tore loose, dinghies and small keelboats toppled from their racks, and a yacht was thrown from its storage trestle at the Ring shipyard in Wendtorf. Like several others, it was standing there with the rigging upright - the mast crashed onto the neighbouring ship.
Third storm in a row
"Herwart" is already the third storm within a short space of time: "After 'Sebastian' in mid-September and 'Xavier' at the beginning of October, this was the third storm to hit us with severe consequences within six weeks," explains weather expert Meeno Schrader. "That's an unusually high number of autumn storms so early in the year, although 'Sebastian' actually took place in late summer." It was a stroke of luck when "Herwart" passed through that the full force of the storm occurred at night and in the early hours of the morning on Sunday, when fewer people were out and about and therefore came to harm than in previous autumn storms.
Meanwhile, clean-up work is underway inland and on the coast; owners whose ships are not yet moored in a storm-proof and winter-proof manner should do so as soon as possible.
