Report: Trainee programme turns the "Alexander von Humboldt II" into a tall ship for everyone
YACHT-Redaktion
· 18.10.2025
Text by Phillipp Steiner
End of June 2025, start of a six-day voyage from Kiel to the Kattegat. On board the sail training ship "Alexander von Humboldt II" are a regular crew of around 25 as well as 45 guests with and without sailing experience as trainees. The crew works on a voluntary basis, the trainees have each paid around 900 euros, and it was cheaper for the younger ones among them. They have not booked a cruise. Everyone is expected to lend a hand. The whole team gets their hands dirty, some of them suffer from blisters or aching limbs - and great memories.
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It starts at the Sartorikai in Kiel. After registering, the trainees can get to know each other and the tall ship. The "Alexander von Humboldt II", IMO 9618446, call sign DDKK2, is a steel barque 65.05 metres long overall and 10.05 metres wide with a draught of 4.80 to a maximum of 5.10 metres. Her maximum height above water is 39.50 metres and her home port is Bremerhaven.
"Alexander von Humboldt" has typical bar rigging
Its predecessor, the "Alexander von Humboldt", was made famous by the adverts for Beck's beer, where it runs through the picture with its green sails to the song "Sail Away". The "Alex-2" also carries the characteristic green sails, 24 of them with a surface area of 1,360 square metres. Five square sails each on the foremast and main mast, a split mizzen sail and the mizzen top sail on the mizzen mast as well as eleven staysails distributed across the masts. "The 'Alex' has a typical bar rig, based on the modern design of 100 years ago, which is still state of the art for traditional rigs today," explains Captain Conrad Schepers.
The interior is more like a youth hostel than a hotel. In the four-bed dormitory (a two-bed dormitory is available for an extra charge), each guest has a bunk and a locker. Comfort is lacking, the bathroom is just enough to turn round, there are also communal showers.
The trainees are a colourful mix. They are women and men of all generations, but the majority are of a more mature age. The youngest will be celebrating his 16th birthday on the trip, the oldest is 80. They come from all over the world. From Schleswig-Holstein and the Ruhr region, southern and eastern Germany, Denmark and Switzerland.
Trainees are a colourful mix
There is Irmgard, for example, a doctor from Saxony. This is her eighth time on the ship and this time she has taken her husband and son with her. She likes to wear a sun hat on deck and is dressed functionally like the others. Many wear hiking boots or other sturdy shoes, preferably with a heel to provide support in the rigging.
Otto is taking part for the second time; the 66-year-old from Elmshorn previously travelled to the Canary Islands with the "Alex". It is a first for Ruth, a mechanical engineer, and for Walter, who comes from Denmark and lives in Poland. Ulf from Dinslaken, an engineer in the chemical industry, sailed on the first "Alexander von Humboldt" decades ago as a student. Back then, he passed the examination to become a light seaman. Now, as a trainee again, he wants to see what it's like on the new ship.
A three-watch system is used. Each trainee is scheduled from 8 am to 12 noon, 12 noon to 4 pm or 4 pm to 8 pm and again from 8 pm to 0 am, 0 am to 4 am or 4 am to 8 am. The departing guard wakes the arriving one. There is a quiet clanking in the corridor as the climbing harnesses are pulled over the clothes. The harnesses are compulsory if climbing into the rigging, although climbing is optional for trainees. If you want, you can eat before the watch or get fresh coffee. The changing of the watch takes place on the poop deck. The relieved watch loudly wishes the new watch "Gode Wach!", and the new watch returns the favour with the answer: "Gode Ruh!"
Core crew consists of professionals with the necessary patents
Each watch has a helmsman in charge and a topsailor who is in charge on deck. One of them is Patrick. He is studying nautical science in Elsfleth. The 25-year-old with the dark beard divides up the tasks. A trainee goes on lookout on the forecastle for half an hour. If he spots ships, flotsam or similar, he reports it to the helmsman.
The helmsman steers the compass course or places the rudder in the desired position by looking at the rudder angle indicator. Everyone else drives the manoeuvres, unless they have to set tables, wash dishes or clean toilets as "bakers".
"We line up here with ten people at the ropes and then we shout: 'Get away! Get away!', and we do that for four or five days."
The core crew consists of professionals with the necessary patents. Conrad, the captain, leads the way. The 37-year-old wears the shirt with the four golden stripes to greet guests and on the farewell evening - otherwise he is dressed practically like the others and is on first-name terms with them.
The chief mate and chief engineer also require certificates of competency from commercial shipping, as Conrad explains. In addition, members of the core crew must complete basic safety courses in accordance with the STCW and be regularly declared fit for sea service. Anyone wishing to join the core crew usually has to demonstrate sailing time as a trainee and pass an examination. The regular crew on this cruise includes other helmsmen, a doctor, a cook, a cook's mate - and the sailors. But these are not professional sailors. Light sailor Lina, for example, is a sustainability manager for a local authority. The 30-year-old finds a change from her office job on the "Alex-2".
Beautiful - and beautifully exhausting
The main crew carry out some of the manoeuvres, such as mooring and casting off, on their own. Otherwise, they instruct the trainees and get involved themselves. In practice, this means that Patrick gathers his watch behind the chart house. Supported by sailor Sören and the light sailors Lilly and David, he paints the rigging, explains which sails are to be set or recovered, which ropes are to be fetched or fiddled with. Then commands like: "To the main topmars!", "To the sheets, clear by Geitau and Gordinge!", "Sheet in front of the main topmars, fier Geitau and Gordinge, get the sheet to port!" ring out. Patrick lets it out in a loud chant. This is traditional and protects the voice, reveals the man who motivates his watch with funny speeches, breaks and jelly babies.
Patrick will remember one manoeuvre in particular from this trip: a jibe in the dark of night. The crew worked so well together during the breasting manoeuvre that "the yards were perfectly parallel, smooth without jerking, without stalling" - "that was really nice".
Beautiful - and exhausting. Manoeuvres are always a tough job. You can see it on one or the other's face when they pick up a rope and it only moves centimetre by centimetre. Sailing on the "Alex" is "much more work" compared to sailing your own boat, says Otto from Elmshorn. He owns an Albin Vega, built in 1979, which he sails on the Baltic Sea. The sails on the "Alex" are also different to handle, "there are a lot more blocks and shrouds here". Similarly, there is usually a helmsman, a lookout and someone "who wears the hat".
Reaching and expanding boundaries
Other trainees also have their own boats. For example, Frederik from Denmark, Walter's 80-year-old father. He is travelling again with his Luffe 37 from 2004 after the trip on the "Alex". Connie usually sails with her husband in the Mediterranean. Their 40-foot Hallberg-Rassy, built in 2008, is moored in Valencia. Connie learns her limits on the "Alex". She had previously imagined climbing up the rigging straight away and working on the sails. "I got up the first ten metres, and then I found it quite high and climbed back down again."
She finds the physical labour hard. Her own boat has an electric winch. "And here we line up with ten people at the ropes and then they shout: 'Get away! Get away!', and you do that for four or five days. And I now have tense shoulders and aching upper arms." Nevertheless: "I really want to do it again."
Conrad is also satisfied in the end. "The people grew together incredibly quickly," summarises the captain. After all, you start from scratch on every trip. "This crew has never travelled like this before and will never travel like this again."
Let off steam in the Kattegat
On this voyage, the "Alex-2" put 466 nautical miles in her wake. From Kiel under engine power through the Great Belt and up into the Kattegat. There they sailed until the calm set in again. The "Alex" anchored off the Danish town of Hou. Those who wanted to were taken ashore by boat or jumped from the ship into the sea for a swim.
The next day, the wind is force six to seven. The sails are set and the "Alex-2" can let off steam for a day in the Kattegat, as Conrad puts it. The ship reaches a speed of almost ten knots over ground with the wind on the beam, pitching and rolling. Side effect: the ranks thin out when the watch changes - quite a few people are seasick.
The journey back through the Belt towards Kiel is quieter. On the last evening, anchored again at the entrance to the fjord, the simple but good cuisine is at its best at the Captain's Dinner. The main course is fillet of beef with rosemary potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli. Afterwards, the party continues on deck.
The next day, clearing and entering Kiel, passing the "Gorch Fock". Incidentally, when the "Gorch Fock" was out of action for a long time, the German Navy used a civilian barque for training. It came from Bremerhaven and can be recognised from afar by its green sails.
Sailing on the "Alex-2"
The owner of the sail training ship "Alexander von Humboldt II" is the German Sail Training Foundation. The purpose of the foundation is "to give all suitable and interested persons the opportunity to practise ocean sailing under expert guidance within the framework of traditional seamanship on traditional ships". The main target group is young people, but anyone over the age of 14 can join in. The sailing programme with prices and dates for 2026 is due to be published in mid-October. More information: www.alex-2.de
