400 tonnes excluding the gearbox and thrust reversers
“Starboard, ten,” says Captain Alexandre Poirier. The 36-year-old is standing at the stern of the three-masted topsail schooner “Thor Heyerdahl”. Shorts, a cap, mirrored sunglasses. From here, slightly elevated, he has a good view across the entire deck. A few metres behind him, the young helmswoman repeats the command: “Starboard, ten.” With all her might, Fenja, 16, cranks the steering wheel – as big as a tractor tyre – and stops. Then she calls out: “Held.” The colossus turns sluggishly to starboard.
It is Hanse Sail, at the jetty in Rostock’s city harbour, day trippers are waiting for the next sailing. The ship sets sail several times a day, promoting the experience and offering visitors a hands-on taste of traditional sailing. But first, Poirier must safely manoeuvre the 400-tonne, 49.8-metre-long sailing training ship up to the quay.As he pulls a brass lever next to the helm, there’s a hissing and snorting sound, and the 400 PS six-cylinder Deutz engine in the hull roars to life. Smoke rises from the funnel protruding from the side, just like from a locomotive. Using a brass wheel the size of a dinner plate, Poirier increases the revs. The whole ship vibrates and picks up speed. Then comes the next command, short and precise: “Port, five.” The reply comes immediately: “Port, five. Steady.” Poirier stops the main engine, operates two levers, and the Deutz roars to life again, now running in reverse, and the ship comes to a halt.
A ship with all sorts of peculiarities
The ‘Thor Heyerdahl’ was launched in Westerbroek, the Netherlands, in 1930 as a cargo motor-sailer. She sailed the seas for decades until she was converted into a training ship in the early 1980s. Since then, individual parts of the hull, rigging and main engine have been replaced, in some cases several times over. No wonder, then, that the ship has all sorts of quirks today.
Take operating the engine, for example: the constant starting and stopping is not a whim of the captain, but a simple necessity. The Deutz engine was built in 1951 and used to serve as an emergency generator in a hospital. It is connected directly to the propeller shaft; there is no gearbox, explains Hanna Stender. She is the engineer on board. Before every change of direction, the camshaft has to be moved and the engine restarted, she says. On land, the qualified mechanical engineer works as an energy consultant. She knows the engine inside out.
By now, there are only a few metres of water between the hull and the pier. Then Lukas Reinmund, watch leader on the aft deck, gives a hand signal: a fist against an open palm. For the dinghy crew, this is the signal to push. The orange inflatable dinghy, which is currently positioning itself at the bow, is the ‘Thor Heyerdahl’s’ tug and serves as a substitute for the missing thrusters. With its outboard engine roaring, it pushes the hull against the quay.
Port, starboard, five, ten, thirty. Push! The manoeuvre takes time. Yet neither Captain Poirier nor the 18-strong crew allow themselves to be rushed. Calmly, despite the crosswind and the narrow channel, they first turn the ‘Thor Heyerdahl’ round on the spot. Then they manoeuvre the ship alongside its berth.
During the manoeuvre, the crew work like an orchestra: Poirier conducts, whilst the crew handle the spring lines, forward lines and stern lines, fenders and dinghy just as musicians play their instruments. No rushing about, no shouting. The atmosphere is friendly, with everyone on an equal footing. Nevertheless, there are clear hierarchies: captain, watch leader, deckhand. And these are necessary. Fourteen sails are spread across the schooner, main and mizzen masts. Various square sails, gaff sails and topsails have a combined sail area of around 830 square metres. Without structure, this would be almost impossible to control.
Just like the sheer mass of the ship. This poses a challenge when mooring. “The ship is robust, built for worldwide voyages. That comes at the expense of agility,” says Poirier. Nevertheless, most of the manoeuvres are carried out much as they would be on a cruising yacht, just scaled up a few notches.
A team of volunteers keeps the ship afloat
What you don’t see at first glance is that the entire crew are volunteers on board. Instead of paid professionals, everyone on board gives up their free time to ensure the training sailing ship can operate. In return, they are members of the ‘Thor Heyerdahl e.V.’ sailing ship association. The association has around 1,700 members, of whom about a quarter form the active core crew. Anyone wishing to join must have completed at least a ten-day training voyage, during which they learn the basics of navigation, technical skills and sailing. The members come from all age groups, from schoolchildren to pensioners, although those under 35 are significantly over-represented.
This high number of active members is also necessary because the ‘Thor Heyerdahl’ is in service all year round. In winter, it sails the Atlantic and the Caribbean with 34 young people and the ‘Classroom Under Sail’ (KUS), an educational project run by the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. In summer, the ship sails the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, and visits the shipyard in Kiel twice a year.
“From an afternoon sail to three-week summer voyages, we’re always in need of people,” says Verena Osterrieder. The geographer is responsible for crewing and coordinates the volunteer core crew. She has been involved for 24 years now. “It’s a bit of a balancing act at times,” she says. It requires a great deal of professionalism and motivation. But the club members have both. You can feel that on board, and it’s also reflected in the demand. Shrinking membership numbers aren’t an issue.
They attract new recruits mainly from among young people who have been on board during summer cruises or the Atlantic voyage. Helmswoman Fenja, for example, only joined last winter through the ‘Classroom Under Sail’ programme and has been trying to sail along as often as possible ever since.
From your first sailing trip to your skipper’s certificate
Watch leader Lukas Reinmund, a secondary school teacher from Bavaria, accompanied a class across the Atlantic three years ago and has been part of the regular crew ever since. What drives him is not just the experience of nature, but the unique learning environment. “We put them in situations that challenge them. We give them responsibility without overwhelming them. That’s how they grow.”
Engineer Hanna Stender went on her first voyage five years ago; today she keeps an eye on the technical systems on board. She wants to pass on her enthusiasm, especially to women and girls. “I know there’s sometimes a bit of a fear of getting involved,” she says. “But here you can handle everything, touch it and take it apart.”
Captain Alexandre Poirier, a qualified naval architect, took part in the training voyage in 2012; shortly afterwards, he sailed across the Atlantic and worked his way up, qualification by qualification, from deckhand to captain. What appeals to him most is the complexity of seafaring: “Carrying out a manoeuvre with 50 people, sometimes in heavy seas, with 14 sails. That’s demanding. Every cog has to mesh perfectly.”
What makes it special, says Verena Osterrieder, is that “the young people are keen and really get to grips with the subject matter.” This specialist knowledge is then passed on amongst themselves. “That’s what fuels their motivation.” One person who can attest to this is Laura Lühnenschloss. She is now one of the few female riggers in Europe and has worked on the rigs of prominent historic sailing ships such as the “Rickmer Rickmers”, the “Beijing” or, more recently, the ‘Sea Cloud’. She discovered her calling whilst on board the ‘Thor Heyerdahl’. It was through her dissertation whilst studying sports that she first came into contact with the sailing training ship. In 2014, she undertook her training voyage, fell in love with the rigger’s trade and learnt from more experienced crew members. She later moved to work for the Hamburg-based rigger Jochen Gnass. “My knowledge came from the ‘Thor Heyerdahl’; that’s where my passion developed. I later honed my skills professionally in Hamburg.”
Whether it’s rigging, engineering or navigation, the opportunities on board are varied. But there’s one thing everyone takes away with them: seafaring knowledge. “We are pioneers in preserving it and developing our own young talent,” says Captain Poirier. An important task: since mid-March 2023, Sailing training on historic ships under the auspices of UNESCO, as a cultural tradition in Germany worthy of protection. “There’s a spirit of togetherness rather than a dog-eat-dog mentality,” says Poirier, summing up what unites so many on board. They rave about the topsail schooner, but almost even more so about the sense of community.
From an auctioned freighter to a floating classroom
This is the result of an educational concept that has been at the heart of the ‘Thor Heyerdahl’ project from the very beginning. It was a concept that founder Detlef Soitzek launched in the early 1980s together with his then partner Günter Hoffmann and a handful of like-minded people. It all began with a gamble, as Soitzek writes in a book marking the project’s 40th anniversary. According to the book, in 1979 he bought the ‘Minnow’ – then flying the Panamanian flag – at a compulsory auction held by the Hamburg District Court.
The vessel, which at the time was still operating as a cargo motor-sailer, was moored in Harburg’s inland port. Soitzek had not inspected it. He was simply the highest bidder at 5,700 DM and was awarded the contract. The condition of the ship was acceptable, he writes, but a complete refurbishment and full rigging were required.
Whilst refurbishment work was still under way at the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) in Kiel – now TKMS – Soitzek christened the ship ‘Thor Heyerdahl’ in 1981. The name was no coincidence. In 1977–78, Soitzek had taken part as a navigator in the Norwegian explorer’s “Tigris” expedition. Its aim was to prove that the Sumerians had been sailing the seas and trading in reed boats as far back as 6,000 years ago. At the ship’s christening, Heyerdahl, after whom the ship was named, set out what the vessel was to serve as a means for in the decades to come: “To turn a growing generation into pioneers and to preserve a dying skill: the ancient art of sailing.”
Shortly afterwards, Soitzek and his colleagues founded the charitable association. In May 1983, the work was finally completed. The refurbishment required countless hours of labour and cost around 500,000 DM in materials. From 1995 onwards, the project was expanded. Under the name High Seas High School, the ‘Thor Heyerdahl’ now sailed across the Atlantic with school groups every winter. During the summer months, the programme featured youth trips on the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
This continued until 2007, when the project was finally threatened with closure. During a routine inspection, it emerged that a large proportion of the steel plates in the outer hull had become too thin. The shipyard stated that repairs would not be worthwhile. They advised that parts of the hull be rebuilt.
The rebuild took two years and cost around 2.7 million euros. In addition to the hull, the engine was also completely overhauled, and large sections of the rigging were replaced. Since then, the winter programme has been known as ‘Classrooms under Sail’ (KUS), now an important part of the project and one of the reasons why the ship is in constant use throughout the year. The founder’s vision has now been in place for over 40 years. In terms of nautical miles, the ship is said to have sailed round the world some 30 times, with more than 30,000 people having been on board – young people from a wide variety of backgrounds for whom new horizons were opened up.
In 2021, the state of Schleswig-Holstein awarded the ‘Thor Heyerdahl’ the Blue Ribbon. Yet, however well-established the concept may be, the project faces challenges that threaten its very survival. “Regulatory conditions and bureaucracy have become stricter,” says Osterrieder. There are increased costs for diesel and materials. On the other hand, there is the new ship safety regulation with stricter requirements. Added to this is another development: project founder Detlef Soitzek is retiring. To preserve the project in its original spirit, a foundation is currently being set up. It is intended to provide financial security for the ship and ensure that the vision lives on. At present, the members are collecting donations to put the foundation on a secure footing.
The next group is already waiting at the quayside of Rostock’s city harbour. New faces, most of them with no idea what to expect. Perhaps one or two of them will return: as part of the regular crew, as deckhands, or perhaps even as captain one day. Then Poirier gives a brief briefing; shortly afterwards, everyone is in position. The lines are released from the bollard; the orange dinghy pushes the bow away from the quay. “Starboard, thirty.” “Starboard, thirty. Hold.” Once again, the hissing and snorting sound comes from the hull. The Deutz engine roars to life once more and the “Thor Heyerdahl” heads out onto the Warnow for its second round trip of the day.
Interview with Taklerin Laura Lühnenschloß
What are the distinctive features of the ship’s rigging?
It is a three-masted topsail schooner. This type of rig is ideal for a training ship because it features almost every type of sail: three square sails, gaff sails, topsails, staysails and headsails. Handling it is more labour-intensive, but thanks to the slightly oversized rigging, all 30 pupils can lend a hand.
What’s it like to sail?
As a former cargo ship, it doesn’t handle high winds particularly well. On the other hand, it’s excellent for practising hoisting, striking and reefing sails. Because the ship is very rigid, it can still carry a lot of sails even in strong winds.
What are its weaknesses?
The many small sails create dead spots where the wind is not utilised. Fewer, larger sails would be more efficient. However, the many small sails are better for practising.
How much care is needed?
A lot. There is a maintenance schedule with different intervals: the leather in the rigging is greased every two weeks where possible, and the wires in the standing rigging are treated every six months. Worn running rigging is replaced. At the shipyard, we soak wooden rivets and dismantled wooden blocks in linseed oil.
What makes this ship different from others?
Above all, through the youth work carried out over many decades. That is what sets us apart. The aim is to show young people what life can be like.
Technical specifications of the “Thor Heyerdahl”
- Shipyard: N.V.E.J. Smit & Zoon
- Year of manufacture: 1930, the Netherlands
- Total length: 49.83 m
- Width: 6.53 m
- Draught: 3 m
- Weight: 460 tonnes
- Fuselage: Shipbuilding steel, welded
- Fuselage extension: 1951
- Restoration: 1979–1983
- Complete refurbishment: 2007–2009
- Rig: Three-masted topsail schooner
- Mast height (main mast): 29 m
- Total sail area: 830 m²
- Number of sails: 14
- Machine: Deutz-Diesel RVM 536
- Number of beds: 50
Book recommendations
Seamanship covers manoeuvres, navigation, meteorology, safety and boat handling, right through to sailing in heavy weather.
Knots – Splicing – Rigging focuses on practical work with rope, thereby providing a comprehensive overview of the rigging of a traditional sailing vessel. Using numerous illustrations, the book explains practical knots, splices, lacing techniques, rigging work and the correct method of securing lines.
Can voluntary work sustain a large training sailing ship in the long term, or does the preservation of traditional seamanship require greater public support? Please share your views in the comments.
Fabian Boerger
Editor News & Panorama