How this all started

Originally published in Latest Bulletin issue 04/2016:

Johanna has been under our control for almost 20 years, and occasionally I have checked boats for sale of all shapes. There have been quite a few S&S involved, the materials being wood, plastic and aluminum, but they didn’t quite hit me and that one wooden and another aluminum that rose my interest were on the wrong side of the Atlantic. A couple of years ago, a teak cutter built in 36 hit me so hard that it was visited twice. In the UK it was but the price level was, after all, a little different from what realism would suggest.

Last August, for some strange reason, I ended up to the pages of the German Classic Boat Association because of the classic Sloop keywords entered into the search engine. My eye was struck by the local KR7.5 from 1964 which was in Hamburg. It seemed so capable that I studied the info a little more closely and because the announcement was in German there was some difficulties to understand in it despite three years of short German study in the 70s. The name Ariadne, hmmm …. sounds familiar, ……. length was 12.5m, hmm …….. width 3.56m, wow hmmm ………. .. draft 1.8m hmmm ………… Something said here about steel, the frames maybe ….. aha, steel hull …… doesn’t these rot in your hands .. ……….. white frame, lacquered ruffle, teak deck and wooden mast. Top rigging as it was at the time. The same owner for over 40 years. This seems interesting. Ahaa .. A film about the first launch, transferred to the current media format on Youtube. .. well that floats ….. A closer look revealed that Ariadne was designed to be the German challenger of the 1965 Admirals Cup in the middle size class and ended up as such after the qualifiers. Had passed the tank tests and all, as the second boat in Germany. However, I didn’t get to the race in time when the weather was too hard. The thing went unchecked, and one Saturday I called the seller. He answered and we chatted in the yard as Niina drove into the yard. She looked at me and saw that something was happening now. I said to Hilmar that I could come over during next week to look at the boat? The answer was certain that yes. I promised to return to the subject and ended the call. Later in the evening, Niina asked, why don’t you go tomorrow, Sunday? Hmmm …. Finnair seems to have a direct morning flight to Hamburg and a return in the afternoon, also a direct flight. Yeah, space would be, hence the redial direction of Germany. Hilmar promised to come to the field on Sunday morning around midnight. Agreed. Camera to charging and backpack ready and the clock will ring at 5.00. After the flight, morning coffee at Hamburg Airport and a call to Hilmar. Promised to be there in half an hour so I could drink my coffee in peace and quiet. Hilmar came to the airport and we drove to the large marina along the Elbe. Along the way, I got a detailed description of Hamburg’s traffic plans and the idea of ​​digging a main road into the ground and covering it with concrete. Sounds familiar, I don’t know so much about wisdom. However, we got to the marina and Ariadne was at the dock.

The classic lines of the 60s. We boarded the vessel. I noticed the varnishing of the walls and ruff walls, which needed some care, a minor problem. In cockpit there was a skipper’s separation separately, and a rudder. The revelry and likewise almost everything else was original, so it felt like it had been on a time travel. The journey continued after a small turn from the center line down the entrance on the port side. In front, a slightly deckhouse-type space solution opened up, a map table almost the entire width obliquely in front, a table partially surrounded by benches and which had reportedly been in front of it in the 60s, e.g. famous politicians receding, a small panther on the left, punks on each side and all the original except the mattresses on the benches. Yes, there would be room around that table for breakfast …. I continued my journey to the owners cabin with a table and shorter punks. From there, along the corridor leading to the bow, on the port side, was a wardrobe and starboard toilet after which I reached the bow spike. Hmmm … There are pretty long bunks in the bow here. I returned to check at the toilet where was no septic tank. Minor problem. Back to the owners cabin side and fur boards open. just like Das Boot, pipes and gray painted steel. I crawled on the deckhouse floor and took some plates up. More pipes, and one anchor, no rust in the bilge. Behind the stairs which lead to cockpit was an engine whose type of engine has moved Unimogs and fairs since the 1950s in addition to boats, although today they are mostly in the museum register. OM636, perpetual motion. This doesn’t look bad, though there is a bit of rust on the engine at the bilge. Problem? Some more thinking and checking and then Hilmar took me back to the airport. More thoughts at the airport over a beer and more thoughts over the next couple of weeks, especially on how big the overhaul work would be. Lots of surface work and maybe I can refresh my steel work skills, steel hull when there is. As a result, I informed Hilmar that it is a deal.

We agreed to do the paperwork by the end of October. On Saturday morning in October, Niina and I flew to Hamburg, visited Ariadne, and after that went to meet Hilmar’s parents were we made the papers. The old gentleman said that he had been selling technical coating materials in Finland in the 60s and 70s, and a long evening in Finland ment that people always took a sauna and drank. From that he remembered the saying “hölkynkölkyn”. The man was already over 80 years old and according to his son, the boat would have been worth selling a little earlier, when the price would have been something else. Well, signatures were scratched on the contract, which was thankfully in English and resulted in a change of ownership of Ariadne. Ariadne was already in the dry hall and arrangements were made for spring launch and pilot assistance from Elbe to Kiel. On the same trip on Sunday, we also visited Hamburg’s new Maritime Museum, which was impressive in size. Now during the winter, the project includes gathering momentum for spring renovations and reflecting on what is worth doing and what things are listed on the todo list; which may become quite long. In the spring, Ariadne’s to-do list includes a few critical chores such as a possible partial replacement of the rigging wires and a more detailed inspection of the hull. I have enough work because there is two ships to be refurbished at the moment, Johanna and Ariadne. Although there is only one berth, the berth for both is likely to be organized in one way or another.

Ariadne is planned to be sailed to Finland soon after First of May if it is ready. By quickly studying the routes with a navigation program, I learned that route would be about 700 nautical miles, so the time should probably be around two weeks, which is quite short but not impossible for a trip of that length. It is true that the legendary Kiel-Hanko sailing me as a deck hand aboard Lumikki at the turn of the 80s and 90s the trip took only four days. However, it is now planned to come to Finland in a more safe way along the Swedish coast, and not as directly as possible as a non-stop. As larger milestones, at least Kalmar and Mariehamn will probably be easy to arrange for a possible crew change. And after all, it all depends on the weather and what brakes …….. So in the spring there is a need for a few brisk sailors, for the whole trip or part of the trip because I am not meaning to go on the trip alone.

If you are interested, you are free to express your interest. We will return to the topic in more detail early next year when things start to clear up. t. Humes

Stories about the spring of 2017 in Germany and the May sailing from Germany to Finland are found in stories, you can satart reading also from here:

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