44th Rumregatta Flensburg 2025

Whenever the Rum Regatta, the first sailing event of the year, takes place very late, I get impatient and count the days. I've been prepared since the winter. This includes reviewing past events, checking and updating old entries in the ship database, recording new information, preparing photos for the Rum Regatta participants, and, of course, all the travel preparations.

Rumregatta Flensburg 2025

Rum Regatta with not much wind

The Flensburg Museum Harbour and the Flensburg Historical Harbour Association made great efforts again this year to offer a wonderful event for guests from other museum harbours, the festival visitors from Flensburg, and, of course, for themselves. The challenges are well known, and the unexpected naturally happens every time.

The quaysides in Flensburg will probably not be renovated until 2028. The construction fence in the center of the harbour is not only unattractive. Above all, there is a lack of berths for guests of the Rum Regatta. Nevertheless, the harbour master managed to accommodate approximately 90 participating sailing ships in small groups at the remaining Nordertorkai and at the pier of the museum harbour. When the topic of harbour renovation was discussed with Flensburg residents, the ship enthusiasts appeared to be annoyed or even resigned: too much bureaucracy, unbalanced coordination, and, of course, the fight for financing. The challenge of harbour renovation came unexpectedly for Flensburg in the fall of 2023. Now the city must manage the crisis, but it is apparently only moderately successful. The current forecast for the completion of all construction projects extends to 2031. The 50th Rum Regatta would take place then, and even though the new quayside would be a nice anniversary gift, the organisers would prefer an earlier completion of the harbour.

Danish schooners sailing the Fjord Regatta

Fjord Regatta from Sonderburg to Flensburg

I spent Friday this year aboard the "Maria Merit". For years, skipper Udo Reuschling, a specialist in digital publications and also active in the "Gesine" association, has been sailing the boat to meet the participants of the Fjord Regatta, who start their small race, often in unfavorable winds, off Sonderburg, Denmark. His "Maria Merit" is already a veteran in its own right, not particularly fast, but reliable, with shelter for the photographers on board and a small platform at the stern for a clear view in all directions. This year, the boat also offered room for a friend and me, so we could take over the timing for the incoming boats and also take photographs. The wind produced some attractive photos. And of course, we were delighted to see some familiar, but also new sailing ships sailing, some of which even surprised us.

The more sails, the better!

Unfortunately not much wind at the Rum Regatta

The strong wind, however, died down overnight. So, for the actual Rum Regatta, we once again had only very light winds. Nevertheless, there was hope that the majority of the participating sailing ships would make it to buoy 12 and back. We set off with a broad wind and made quite good progress. There were also some sails in the field, which, while wonderfully colourful in the photos, weren't exactly traditional. We set whatever sails were available on board. The more, the better! After the turning point while tacking against the light wind, it became difficult for several of the sailing ships to reach the finish line by the specified time. Thanks to the feeder races, the crews on several ships had become well-coordinated and were ambitiously pursuing the goal of completing the Rum Regatta in a regular manner. But in the end, nothing helped for many, and several classes remained without winners or placings. That was a shame, but in the Rum Regatta, placing is not as important as good seamanship and having fun. A lot has changed since the first regatta more than 40 years ago. However, the motto "Better safe and sound and second than broken and wider" has remained unchanged ever since. This year, too, no one had to be rescued, salvaged, or even scrapped. Anyone who absolutely wanted to come first (or simply couldn't avoid it) couldn't avoid the obligation to accept a "valuable" utility item as a prize, given at the incredible prize-giving, of course, and much to the delight of the audience and all the accompanying comments.

Awarded ship

"Valuable" prize for a winner

Last Ship Home

Towards evening, all the musicians from the Rum Regatta gathered on the "Gesine" for the large "Everyone can join in" orchestra. Handmade music under the direction of Christof Peters is as much a tradition in Flensburg as old sailing ships on the water.

My thanks go not only to boat captain Kalli, but also to the entire team at Flensburg's Historic Harbour. The team on the "Gesine" not only provided the starting and finishing platform, but also filled important positions in the regatta management, from registration to timing the sailing ships. While still at sea during the regatta, a platform and later a tent roof were erected on board so that the musicians of the joined orchestra could make a worthy appearance in the evening. The Historic Harbour office also contributes to the success of the Rum Regatta every year: invitations for the ships, a lot of administrative work with contracts for the stall operators at the festival grounds, and at the end, the regatta results have to be printed. All of this doesn't happen automatically.

Motto "Better safe and sound and second than broken and wider"

Jolly boat "Abbi" and customs cutter "Viking"

The Flensburg Museum Harbour is not optimally or sufficiently successful in integrating younger members into planning and implementation. This requires older members to delegate tasks and, if necessary, provide guidance. Younger members have their own ideas, and that's a good thing. But listening to the challenges is just as important. The younger members have already proven that they can organise and build up something, as they did with the Lüttfischer Regatta. This kick-off to the Rum Regatta on Friday enjoys great popularity.

The Rum Regatta has now taken place for the 44th time. It is not only "just" an event for traditional shipowners, but has become a crowd-puller for the region. To maintain this for the future, cooperation is needed, including with the Flensburg city administration.

Relatively unnoticed, Arved Fuchs's "Dagmar Aaen" set off on a new expedition "Ocean Change 2025" this weekend.