Anny can't get a berth

DERIGGED. S/y Anny von Hamburg has been rebuilt in the 80s to a private yacht. According to the plans she will get new masts in Ekenäs.

Åbo Underrättelser, page 1

Translated article from Swedish to English:

Anny, 109 years old, cannot be accommodated in Ekenäs

The technical committee is forced to say no to queries about a berth in the North Harbour.

23rd Feb 2023 by Kristoffer Nöjd

Two ship enthusiasts wanted to have Ekenäs as their home port for their charter business. But there is no room for their 27-meter-long schooner Anny von Hamburg, 109 years old, in the North Harbour in Ekenäs. The technical committee in Raseborg decided this on Tuesday.

Jan Rautawaara and Juha Pokka have been friends since 1988. They are experienced skippers and small tonnage operators with a common interest in small ships and sailing vessels.

They are currently in Hamburg and have recently purchased the three-masted schooner Anny von Hamburg, built in 1914 but converted from a cargo ship to a private yacht in the 1980s. She has been de-rigged and laid up for the past two years in Germany.

Their plan is to restore Anny to a seaworthy condition and from Ekenäs to operate charter operations with her in the archipelago.

- Day trips, full trips and week-long cruises, first at home and then in the warmer waters, explains Rautawaara.

ANNY VON HAMBURG IS A 27 METER LONG

Three-masted schooner with a 10-meter bowsprit. The draft is 2.65 meters, which is about the same as the Ekenäs icon Sunnan II that was sold to Aland.

The ship was used for over 20 years as a cargo ship in Finnish waters. Now Anny has been restored to her original condition. But the cargo space has been converted into five double cabins with toilets and showers. 

The owners cabin actually has a bathtub, says Rautawaara.

On day trips you can take 30 passengers and on overnight trips 10 people.

NOW ANNY IS TO BE MOVED FROM HAMBURG

To Wischhafen in preparation for her Baltic transit in May. Anny will be docked in Mariehamn so that the propeller, bow thruster, rudder and bottom can be repaired, among other things.

The idea was to finish the refit work and rig Anny in Ekenäs in the autumn in order to be able to show her at the Tall Ships Races 2024.

Rautawaara and Pokka have suggested to moor in the same place as Sunnan II, that is, in front of the restaurant Fyren, or alternatively the northwestern quayside where the tug Tyr and the tug Ursus are berthing.

But now we probably have to think again

- Ekenäs is a nice town and has a historical milieu. It would have been nice to show Ekenäs to foreign tourists. In addition, Juha lives in Ekenäs so it would have been a good alternative to have her home there. But we have a place in Mariehamn where we have been welcomed to the Maritime quarter. We also have contacts at Vedkajen in Helsinki, say Rautawaara.

Top: MAST ENTHUSIASTS. Juha Pokka and Jan Rautawaara on S/Y Anny von Hamburg in, that's right, Hamburg.

Bottom: BEAUTIFUL SCHOONER. Here Anny sails under the German flag.

Åbo Underrättelser, page 2

ON WEDNESDAY THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE in Raseberg had two items on their agenda where long term berths were queried in the North Port of Ekenäs.

- The interest has been enormous. Now we had two queries and we've had similar cases before. There is also interest from the Capital region to transit via Ekenäs with tourist boats. We're trying to find solutions but it isn't easy in today's circumstances, says the technical committees chairman Britt-Marie Granström, SFP.

Since the committee has had so many inquiries about berths in the North Port lately, an extra item  about this was filed in the agenda on Tuesday.

ON WEDNESDAY THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE in Raseborg had two matters where they asked for long-term berths in the Northern Harbour in Ekenäs.

- We decided to reserve a place behind on the northern side of the quay behind the Fyren restaurant for short-term docking with larger boats. Passengers could get on and off there, says Granström.

THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE HAS PROCESSED

A similar request in June and November last year. At that time, it was decided that the conditions for allocating 30 meters of free quayside in the North Port. 

The situation today is unchanged.

The North Port's piers are mainly reserved and there should be free quayside for visiting larger ships and for launching with a lifting crane.

A berth at Knipan cannot be granted because the number of guest berths for deep-draft boats would then decrease by up to a dozen, which made it more difficult to conduct guest harbour operations. According to a decision, there should be 80 guest berths in the North Port.

In other words, the committee believes that there are no vacant berths for larger boats for longer periods in the North Port presently.

- With the new harbour plan, we will try to remedy that. Since the plan for Stallörsparken has been approved, we should start with the harbour plan in the spring or summer, says Granström.