Augustenborg, 2001

On 26 August, Augustenborg celebrated its 350th anniversary.
As there was a wedding in the Norwegian royal family at the time, the queen and prince could not come on the day itself, so instead they visited Augustenborg on 25 July.

We had been invited to attend the event in Augustenborg, where we were supposed to follow the Queen's chalup the last part of the journey to Augustenborg.
Prior to the day, there were many preparations. Knud Skov Rasmussen was in telephone contact with the first mate of the Dannebrog several times to agree on how it would take place. During the period when the visit was to take place, the Queen and the Prince were on summer holiday at Gråsten Castle, so Dannebrog was docked in Sønderborg. It was therefore agreed that the Dannebrog crew would visit Danfoss, the Danfoss Museum and the Linde shipyard. These visits took place on 23 and 24 July.

The visit started so early in the day that it was necessary to transport Tilia to Augustenborg the evening before, where we met at Lindeværftet at 16.30. We started with a small briefing meeting after which we towed Tilia to Dyvig and launched her. Tilia had to be towed behind a motorboat to Augustenborg, so 6 members boarded and paddled out to the motorboat, where after a little trouble they got a hawser attached to the motorboat.
We had made an agreement with the people around Sebbe Als (a Viking ship in Augustenborg) that we could moor Tilia at the jetty by their boathouse in Augustenborg Fjord. We were also allowed to use their boathouse so that some members could stay overnight and look after Tilia. So Tilia was towed to Augustenborg and moored at the boathouse. In the evening, some of our members gathered at the boathouse with a number of wine bottles and had a cosy evening.

The next day we met at the boathouse at 8.30am to practice paddling in rhythm and greet the paddlers nicely. We tried the concept decided after the trip to Hardeshøj of having the captain (Knud Skov Rasmussen) standing in the centre of the boat and a helmsman in the stern and Magda in the bow (this time equipped with a real drum and a turkey bone as a drumstick). The weather was fine with some mist and clouds, which looked like they would disappear during the day. The plan was for Dannebrog to sail from Sønderborg and as close to Augustenborg as possible. From there, Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik would sail with the chalup to Augustenborg. We were to meet them and accompany them to Augustenborg. We had been told that we probably couldn't keep up because the chalup could sail up to 10 knots and we had to be good to get Tilia over 5 knots. However, Knud Skov Rasmussen had agreed with the mate on Dannebrog that they should start a little earlier with the chalup, so they could sail a little slower on the last stretch.

At the agreed time we were ready, but there was no chalup in sight. A lot of boats from Augustenborg sailed out to Dannebrog to follow the trawler in - among them was Sebbe Als. We were sailing around the agreed buoy and finally we could see that the chalup was coming in followed by a whole fleet of boats.

As the trawler approached, we accelerated towards Augustenborg so we could at least keep up for a while. In fact, it was exactly at this point that the last clouds disappeared and it became sunny. When the chalup came up alongside us, we greeted the queen and the prince with the paddles and they waved back to us. We didn't even have to wonder if we could keep up with the chalup, because they slowed down so much that we could easily follow their pace. The Queen and Prince looked at us with great interest - but Tilia is also a beautiful sight.

We arrived in Augustenborg with the chalup, where we moored in the harbour while the chalup docked at the landing stage built for the occasion. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of the event on land because there was a huge hulk of a motorboat (several storeys high), which had to lie right next to the chalup, so no one on the smaller boats in the harbour had a chance to see anything.

After the queen and prince were driven away in a horse-drawn carriage, we sailed around the harbour in honour of the many spectators. Then we headed back to the boathouse where we had lunch with Sebbe Als' crew. We grilled some sausages and enjoyed ourselves.

After lunch, there was time to try each other's vessels. It was exciting to be on a Viking ship, which we were allowed to row a bit out of the fjord. When the captain thought we had worked hard enough on the oars, we were towed a little further out, where we turned and set sail to sail back to the boathouse. It was hard work to hoist the sail up the mast, but once it was done it was relaxing the rest of the way in.

At 14.30, Prince Henrik was due to inaugurate an extension at Augustenborg Rowing Club. The rowing club is just opposite the boathouse on the other side of the fjord, so we sailed with Sebbe Als over to the rowing club. Here Sebbe Als moored at their jetty because a couple of their members were going to participate in the event. We were supposed to just lie out on the water, but instead we put the bow to their jetty, but stayed in the boat. Prince Henrik arrived and did the inauguration. After the inauguration, he came out on the jetty to look at Sebbe Als and Tilia. He first went to Sebbe Als and got an explanation from their skipper. As always, he was followed by a swarm of journalists and photographers who looked a little bored. When the prince had seen Sebbe Als, he came over to greet us. He said it had been a great sight to see us in the morning on the trip to Augustenborg.

The prince had a little chat with Magda and was allowed to try her drum. After a little chat, he asked if it was possible to have a little tour of Tilia. Of course we said yes, and then he asked if there was room in the programme for a 5-minute tour. There was, so he dropped his cane (which he had brought due to gout in one foot) and got on board. We were all slightly shocked, but we dropped the mooring and started paddling out backwards. By now all the photographers had woken up and a lot of pictures were taken. We turned the boat round and sailed a little round with the prince, who seemed to enjoy the trip. I don't know if the trip was 5 minutes or 10 minutes, but we sailed round and then docked at the jetty again. The prince got off the boat again and said thank you very much for the trip, and I think everyone on board was proud of the fine visit. We could also detect a hint of envy in the voice of Sebbe Als's skipper afterwards.

When the Prince had left the rowing club, we sailed back to the boathouse, where it was time to tow Tilia back to Dyvig again. 6-7 men travelled in the boat, while the rest of us drove home. We met a couple of hours later in Dyvig to carry Tilia ashore and drive her back to the Linde shipyard.
There was a lot of talk about our experience with Prince Henrik, and there probably will be for some time to come.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip with great weather, cosy company and great experiences.

By Leif Stig Andersen

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