Wilfried Erdmann

Wilfried Erdmann ( born April 15, 1940 in Scharnikau, Pomerania ) is a German solo sailors and non-fiction author.

Life and sailors' services

At the age of 17 years Erdmann moved to a carpenter of Karstädt ( Prignitz ) in the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany. 1958-1959 he was driving alone with a bike over southern France, North Africa and the Near East to India. There awoke in him the idea to sail, but which he could begin only in 1965 for financial reasons. In the meantime, he earned his living as a sailor in the merchant navy.

From 1967 to 1968 Erdmann orbited by sailboat Kathena first German only the earth. He had bought second-hand in Alicante in 1965 by a British sailor the boat. He had never acquired a certificate issued by the German Sailing Association sailing license, however, had been inaugurated in Alicante for Bernard Moitessier in the practice of celestial navigation. The stations of the first trip around the world were the Caribbean, Panama, Tahiti, the Cape of Good Hope. 421 days after his departure from Gibraltar put Erdmann on May 7, 1968 in Helgoland, where to him - considering his only 7.62 meters long ship - the first circumnavigation of the world would not believe. However, under other by tropical vegetation on the hull and through his logs he could prove his journey, after which his ship was chained because of untaxed imports. Also the Schlimbach Prize was refused. This is all the more ironic given the fact that the Briton Francis Chichester was for his single-handed circumnavigation of the globe (1966 to 1967) and knighted in 1967 honored with a postage stamp.

1969 broke Erdmann with his wife Astrid to honeymoon with the yacht Kathena 2 on to another circumnavigation, which lasted 1011 days, before both arrived in Cuxhaven in May 1972. This was followed from 1976 to 1979 a South Seas trip with his wife and their three year old son initially Kym.

From 1984 to 1985 Erdmann sailed nonstop alone in west-east direction around the world, ie. In the same direction as the prevailing westerly winds around the earth It happened while the Shetlands, the Cape of Good Hope, Tasmania, Cape Horn. It took him 271 days with his ship Kathena nui, an aluminum construction (type North Sea 34) of the shipyard Dübbel & Jesse ( Norderney). The almost certainly believed by the sailing experts Schlimbach Prize was Erdmann denied after his return, because he wanted to present to the awarding committee for personal reasons, not all documents seamlessly.

In 1989, Wilfried Erdmann led for Stern magazine, a double - crossing of the Atlantic by on the North Atlantic route. The crew members were contest winners of the star and consistently without a marine experience. For this venture Erdmann was partially serious criticism. The experiences he described in his book An impossible cruise.

From 2000 to 2001, he succeeded as the fifth world nonstop sailing and only a circumnavigation in east-west direction, ie. Against the prevailing westerly winds For 343 -day journey, he used his turn Yacht Kathena nui. He is the only sailor in the world that has circumnavigated on the same ship the world in both directions non-stop. The award of the tendered him now Schlimbach price he refused on the grounds that he had achieved everything and do not need any more prizes.

The Trans-Ocean Award was Erdmann three times (1979, 1985, 2001), awarded for his travels.

Wilfried Erdmann is the author of numerous books, which reached bestseller status partly. Reports from his travels and basic article on the blue water sailing he published as a guest author in the sailing magazine Yacht.

Erdmann now lives in the small village Goltoft in the loop.

Publications

Erdmann has written the following books, among others who have experienced almost all multiple and partly extended editions:

  • My destiny is to say Kathena. As a solo sailor around the world. ( Edited by Ortwin Fink. ) Oetinger, Hamburg 1970. Edition Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 1999, ISBN 3-7688-1091-7 ( about Erdmann's first circumnavigation of the globe ).
  • One thousand days Robinson. The adventures of a circumnavigation. Kiepenheuer & Petrovich, Cologne 1973. Advanced edition 2003, ISBN 3-462-03238-0 (via the circumnavigation with his wife from 1969 to 1972 ).
  • Headwind in paradise. Sailing Adventure in the South Seas. Kiepenheuer & Petrovich, Cologne 1980. Edition Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2000, ISBN 3-7688-1161-1 ( about the South Seas trip with his wife and son).
  • The blue dream. Life and sailing in the South Pacific. Kiepenheuer & Petrovich, Cologne 1983, ISBN 3-462-01558-3. Paperback edition Ullsteinhaus, Berlin, 1987, ISBN 3-548-20844-4.
  • The magical route. As the first German alone and non-stop around the world. Kiepenheuer & Petrovich, Cologne 1986. 3rd edition Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2001, ISBN 3-7688-0787-8 ( about the non-stop circumnavigation 1984/1985 ).
  • Sailing with Wilfried Erdmann. Views and experiences of a circumnavigator. Kiepenheuer & Petrovich, Cologne 1988. 4th Edition Ed. Maritim, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-89225-506-7.
  • An impossible cruise. Transatlantic with GATSBY and winners. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 1991. Edition 1996, ISBN 3-7688-0924-2.
  • My boundless seascape. Sailing in Mecklenburg Vorpommern and. Kiepenheuer & Petrovich, Cologne 1991. Edition Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 1997, ISBN 3-7688-0986-2.
  • Baltic looks. A sailing summer with " Kathena 7". Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 1994; 3rd Edition: A German sailing summer. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2004, ISBN 3-7688-1544-7.
  • North Sea views. A sailing trip in the tidal sea. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 1997. Reprint 2006, ISBN 3-7688-1780-6.
  • One Against the Wind. Nonstop in 343 days around the world. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2002. Reprint 2004, ISBN 3-7688-1503- X.
  • Sailing time. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2006, ISBN 978-3-7688-1852-0.
  • A German sailing summer. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2007, ISBN 978-3-7688-1972-5
  • From the desert and the sea. (together with Achilles Moser ), Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-4555-0268-8
  • I grab the wind. Memories. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-7688-3769-9
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