Was the sailing yacht “Andromeda” in Wiek on Rügen preparing for its sabotage trip? A search for clues.
View of Wiek on Rügen: on the right the harbor village with the chalk bridge, on the left the marina and the harbor promenade.Gemeinde Age
There is still thin ice in the basin of the port village of Wiek on the island of Rügen. Swans sleep on the Bodden, a flock of geese swoops noisily across the water. The shops and restaurants at the marina are still on winter break, unfortunately so is the Bistro Fischkopp. But on April 1st the season starts and the preparations are underway. People from the shipyard next door lower a boat into the water with a crane, a snazzy white Tesla with a Thuringian number plate is hanging from the charging station in the parking lot, and men are dragging a white ship at one of the approximately 70 berths in the port village.
This is a little smaller than the sailing yacht that recently catapulted the community of Wiek auf Rügen, which has around 1,000 inhabitants, from hibernation into the world press. The “Andromeda”, a Bavaria Cruiser 50 – 15.57 meters long, 4.67 meters wide, draft 2.25 meters, space for a maximum of eleven people – according to media research in September 2022, the explosives and the crew, five men, one woman, to the places in the Baltic Sea where the Nord Stream pipelines were blown up at a depth of 80 meters. On www.mola-yachtcharter-ostsee.de/ it is offered for “booking from Rostock”, charter price per week 2398 euros.
The harbor master’s office is still closed at the moment, an older woman is just getting out a few boxes and when asked where the bosses are, she answers in a stern tone: “We won’t let anyone interrogate us here.”
However, boss René Redmann finds a nice way of providing a little information and still adhering to the information restrictions imposed by the Nord Stream investigators. Yes, the Federal Criminal Police Office spoke to him at length. Yes, the harbor master registers all ships – the name, the length, the crew. Yes, he reported all findings to the BKA. There is nothing more to say, he does not want to participate in speculation: “Please let them investigate in peace.”
But was the “Andromeda” actually there? At the request of the BKA, he did not answer this question. However, he knows the yacht, which is said to be a boat from “a well-known charter agency in the vicinity”, the “Andromeda” has certainly “been there one time and the other”. He believes he remembers and has now seen on television pictures that it also bears the inscription “Breege” – a marina, located barely five kilometers as the crow flies from Wiek am Großer Jasmunder Bodden.
About 120 kilometers as the crow flies lie between Wiek auf Rügen and Bornholm. “It’s easy to reach,” says harbor master René Redmann on the phone, “with a motorboat you can get there in three hours, with a sailing boat it takes a little longer, depending on the wind direction.”
The charm remains
For all his composure, he is not happy about the hype: “We can do without this advertising.” Wiek is very popular with sailors because they have everything they need here: the wonderful Maltzahn bakery (specialty “sailor” rolls ), a savings bank with ATMs, a well-stocked shop in the town center and in the season nice gastronomic establishments such as Gaboras Art – café, wine shop, bar. When in fact ominous Ukrainians, Russians or whoever strolled along the harbor and the blinking lighthouse of Hiddensee saw – it doesn’t change the quiet charm of this wonderful corner on Germany’s largest island.
