Myself at the Festival of navigation and maritime heritage Oostende voor anker - 2012
Oostende voor Anker is an annual event that takes place every spring in Ostend, an important Belgian port. The fifteenth edition is going to occur from Thursday, May 29th to Sunday, June 1st 2014. It has been inspired by La Grande Armada, one of the biggest meeting of old boats in the world, created in Rouen in 1989.
I went to Ostend a couple of years ago, in 2012, so I can say that Oostende voor Anker is a real beautiful event
about maritime heritage.
Indeed,
this port has an important history in Europe. Some
little typical boats are present to remind people of the main reason Ostend was founded : fishing.
People can eat some kippers thanks to local cookers. If you are not really
tempted to eat this particular meal, you can spend your money in buying typical
maritime clothes (captain’s cap, pea jacket…) or a souvenir, for example a
model boat.
Oostende voor Anker receives old sailing boats from the whole Europe too. The most important part is constituted by
Dutch boats, because of the proximity of Netherlands,
but above all because Netherlands
has always been a powerful country on the sea, from XVIth to XIXth Century in
particular. But, in fact, vessels present in Ostend were built during XIXth or XXth
Centuries, not in hood but in steel. Indeed, a vessel like the Mercedes was built in 1958. The main
goal of this project was to perpetuate methods and technical knowledge in
navigation, whereas old vessels couldn’t resist to years’ attacks or have been
destroyed.
Furthermore,
Oostende voor Anker receives authentic old boats
created during XIXth Century. To be more specific, we can qualify these boats
of real old steamers. Sometimes, captains make some noise with steam or with
their boats' siren to impress the crowd that can hear what was the daily
climate in port of Ostend, London or Genoa a hundred and fifty
years ago.
This type
of event has been taken up by other cities in Europe.
In the north half of France,
Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais and Dunkirk organize maritime fests
alternatively. The next on is going to take place in Calais in the first decade of June.
To obtain more information on the organization of this event, browse this website : http://www.oostendevooranker.be/nl/visit/presentatie
