Royal Naval Amateur Radio Society

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VIP alarm at Hamburg

Some people had a quiet Christmas time at home; others did a nice Xmas cruise around the northern part of Europe.
Our Chairman Doug G4BEQ with his wife and his son did so.

They had a cruise from Southampton onboard the MV Boudicca to Zeebrugge, Copenhagen, Warnemuende, passing the Kiel Canal to Bremerhaven, then to Hamburg and back down the River Elbe to Southampton.

The last stop of the ship was Hamburg. At midnight before New Year’s Eve they moored at the Cruise Center.

To give him a warm Welcome Doug was invited to see some attractions of our nice and sunny Hamburg.
Maren DK9MOS and Hans-Juergen DK9OS „pick“ him up at the cruise center. After a short walk through the newest quartier Hafencity to the “Uebersee-Bruecke” passing the museums harbour we could see a large white ship, the white swan of the Atlantic. It was our Museum freighter MV Cap San Diego and we entered to explore.

LV13 + Doug about CSD + engine

We showed and explained Doug some details of interest e.g. the engine, the bridge and last but not least we visited our MF and RNARS club station DLØMFH inside the radio room.
We brought him the best wishes from our MF board especially from Albert DF8LD our Chairman.

Doug/Jack + Maren on watch + Doug on Morse
at DLØMFH

Doug tried to work on the bands but the conditions were too pure. So we had the chance to talk about older days and naval affairs. Maren was astonished to hear that a icebreaker cut his submarine into two parts, but he survived. Doug knew many stories about the places he and his family lived at like Singapore. All over the world he has been on many ships, but his favorite region is Eastern Asia. Maren could have listened to him for days.

And what’s the result of these talks?
Maren was "catched" as a new RN member by Doug hi hi. He accepted her application form to put it to the membership secretary Wally.

CSD + U434 + Oevelgoenne

After having tea time / rsp coffee time / we went for a little harbor cruise by a regular ferry. Doug was very much interested in the Russian submarine, another museum ship, and Oevelgönne with all the steam ships, his favorite museum ships. (photo attached). Just before onboard MV Cap San Diego he told us that another passion of him will be the model railway. Such a pity, we did not have the time to visit the largest one of the world situated in the Speicherstadt at Hamburg. This will be earmarked for our next meeting.

MiWuLa + Xmas market + town hall

Being at Hamburg since 1980 for the last time he was glad to get a guided tour to some points of interests. Lots of things had changed. After the ferry we took the underground which is over ground next to the harbor – spectacular not only for visitors! The town hall and the River Alster Binnenalster (impressed him, there was still a Xmas market too. The swans of the Alster were in its wintering grounds. They are not protected like in GB, but these swans belong to the city of Hamburg too.

Xmas in Hamburg

All of us enjoyed the sunny weather and we had a good time.

At 5 pm we brought him back to his ship where he was welcomed back by his family, and they celebrated their special dinner party to kick off the old year.

When changing to the year 2014 the complete heaven was covered by fireworks and more. About 25 000 people joined the seasons welcome party at Hamburg harbour.
As a surprise we got a special firework next to the MV Boudicca.

Ships + fireworks + Good bye

At 1 a.m. the ship leaved the cruising center, passed the “Landungs-Bruecken”, the container terminals, the big shipyard Blohm & Voss and then down the River Elbe, the North Sea and the Channel back to Southampton.

HNY from Maren and Jack

The next day we got an email that they arrived back at home well.
“Hello Hans & Maren,
thank you both for my wonderful time with you in Hamburg. Your hospitality was superb and it would have been nice to spend more time with you.”

Thanks dear Doug for this fine time we spent together, we hope to meet you again soon.
All the best and keep care dear friend. Best 73 to our RNARS family.

Maren & Hans-Juergen
DK9MOS & DK9OS
RN 4946 & RN4636
LG675 & LG609

Responsible: Hans-Jürgen DK9OS, MF787 RN4636 LG609

last update: 07/07/2016  © dk9os