Anke Höhne - Schlei

Kappeln to Schleswig

31.8 km (19.8 miles)

15 hours, 0 minutes on 17-18 August 2024

Observed and documented by Peter Wortelker

Contents

Swimmer

  • Name: Anke Höhne
  • Gender: female
  • Age on swim date: 53
  • Nationality: Germany
  • Resides: Hamburg, Germany

Support Personnel

  • Jörg Büttner - pilot
  • Peter Wortelker - feeder / observer

Observer

Peter Wortelker

Observer on Anke Tinnefeld – Fehmarn Belt and Bruno Dobelmann – Double Fehmarn Belt. English Channel relay swimmer, Strait of Gibraltar relay, 125 local open water swims in Germany. Husband of swimmer.

Escort Vessel

Name Type Port
7 (Bootsverleih Kappeln) Corsiva coastliner 474 Kappeln, Germany

Swim Parameters

  • Category: Solo, nonstop, unassisted.
  • Rules: MSF Rules of Marathon Swimming, without exception or modification.
  • Equipment used: Textile swimsuit (Speedo endurance), silicone cap, goggles.

Route Definition

  • Body of Water: Schlei (brackish arm of Baltic Sea)
  • Route Type: one-way
  • Start Location: Schleibrücke Kappeln, Germany (54.659433, 9.936216)
  • Finish Location: City harbor, Schleswig, Germany (54.511371, 9.572079)
  • Minimum Route Distance: 31.8 km (19.8 miles) (map)

History

No known previous swims of this route.


Swim Data

  • Start: 17 August 2024, 09:13 (Europe/Berlin, UTC2).
  • Finish: 18 August 2024, 00:13
  • Elapsed: 15 hours, 0 minutes.

Summary of Conditions

Feature Min Max
Water Temp (C) 20 22
Air Temp (C) 14 21
Wind (Beaufort) 0 2

GPS Track

Trackpoint frequency: 10 minutes. Download raw data (CSV).

Click to expand map.

Speed Plot

Nutrition: See observer log.


Observer Log

Download PDF


Swimmer Statement

by Anke Hohne

What inspired you to do this swim? We know the Schlei from several weekend trips.

The landscape is very beautiful. As far as I know no one has ever swum the Schlei before. This summer I wanted to do a long swim in Germany. The idea to swim the Schlei was already longer in my mind.

Describe how you planned for the swim.

We travelled twice to the Schlei this spring and summer to sail the Schlei in a small motor boat to get used to this arm of the Baltic Sea. We were interested in to get a feeling for distances of this long arm of the Baltic Sea (in total 42 km), of the boat traffic at the Schlei (lots of sailing boats) and difficult parts (very narrow or shallow, currents). We contacted the local water protection authorities to find out whether permits might have to be obtained for this swim. we set a time slot of 4 days for the swim in August 2024, talked to a local boat rental company and rented a boat for the slot. Event there are no tides in the Schlei, this arm of the Baltic Sea is influenced by wind conditions and wind caused currents

How did the swim go, generally? Did you face any unanticipated challenges?

There was a counter-current in the first two hours which was not predicted from the boat rental company who knows the wind and current conditions of the Schlei very well. But afterwards the current changed and supported my swim for the next 10 hours. The last 3 hours were without any current (last part of the Schlei: so called Große Breite and Kleine Breite). During the darkness it was difficult for the boat crew to navigate in the Schlei because it is sometimes very shallow. They had to find the shipping buoys which show the navigation channel. Thes shipping buoys were not illuminated at night. The shipping buoys were only reflected when they were illuminated with a lamp. I was a little bit surprised to meet (harmless) jellyfish nearly all over in the Schlei even the Schlei is so called brackish water with only low salt content.


Photos

Click to enlarge.


Video