Probably the main impression from this trip is the reminiscene of so called ‘stroy otriadu’ (*building team), existed during the soviet time and represented one of the most rememberable type of spending time for soviet students and youth. Well-known by the parents’ retellings, not by own experience this segment of soviet mythology still presents in the conscience of young russians. The main difference of this affair from soviet example in type of production. ‘Stroy otriadu’ were to fell the wood, to built the huge highways, to say shorter, to construct an utopia. Nowadays youth probably occupied with the reproducing themselves, and it is connected with the cultural turning point, happened in XX century, when industrial type of labour was changed by immaterail one. All the rest – swimming, songs near fireplace, drinking alcohol and shifts for cooking and housekeeping – quite similar. Probably the main part of this type of affairs - collective labour and common space for individual activities – were saved after all disenchantments of XX century. Also the point of internationality of the team, as a rule interpretated just as a possibility of language practice, makes me to remember the main left-wing precept. I could be wrong, but for me this essential points are more important than environmental rhetoric or harmless cartoons about nothing. It could be the festival against the destructing of ozon layer or festival dedicated to barocc music as well. Probably the main thing is the possibility of international interaction of youth, not laoded by the imperatif of making money. And that’s why this experience could be called exceptional.

Paul Arsenev, editor of almanach ‘Translit’

You can basically feel the tension on board when the wind is getting stronger the waves become meaner and the Lovis turns from a well behaving holiday-cruiser to a real all-weather sailing vessel. 70 tons of railwaytracks and concrete under the floor will keep our floating home upstraight no matter what kind of stomachtwisting storm will approach.
But when I look into the eyes of some of our crew I can read in their faces that they would love the Lovis to capsize, send an SOS to the next coastguard-helicopter to rescue them and bring them to save nonmoving land just to stop the mind-and-stomachboggling rolling motion.

First they get quiet, the colour of their faces is turning more or less to a whiter shade of pale with some kind of green nuance. If they are lucky that was it…

But normally the next step will be climbed within some minutes. Sitting on deck with at least 3 covers to keep them warm, swallowing pills against the seasickness and watching the horizont praying to neptune the movement to stop. Going under deck is now impossible for them and you can sometimes see a tear dropping from their staring eyes.
There is a (fairy)tale that singing helps to stop the growing sickness thats why I´m also sick, sick of hearing badly performed well known marine-folklore songs like “What shall we do with the drunken sailor…”.
But I should be lucky, I never had to care about where the next bucket is, check the wind to look for the best spot on board to feed the fishes or wonder if I can wear my sweater ever again….
Basically I tried everything to make my own experience with how to handle seasickness but I never succeeded. Sitting in the net during strong wind, staying under deck reading while storm, filming *#&$++* people or cleaning well filled bowls over the bulwalk. I really tried everything…
Then yesterday I was almost lucky, a bad hangover helped me to feel almost alike the shivering
casualties of the mean side-front-wave. I didn´t liked it but at the moment I really started to worry what I had for breakfast the sea became calm again. Goddammit….

All I can say is: sleep, eat well and always dress warm so you can enjoy this amazing trip on board of the most beautiful sailingvessel in the world…

(I will somehow have to build some kind of machine to shake my bed back in Hamburg in the way the Lovis is moving, the CD with the sounds that Danil recorded during the trip between Kaliningrad and Riga I already copied to my MP3-player.)

Bye bye MBS, bye bye lovely Lovis, bye bye baltic sea. Gonna miss it all and everyone.
Thank you for the experience.

Jan

Collected wisdoms between Riga and Narva-Jõesuu

The last festival day started with a grey sky and constant rain pouring from above. As the hours passed by few hope was left to host the screenings and all the other open air festival activities planned for the evening. But at last minute it turned out that our lucky star was shining once again for us, as the clouds cleared up just in time and gave birth to a beautiful sunset. Again the results of the 48 hours film contest were quite entertaining, only that this time the participants were only between 15 and 17 summers old and it was their first experience ever handling a video camera. Everybody did a great job and the voting by the applause of the audience gave the judge a hard time. At last nobody went home with empty hands, one of the teams even won a trip to Finland and everybody was in party mood to start the silent disco once again… The cake and champagne served for farewell by our Estonian partner Kinobuss even made people dance on top of the Kinobuss Bus waving their hands in the air.
But all of the sudden the party ended, because there was a special surprise waiting for us: in the tradition of Kinobuss people we were invited to spend the last festival night all together in the Sauna. The place was rented exclusively for us until 5 o’clock in the morning, so it was quite an unusual experience for the German crew. Especially when being handed over a delicious bottle of “Aqua Vitalis” (a traditionally brewn Estonian liquor called Hanja) in the middle of a 90 degree sweating session. To cool down the naked bunch ran exited by the surprised receptionist heading directly to the sea. We can’t remember exactly how many times we repeated this, but for sure until we saw the sun rise announcing a new day at the Baltic Sea.

I participated for four days in the Moving Baltic Sea Festival.
I had a great opportunity to take part in different workshops. Most of all I liked the photography workshop where I had a chance during 2 hours to shoot nature pictures.
Also I liked to participate in the 48h contest. Especially I liked in filming that I can express my own thoughts & emotions.
The festival gave me inspirations and lots of positive experience. The whole event and the people were special. Now I have something to remember during the dark winter nights.
With gratitude,
Kaide-Liis

We had them all – the capitals of the Baltic Sea: Rostock, Gdansk, Kaliningrad, Riga. And now? Narva-Jõesuu. Narva-what? Before our sailing tour started I have never heard of this town at the Estonian-Russian border - now it feels like my living room. Everything is so cosy here, so close. Our festival is beautiful located right at the little harbour, everything is just around the corner – from the deck of the sailing ship we can look right into our Info-Tent onshore.

Some little boys turn up – desperate to help us decorating the festival area. Bikers on oldtime motorcycles appear, driving in a circle, once, twice and disappearing again, children build tiny wooden ships with sails out of newspaper and give them a swim on the Narva river, the kinobuss vikings dress into rabbit and fox and run into town to do some promotion - of course Garen joins them with the orange fork (this fork…if you haven’t read this blog before: the fork is with us! All the time! It was made during a workshop at our very first festival in Rostock….since then the fork walked around the Old Town of Gdansk, it met many Russians at the hangouts in Kaliningrad, it turned into an installation in Riga at the historical storehouse and today joined the carneval in Narva-Jõesuu. I think it saw more of the Baltic Sea region than anybody else of us).

We arrived in Narva-Jõesuu very early, one day before the festival. At 5 o’clock in the morning I was behind the stearing wheel shipping into Narva Bay – pitschnass – the rain streaming down my face, freezing because of the cold cold wind. „Noooooooo!“ I thought, „please, we need good weather! Everything is planned open-air…“ I fell into my bunk, tired, discouraged….but just some hours later the clouds disappear, the sky lightens up. The following evening we are already screening the film-program on the sail of the ship – something I believed never to come true, being soaking wet arriving in Narva-Jõesuu.

Thank you, Mr. Weather God! And thank you Narva-Jõesuu for welcoming us so warmly and turning the festival into this familiar happening….just like a party in a big big living room.