Gannet 1954

Sitting with Ändu on the Les Ateliers terrace, looking at the sunset, and there it was, the beer idea: "We need a vessel that can be buried in the ground to hold concerts protected from noise and weather." The wrecked barge that ran aground and made headlines at the time was no longer an option - "it has a leak". But another ship, perhaps?

Countless internet searches later, Tom announced: "We're going to England in a fortnight! We're going to see ships!

Four landlubbers from Basel, pardon only three landlubbers (Katja, Tom and Roy) - Ändu was, after all, a former captain on the Rhine and was therefore included in the core team of this crazy venture as a nautical expert - stranded in Chatham, Rochester to fall in love: with a huge, red, steel rear end. Because that was the first thing they saw when the lighthouse ship GANNET lay in the mud in front of them.

It quickly became clear: this rusty thing had to go to Basel as soon as possible - at scrap price!

The red fat lady was too heavy and too high - but still seaworthy. Ballast had to go! Which place on the way to Basel was best suited to get rid of a few extra kilos? Sure: Rotterdam and its surrounding shipyards.

The mahogany wood of the cabins was torn out by hand to make restaurant tables out of it two years later, longitudinal bulkheads were burnt out with plasma cutters, the lighthouse was shortened.

With the right balanced competition weight and the exact height to swim under all bridges, all that remained was to wait for the Rhine to reach a suitable level. With luck on our side, we had a window of a few days to get the GANNET to Basel - due to the low water level of the Rhine, this would not have been possible the years before.

Tied to the side of a container freighter, GANNET set off on its journey to its final destination - closely followed by a caravan (Andy, Katja, Tom and Roy took turns as drivers and stowaways on board the container ship).
From 'S-Gravendeel it went through the mountains past the Lorelei to Basel, to soon start the final flight: a huge crane hoisted the red lady on August 6, 2019 from the Rhine to the Holzpark Klybeck!

GANNET swam, flew and landed: on 6 August 2019, GANNET was allowed to sail through the air for the last time, true to its name (GANNET is a sea bird and means gannet in German). This was made possible by the largest crawler crane in Europe (a big thank you to Emil Egger's team) - until then, the 500 tonnes of the GANNET were also the heaviest lift in Europe.

Without any creaking or cracking, GANNET already felt very much at home in its new nest at Holzpark Klybeck in Basel after several hours.

So the booby has actually landed on Holzpark Klybeck in Basel. Time to gut it! While the longitudinal bulkheads could already be removed in S'Gravendeel at the shipyard, the transverse bulkheads had to remain inside for stability reasons. So all the steel had to be removed before the timber could be removed.

Without the voluntary help of countless good souls, we would not be finished after two years of renovation. Many thanks to:

Pesche, Zae, Claudine, Liti(Litwan Montagen), Seba, Jan, Xoff, Ivo, Marisol, Matze, Freya, Konsti, Marco, Nina, Rahel, Julia, Max, Luca, Moe, Luca, Howie, Dirk, Sascha, Serafin, Caesar (Caesar Zumthor), Hen (Studio Noun), Permatech, Drees & Sommer-Team, Aviatic Films, Matt & Michael Pratt, Gerben, Kevin, Steve, David, Noëmi, Anuk, Urs, Daniel, and, and, and... Great Amore!

Katja, Tom, Roy, Ändu