Mattis Hartwig (28) and Tobias Wiegard (49) have been best friends for a long time, despite the age difference. Both come from Braunschweig, where they did gymnastics together as a competitive sport and are part of a surfing team that regularly spends Ascension Day on the island of Poel and holidays together on Fehmarn in the summer.
Of course, these trips are rarely just about surfing - there's a beer or two to be had, lots of chatting and the occasional cocky remark. Who doesn't know that... In the end, Tobias and Mattis didn't stop at grandiose announcements. In the summer of 2021, they set off near Rødbyhavn on the Danish island of Lolland for the great Baltic Sea tour. From there, they surfed past the islands of Falster and Møn, across Copenhagen to the northern turning point of Helsingør. From there they travelled on the Swedish side from Helsingborg via Landskrona to Malmö and from there by ferry back to Travemünde. After 18 stages and almost 500 kilometres on the water, Tobias and Mattis had turned their big words into deeds and had enough material for true sailor's yarns on their next holidays with their surfing buddies on Poel and Fehmarn.
Interview with Mattis and Tobias
The idea to circumnavigate southern Denmark probably came from one of your suicide missions on Poel, didn't it?
TOBIASNo, we had it on one of our summer holidays on Fehmarn. Mattis, our surfing friend Achim and I had already circumnavigated Fehmarn several times in recent years - or at least tried to. We've also had to abort a few times. After one of these failed attempts in 2019, we said in a beer mood: 'Let's not always think so small, small. We're going to circumnavigate the Baltic Sea'. That was actually just something I said and, of course, nobody took us seriously. But Mattis couldn't let go of the idea and so we started to plan the tour step by step. However, given the distances involved, we soon realised that a complete circumnavigation of the Baltic Sea was not an option. But we did want to get to the Swedish archipelago. Either in the south, where there are already some archipelagos, or towards Karlskrona or Gothenburg, where there are also some archipelagos. We were already of the opinion that we could manage that. But we always left it open and discussed it again and again during the tour, because the wind and weather are unpredictable.
We've reported a lot in the magazine about Jono Dunnett's circumnavigation of Europe. Was he your role model?
MATTIS: Not at all at first. The idea just came to us after the unsuccessful Fehmarn circumnavigation, when we were washing down our frustration in the evening and then loudly proclaimed that Fehmarn was just kids' stuff anyway. Later, when we were planning the trip, we naturally came across Jono and did a lot of research on how he did it all. For example, how he attaches things to the board. He provided a lot of inspiration.
So what did your preparation look like?
MATTISWe did a test and surfed from Fehmarn to Grömitz, slept there and returned the next day. We tried out whether everything would fit on the board and stay dry and whether it would all work. We attached borrowed waterproof bags to the boards. We didn't have the full equipment with us yet, it was more of a "proof of concept".
TOBIASOf course, we didn't just set off without a care in the world. We had radios with us, I had a distress beacon, as we know it from sailing, and also a foghorn in case we got into heavy weather. We also had a navigation app and one for shipping movements on our smartphone.
How did your wife, girlfriend and friends react?
MATTISWell, that wasn't our first crazy idea. So at first they said, let them get on with it, it won't work anyway. As the whole thing dragged on for two years from the first idea, our friends naturally annoyed us from time to time. I think they all thought it wouldn't work until two weeks beforehand. It was only when we packed up all our things on Fehmarn that it dawned on them that we were serious. But even after the women had dropped us off on Lolland, they probably said on the way back: shouldn't we turn round again, they'll probably want to come home with us straight away (laughs).
TOBIASBut I also realised that I was very relaxed at first during the preparation, but in the last week before the start I got excited and wondered whether everything would work out as we imagined.
Have you had any previous experience with long raceboards?
TOBIASWe only use the raceboards for the Fehmarn circumnavigation, otherwise we only ride shortboards.
How exactly did you plan the route for the Baltic Sea tour?
MATTISRoughly speaking, we had of course picked out campsites by the water on the map. But we didn't know how far we'd get, how well we'd cope. It could have been that our hands wouldn't be able to cope. We always had a heavy rucksack on our backs and it was extremely tiring for our backs. Always in the same position and always in the same direction. In the evening, we did yoga on the beach to get the back pain under control. That's why we actually planned our next destinations during the tour.
TOBIASIt's nothing like normal windsurfing. The first time we carried the equipment with all our luggage to the water, I thought we'd never get planing. But on the second day we were already planing at 20 knots.
The idea came to us after the unsuccessful round trip around Fehmarn, when we were washing down our frustration in the evening
You started in Rødbyhavn, so you took the ferry from Puttgarden. Why didn't you set off from there straight away?
TOBIAS: We had considered that at first. But we were a bit scared of the big shipping lanes. If you get into a lull and get stuck in the fairway, it quickly becomes dangerous because the big ships can't see you.
MATTISWe would have had to cross the entire fairway that day and there was a thunderstorm in the air. We didn't want to risk that.
How did it feel to surf with all the equipment over longer distances?
MATTISThe space sheet courses were particularly unpleasant - and we had a lot of them on the whole tour. When the wave pushes you, you're practically surfing without any pressure in the sail, which is very unstable. Then you run into the next wave crest and are slowed down extremely. You then get a lot of pressure in the sail and you often fall in.
TOBIASWe had almost 70 per cent clear winds and with little wind it's an extreme pain in the arse. You can get planing in more wind, but due to the high weight you always have a lot of pressure in the sail. Easy surfing is something else. The most enjoyable courses were either cruising hard upwind or half-wind. You just hang on and keep tight.
MATTISThe horror stage was from Rødvig to Køge. We had to round a headland with a steep coast where you couldn't land. The wind varied between zero and five Beaufort and came from behind. You were constantly in the soup and had to pull the big sails out of the water again. I asked myself what we were actually doing here.
Did you always plan the individual stages from day to day and then travelled more or less under land?
TOBIASOur destinations for the day always depended on the wind forecast. At one point, we thought about crossing over to Sweden early, but that would have been too long a journey with a lot of sheeting. Otherwise, we always tried to stay reasonably close to the coast. Only from Møn over to Rødvig did we surf across the bay. We were seven nautical miles out.
MATTIS: That does feel strange. You don't want to get into a lull. That's too far to swim.
How did the people you met on your Baltic Sea tour react?
MATTIS: That was actually the funniest thing on the tour. When people understood it, they were impressed. But for many people, the realisation only came bit by bit. When we went over to Rødvig from Møn, surfers were just leaving when we came in. All they said was: 'Great equipment. Where did you come from?' When we said 'from Møn', they just said 'great, and now your car is here'. No, we're spending the night here and have already been travelling for five days and tomorrow we're heading for Copenhagen. They couldn't believe it.
TOBIAS: It all started on the first leg. We were only travelling four nautical miles and we met a Dane on the beach who immediately offered us a place to eat and spend the night.
MATTISWe arrived at a campsite from the water, in full gear and with waterproof sun cream on our faces, and were only asked if we were combat divers.
Where did you stay during the tour?
TOBIASWe had already picked out campsites on the map before the tour that were right by the water. But sometimes we had to sleep right on the beach. On the very second day, we were put to the test. We had 20 knots of wind on the way to Gedser and we were gliding at full speed. At some point we were so exhausted that we had to abandon the stage and spend the night in the field. But after that we knew that everything would hold.
What about your provisions, did you have any supplies with you?
MATTISWe always had so much with us that we could live self-sufficiently for at least two days if we had to spend the night in the wild.
TOBIASIn addition, we always took at least ten litres of fresh water in water bags with us on every stage.
Did you go sightseeing in Copenhagen?
MATTISThat was not possible with all our equipment. The planned stop in Copenhagen at a nature campsite wasn't possible either. But then we discovered a surf school in the south harbour where we could spend the night. That was great fun, because Tobi immediately became a surf instructor.
TOBIASWe paddled through Copenhagen. We'd brought paddles that could be split and so we had a great SUP tour. Afterwards, however, we had to take a forced break at a campsite on an old fort north of Copenhagen because I had caught a bad cold and we thought we might have to cancel. But Mattis flooded me with ginger tea and as the weather was really bad anyway, we wouldn't have been able to continue surfing anyway. But after two days we were back on the water.
What was the craziest experience on the Baltic Sea tour?
MATTIS: That was probably on the last leg of the journey. We wanted to get as close as possible to the ferry terminal in Malmö. We didn't want to walk through the whole city with our trolleys and boards. That's why we looked at the map, which also showed a route to the pier. So we surfed into the industrial harbour. It was completely quiet there, no activity and no people, just cranes, piles of rubble and giant pots.
TOBIASWe felt like James Bond on a secret mission.
MATTISWe then went ashore, packed everything up and lashed it to the boards and wanted to go to the jetty. But then we realised that the area was completely fenced in with barbed wire and monitored by cameras and we couldn't get out anywhere.
TOBIASSo we had to go to the main entrance and apologise to security.
MATTISThe security was completely surprised by the situation and just wanted to know what we were doing there and how we got there. But we still left our contact details in case there was any trouble afterwards.
Did you plan the return journey from Malmö by ferry like this?
TOBIASAs we didn't know exactly where the tour would take us beforehand, we also didn't know how we would get back, whether by train or hitchhiking by lorry or even by ferry.
MATTISThat turned out to be more difficult than expected. Because the ferry was full, we had to camp on a gravel site in the harbour area for another night. And the next day was anything but easy because we weren't allowed to bring our boards and trolley onto the ferry on foot. After a lot of back and forth, a harbour employee drove us on board in a Sprinter and we had to weave our way between all the trucks with our stuff.
And do you have even bigger plans now?
TOBIASI can't let it go. A few weeks later, I actually wanted to go again.
MATTISI went back to the sea a week after we got back and the thought of just setting off again like on the tour, always reaching a new destination with your own physical strength, was very tempting. You don't have that with normal surfing, you come out where you went in. Surfing as a journey is something completely different.
TOBIASThis freedom to stand on the beach every morning and set off again, not knowing what awaits you at your destination, is very fascinating.
Packing list for the Baltic Sea tour
- SecurityEmergency radio/PLB, VHF radio + charger, foghorn, flare ammunition, smartphones, headlamps, power bank, solar panel, charger + charging cable, animal defence spray
- Transport: tension belts, waterproof luggage bags, waterproof rucksacks, 1 roll of rubbish bags, spiders, waterproof film
- Sails and boards MattisFanatic Cat, 380 cm x 67 cm, 250 litres, 7.8 North Sails E-Type, seagrass fin
- Sails and boards TobiasStarboard Phantom 299 3DX, 299 cm x 70 cm, 249 litres, Duotone S-Type 9.3, seagrass fin
- Surf equipmentSpare fin, spare ropes, spare mast foot, spare screws, paddle, tape, epoxy resin, board lock, multitool, surf shoes, wetsuit,
harness, helmet - Food and cookingWater bags, NRG5 emergency packs, whiskey hip flasks "Ostseerunde", 3.7 l alphapot (cooking pot), gas cooker (mimer stove duo), cutlery: spoon, coffee powder, drinking container, lighter, gas cartridge, pasta with ready-made sauce, outdoor ready meals, vitamin tablets
- Personal mattersClothes (softshell jacket, outdoor trousers, 2 T-shirts, pants, socks, shoes), toilet paper, toothbrush, toothpaste, towel, mosquito spray, sun cream, medication (IBU..), Kindel and Tolino
- Sleeping3 man tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat (super light), pillow
- MiscellaneousBluetooth box, drone, hanging board (climbing)
Do you want to go surfing on the Swedish coast, but without a surf tour? Then there's HERE a guide with many spots.
