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Press Release ABORA III July 02nd, 2007

ABORA III sails further against the wind

All departure preparations for the ABORA III expedition are at full speed and the crew is fine-tuning the sailing capabilities of their stone-age raft. This time they finished installing all lee-boards and from the beginning the ABORA III sailed immediately at 78 to 94 degrees against the true wind, about 20 degrees better than last time. The reed boat was easy to handle and properly responded to angular tack maneuvers. The crew of ABORA III was able to do such moves just after a few weeks of sailing practice. This is definitely a sign that ABORA III is absolutely well constructed.

Heavy rain showers delayed the work progress during the last two weeks. It was previously documented that there were logistical delays in the beginning of the construction phase in Jersey City. That's why the expedition leadership decided to postpone the departure from July 8th to July 11th. These three days will be used to provide the crew with rest and to finish the preparations in a professional way. At the same time the team can prepare for Independence Day and sail with hundreds of other sailors along the Hudson River. Afterwards, the Liberty State Park invited the team to celebrate together with hundred of thousands the American holiday. A Bolivian folk music band is expected to be present.

Everything seems to indicate that the expedition members will finish their preparations for departure successfully. Together with their ABORA friends and supporters they are looking forward for the expedition start.

Press Release ABORA III June 22th, 2007

ABORA III sails across to the wind

On Friday June 22, 2007, the Abora III, a replica of a stone-age reed boat, sailed for the second time. The crew led further into the Hudson River and tested its ability to sail across the wind. Newly installed lee boards were used for the first time. Dominique Gorlitz, the expedition leader, was very satisfied and said "that from the beginning the crew was in complete control of the boat".

In the apparent wind the ship sailed several times under 80 degrees. In the true wind it did approximately 100-110 degrees, which was very good for a first sailing into the wind with a new boat and crew. This result is a further strong indication that the boat works in accordance to the physical requirements of a real sailing vessel. Sailing with a kee-less raft across to the wind, the way the Abora III did, indicates that the prehistoric boat's designer were much more experienced than the majority of experts are expecting today. That the ABORA III team already achieves such courses on this trial is also an indication that they have done a properly construction.

The critics that negate the existence of advanced navigation in pre-history are left again with one less argument in their favor, after what the Abora III already demonstrated. The course of the boat is recorded on the expedition's live tracking system from SATPRO. You can see them on their website www.abora3.com. click to zoom -->

Now the team has still a lot of work to do. The food and water has to be stored; the rigging is not completely finished yet. Furthermore, the crew has to train their sailing capabilities before they the take up the challenge of crossing the North Atlantic.

Press Release ABORA III June 20th, 2007

ABORA III has sailed for first time

The maiden voyage for ABORA III occurred on July 18th 2007 in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. The prehistoric reed boat sailed majestically with a full sail before the wind.

The objective of this first sail was to determine if the boat would perform basic down wind maneuvers as expected. At the completion of the sail Dominque Görlitz appeared relieved and happy when he announced that all test objectives had indeed been satisfied. He said: "ABORA III shows that all our efforts of the last weeks and months were worth the effort. The boat reacts as I expected. I can not wait until we set sail with our stone aged vessel across the Atlantic."

Press Release ABORA III June 11th, 2007

Launching of reed boat ABORA III.
First successful sea-trial performed.

The previous days have been very exiting for the crew of the ABORA III. After two years in the making, including two months of superstructure construction in Jersey City's Liberty Harbour, the boat finally was ready for launching. For project manager Dominique Görlitz 16 years of continuous research lead up to the big day.

Present at the ceremony was Norman Baker, the navigator of Thor Heyerdahl's many reed-boat expeditions during the 70-ties, wishing the team the best of luck in his speech.

Surrounded by a large crowd of press and public, Mr. Görlitz used the opportunity to honor his many supporters and volunteer crewmembers that helps him make his project possible, in his short speech.

Fermin Limanchi, the Bolivian who crafted the ship at the shores of Lake Titicaca, Christened the craft according to ancient Bolivian rituals. The boat bears the name ABORA III. According to the mythology of the Canary Islands Abora was the god that controlled the sun, and father of Ra - the name used by Heyerdahl for the vessel that drifted in the Canary current to Barbados in 1970

Then the fire department sounded their sirens as the vessel was lowered into the water of the Hudson River. Mr. Görlitz was pleased to see her float with a freeboard of 1.6 meters (5,2'). Her first voyage took her straight to port, but the very next day came her first sea-trial.

Tugged by the Sea Lion, a local muscle-boat of the Hudson River, ABORA III complete with crew and passengers from supporting company KS Tools, spent three hours in speeds of up to six knots, her estimated maximum speed. The purpose of the test was to confirm the integrity of the reed hull, and get a feel for the stiffness of the construction, a quality always sought after in any boat construction.

In the coming days a number of construction tasks await the crew. Among the most important is calibrating the rudder, mounting leeboard slots and raising the mast. After this has been completed comes the next sea-trial, powered by the wind itself.

The ABORA III is the prehistoric reed-boat intended to sail from New York, USA to Pontevedra, Spain, the summer 2007. The purpose is to investigate if ancient seafarers may have done regular voyages on the North-Atlantic route 1000s of years before Columbus. The project is lead by scientist Dominique Görlitz who has 16 years experience of reed-boating.

Among the crewmembers are a number of German scientists, a Bolivian reed-boat craftsman, a 69 year old American builder, a Cuban-American broker and the Norwegian mountaineer, Tormod Granheim, who is the first person ever to ski the North Face of Mount Everest.

Press Release ABORA III June 5th, 2007

MEDIA ALERT

REED BOAT ABORA III,
READY TO LAUNCH,
IN PREPARATION FOR TRANS-ATLANTIC SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.

Jersey City, New Jersey - This Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 2:30 PM, the reed boat, ABORA III, will be launched and then christened by Fermin Limachi. Mr. Limachi is a native Bolivian Aymara Indian, from Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, where he and his family built this wind-powered stone-age boat. This event and the launching immediately following, will take place at The Liberty Park Marina (directions to site listed below) in Jersey City, NJ, where the finishing touches have taken place.

Present at the ceremony will be none less than Norman Baker, the navigator on all of Thor Heyerdahl brave reed-boat expeditions.

At 3:00 PM ABORA III, 42'long by 13'wide, weighing 12 tons, will be launched into the water. There will be a crew of 12 volunteers making this scientific expedition from New York Harbor to the Azores, in 5-6 weeks and onto Spain within a 6-9week period. The only power will be the winds and currents. The crew will be multicultural, and include German scientists, an American of 69 and a Norwegian adventurer who last year made a first ski descent on the North Face of Mount Everest.

For the next few weeks (until early July) ABORA III will be making practice runs on the Hudson River between Battery Park and the George Washington Bridge, finalizing crew maneuvers and making sure the reed boat is sea-worthy for this historic trip (media are welcome aboard, with advance notice). The majority of today's experts in the field of history and archaeology hold that such a voyage was impossible in pre-historic times. The northern route across the Atlantic Ocean is characterized by heavy seas, wind changes and strong storms. This is what faces ABORA III. The German experimental archaeologist, Dominique Goerlitz, is sailing against accepted scholar expert opinion. His Team has rigged ABORA III according to 15,000 year old rock drawings!! He has collected new evidence that shows trading across the Atlantic in pre-Columbian time. When ABORA III succeeds later this year, it will demonstrate that trans-Atlantic contacts in pre-historic times were clearly a strong possibility.

Press Release ABORA III May 30th, 2007

Improvement on ABORA III

Three weeks ago, ABORA III arrived in New York. The Team of experimental archaeologist Dominique Goerlitz is working on the ship, often until late in the night. Their goal is to launch the prehistoric reed boat in the beginning of June 2007.

The work on our 45ft long Reed Boat was delayed because of an unexpected customs hold on our material container. The container with tools, robes and other materials was nearly two weeks late. Our enthusiastic construction team is now trying to fight back some of the lost time.

The international experimental archaeology team wants to sail with a prehistoric reed boat across the North-Atlantic. The design of the boat came from rock drawings in Spain and Egypt. The expedition leader Dominique Goerlitz collected these drawings, analysed and interpreted them. He was the first explorer who found a connection between the drawings and the knee board technique. The knee board technique was used to navigate this kind of boats against the wind. With his last expedition in 2002, he sailed with this technique, on ABORA II, 70° on the wind in the Mediterranean Sea. Thus he could prove that these reed boats are more than just primitive sailing ships and can do quite more than sail in front of the wind.

The crew in New York will finish ABORA III as quick and thorough as possible. For that, they are assembling two cabins, the mast and the knee boards out of hundreds of pieces together. In the mean time a second team is trying to repair damages on the hull that took place during transportation. Fermin Limachi who built the hull of the boat on Lake Titikaka, Bolivia is leading our repair team. He was as well a crew member of our Mediterranean expedition in 2002.

There are still some things to do. We hope our team is dealing with all the media interest we have now in North America and Europe. If they finish the boat in time we will be able to launch the boat between June 5th or 7th.

Press Release ABORA III May 17th, 2007 The Reed Boat ABORA II arrives in Manhattan! The reed boat ABORA II arrives in NYC at the Circle Lines Terminal (42nd St.&12th Ave.) at 8:00 AM on Friday, May 18th after its long and arduous trip from Germany to America. Here the reed boat will be on display for the next two months in anticipation of its larger sister boat, ABORA 111, leaving for Spain as a scientific expedition. The ABORA II is designed in accordance to 6000 years old rock drawings. The hull was erected in traditional style of construction from Aymara Indians at Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. ABORA II sailed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and proved for the first time that a back and forth voyage against the wind was possible with a prehistoric raft. The voyage took 1165 nautical miles from Egypt to Lebanon and then to Cyprus and back to Egypt. With the help of lee boards the yardarm sailor is able to tack 70 degrees against the wind.

The experienced crew will rig the boat in the original look (Neolithic style) showing how it sailed across the Mediterranean. This will give the impression of how ancient people travelled across the ocean. This Exhibition will be open until the middle of July 2007 with experienced sailors from ABORA II answering all questions visitors may have while seeing this "caveman-style" boat.

Parallel to these activities the project group is continuing the rigging of ABORA III to set sail in July to cross the North Atlantic from NYC to Spain. The launching will take place from Liberty Harbor Marina, Jersey City, NJ. Prior to this launching, the ABORA III will make sailing tests on the Hudson River before it starts its challenging voyage across the Atlantic.

The German association for experimental archaeology and research Chemnitz e.V. prepares their expedition vessel for this exhibition. Support by NYS Dept. of Tourism. Director Markly Wilson brought them together with the Circle Lines Sightseeing Inc. The reed boat was transported by German logistic company DHL from Rostock to New York. The last step from Newark to Manhattan was done under the responsibility of Schenker Inc..

Press Release ABORA III May 7th, 2007

New York will be the starting point of the most ambitious Trans-Atlantic Sailing Expedition of 21st Century

ABORA III will arrive tomorrow from Lake Titicaca and is then on display in Liberty Harbor Marina, 11 Marin Boulevard, Jersey City, 07302.

In July 2007, the strangest of sailing rafts will leave the port of New York. The pre-historic reed boat ABORA III will attempt to cross the North Atlantic and rewrite history. The majority of today's experts in the field of history and archaeology hold that such a voyage was impossible in pre-historic times. However, the German experimental archaeologist, Dominique Goerlitz, is sailing against expert opinion. His theory is that the pre-historic inhabitants were already advanced sailors.

Goerlitz's team will rig Abora III, a sailing raft, in Liberty Harbor Marina, NJ, which is designed in accordance to 15,000 year old rock drawings and was built by the Aymara-Indians at Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. He has collected new evidence that food and medicinal plants have been traded between both sides of the Atlantic in pre-Columbian times.

With his previous ships ABORA I & II Goerlitz has accomplished bold expeditions within the Mediterranean Sea and demonstrated the ability of ancient boats to tack against the predominant winds. ABORA II will be on display tentatively at the Circle Line Terminal - West 42nd Street, from May through July, 2007.

The New York State Department of Tourism is one of the main supporters of this scientific adventure. The crew will prepare their vessel in Liberty Harbor where they will launch ABORA III; 12 tons of bundled reeds. After launching the ABORA III, the "Stone Age" crew will test the boat's sailing abilities in front of the Manhattan skyline.

The international expedition crew will rig and prepare the raft for it's bold voyage to Northern Spain. If ABORA III succeeds, it will demonstrate that trans-Atlantic contacts in pre-historic times were clearly possible.

Press Release ABORA III February 14th, 2007

The Abora 3 is finally finished!

In the middle of February 2007, Dominique Goerlitz visited Bolivia in order to coordinate the transportation of the new reed boat across the Andes to New York. The picture shows a huge and perfectly constructed new ABORA III. To cover the reed boat, the Indians constructed a roof in order to keep it protected from sun and rain.