© Gerd Blank
Interview with Gerd Blank, son of a sailor
“I love this twilight zone of being on the road.”
Travelling is in Gerd Blank's genes. He brought back many stories and even more gratitude from his multi-year tour through Europe.
Gerd Blank
The son of a sailor spent several years travelling Europe in a motorhome.
Kiel-Marketing: As a teenager, I once read "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac, which is about hitchhiking across half of America, about the feeling of being unconventional and travelling. You drove 25,000 kilometres through Europe in your van for three years. Was it just about being on the road?
Gerd Blank: It's a mixture of many things. It used to be more of a means to an end for me. I wanted to go somewhere, no matter how, I spent my time there and then of course you're on the road. Nowadays, being on the road and moving around is often the most important part of travelling for me. For example, my wife and I have a ritual: when we get into the car, we sing "On the Road Again". Being on the road is great in itself because you leave all the baggage behind. You get into the car, know that you have relatively little stuff with you and somehow enjoy that. The person sitting in the passenger seat enjoys looking out of the window to the left and right. You don't know exactly what to expect up ahead. You leave behind all the things that might sometimes cause you stress. I love this twilight zone of being on the road.
Is it more a journey away from something or a journey towards something - something new, something unknown?
That has also changed. I used to think that somewhere was better than where I came from. It has been confirmed often enough that this is rubbish. I think it's just always different. That's why it will never be a departure for me, but rather a journey somewhere. Seeing something new or seeing something familiar again.
Do you set off with specific goals or do you just drift along?
(laughs) Well, officially I would say that we always have a goal. But we've also realised often enough that there are always turn-offs on the way there that take us somewhere completely different. Or when we check the weather forecast, if the outlook is bad, we say it's not so good, let's turn right instead of left. Or once we booked a ferry from Sardinia to the Spanish mainland. I was an idiot and misread the timings.
The ferry didn't leave at 10 o'clock in the evening, but at 10 o'clock in the morning. We missed the crossing and spontaneously changed our mind: instead of travelling to Barcelona, we went to Livorno - and then completely changed our planned itinerary and destination. We do that all the time. But there is always a rough destination. We often head south first. When we're in the Swiss Alps, we look at each other and think about which direction we're going to take: are we going to Italy or somewhere else?
“It’s good to change corners on the boat for a moment, get out of the car, take a deep breath and then try to get back into a good mood.”
Gerd Blank
Gerd Blank has published two camping guides and is co-host of the podcast "Campermen".
www.campermen.de
You are totally open - the two of you in the smallest of spaces when you are "on the road" in the van. There are five sailors on board during the Ocean Race. How you get on with each other is an important issue, especially when you're at sea for a long time. How do you get on with each other when you're travelling?
We didn't jump in at the deep end, we've been campers for a long time and have been feeling our way around the long haul. Before we moved into the camper, we regularly spent around 100 days a year travelling in our motorhome. This is only possible if we have clear rules. For example, when driving. The person driving doesn't look at places. The co-driver takes care of that and also organises the catering on the road. If someone needs to concentrate on work, we clarify this beforehand and ask: Do you need this space right now? Then the other person leaves the person with the job to work in peace. Where we didn't have any rules, we solved it in a playful way. For example, with the question: Who does the washing up? We solved that with "four wins", quite fairly. But there is still friction on a trip like this, you can't fool yourself. Even experienced travellers can get cabin fever from time to time. Or it has something to do with bad weather, bad news or simply a bad day. Sometimes it's simply because you're stupid, for example because you've been on the road all day. So for me, the saying is sometimes true: after tired comes stupid. But the good thing is that we are so tried and tested that we know it's only a temporary thing. If you know each other well, you don't take everything so seriously, you have a few rules that you try to stick to, then it works pretty well.
The sailor Rosalin Kuiper [Skipper Holcim-PRB] told us in an interview that it is incredibly important to maintain a positive attitude and to be in a good mood, especially because the physical and mental strain on the high seas is added to the confinement on board.
It's a bit easier with us, because we can just stop somewhere and take a quick breath of fresh air or move away from each other. I don't think it's a good idea if you're always spouting your own nonsense in your head, always expressing your unreflected and miserable thoughts straight away and pouring them over the other person. It's a good idea to turn the corner on the boat for a moment, get out of the car, take a deep breath and then try to get back into a good mood. The positive result for the other person is immediately noticeable when you say: "Hey, it'll be fine" in stressful situations or deal with mistakes in a slightly silly way. Just today, for example, I tried to make a smoothie - and forgot to screw the lid on. All the juice went down the pan! The kitchen looked a mess. Still, I had to laugh at first. So did my wife, then she went out shaking her head and left me to clean. I don't think it's a good idea to take everything too seriously.
“The place, that’s us for now. That was also the case in the last few years, before we were on the road for these three years.”
Gerd Blank
That sounds good! What were the most impressive experiences on the road? Was there anything that impressed you so much that you take it with you into your everyday life?
That's an interesting question. I thought that when I come back, I'll have lots of anecdotes and reports from places that I'll bring back with me. The mountain here, the lake there and the forest somewhere else. Yes, of course I can tell these things, but these are not the stories I have in my head.
I think I've brought two things with me above all. One is an incredible sense of gratitude and humility. To have this good fortune, to be able to live this life. And the second thing is that I have also changed massively as a person as a result of my long journey. My expectation that everything is out there ready for me and that all I have to do now is grab it, without doing anything myself, has completely changed.
If I want people to be happier, friendlier, more socially active and think more about togetherness, then I have to do my bit.
For example, if I want to shop in local shops abroad, need to find directions, have a problem with my car or need to go to the doctor, then I am the supplicant. I am the foreigner from abroad who needs something to make me feel better. And I don't just pay for this with money, but also with kindness, respect, appreciation and gratitude. And I brought this mindset with me from my trip. I now approach people differently in Germany and no longer take everything for granted. I'm more cheerful, smile at strangers and am sometimes quicker to help. I think this positive attitude towards life is the most important thing I've taken with me.
Being physically on the road is one thing. But what is it like at home, are you still travelling in your head? Are you a restless spirit?
Yes, but I already know that from my job. I've been working as a journalist for over 25 years. Before that, I lived a different life and worked in other areas. I get bored quickly. I like to keep gaining new experiences so that I don't get stuck at the same level. There is so much to learn and so many beautiful things out there. I'm at an age where I can't or shouldn't go to every club anymore, but I want to stay on the ball. I like living and working with younger people. How do they speak? Where do they get information? How do they educate themselves? I always throw myself into new adventures and also realise a lot for myself. I'm passionate about making podcasts, using social media both professionally and privately and monitoring services like TikTok. And I also travel to many places professionally for various clients, with very different topics and forms of presentation. When I change, I'm not afraid to leave anything behind. But I also don't want to burn any bridges in the process. With everything I do, I never want to think that it was stupid behind me, but that it has brought me to where I am now. My motto in life is: be on the move inside and out.
The two probably coincide. You once said that you always take a string of lights and two Christmas baubles with you when you're travelling. You then hang them on a palm tree or a few branches. For many people, it would be unimaginable not to be at home at Christmas. So you still have a piece at home that you take with you?
Absolutely. Because we are both such restless spirits, we don't have that feeling of being at home so much. Travelling to a place where you spent time as a child, where you meet up with the people you know from your childhood, we both don't have that. We still have people in our lives from before, but it's not this one place. We're a bit freer there. We said to ourselves, "Hey, then we have to create the place and take it with us, no matter where we are." The place, that's us for now. That was also the case in the last few years, before we were on the road for these three years. We liked to spend Christmas, this wintery, contemplative time, somewhere else. Whether we were in Thailand or Brazil, we always took a nice cloth as a tablecloth and some light with us, which helped us to build our home away from home. We don't necessarily need it, but it's still nice to have such an anchor.
"In Gruß an Bord" relatives of seafarers have been sending Christmas greetings to crews around the world on Christmas Eve since 1953.
I can well understand that. At the end of last year, you published a few texts about your father, who spent many years at sea as a helmsman and then dropped anchor in Hamburg at some point. At Christmas, you devoutly listened to "Greetings on Board" together. Tears were taboo at home, your father always giggled instead ..
(Gerd imitates the giggling with a soft smile)... yes ... like that ..
Do you have the feeling that being on the move is in your genes?
Possibly. It could be that this restlessness is in my genes. And the way people around me have shaped me and dealt with certain topics. The stories we read as children were adventure stories. My father liked to put something like "Treasure Island" down or read it to us. When he talked about other countries, his voice changed, he spoke differently than when he talked about everyday life. His shining eyes ... Stories from other worlds are so important for broadening your own horizons. I say that now as an adult, as a child I didn't realise that. Now I'm thrilled when someone tells me about other worlds and comes back with gratitude and humility. We are living in a difficult time where issues such as marginalisation and enclosure suddenly come up, where everything foreign is strange or even bad. I didn't grow up like that, for us it was more the case that the other is an enrichment. That other ideas and cultures can make togetherness more special and strengthen it. So maybe for me it's a mixture of genes and experience.
“No matter where you come from, no matter who you are, no matter what language you speak, we are a team and we look out for each other”.
Gerd Blank
Your father was often at sea for a long time, several months in the Ocean Race, six weeks with various stops in the Ocean Race Europe, and in the Vendée Globe 2024/25, the winner Charlie Dalin was alone at sea for 64 days, and the following boats even longer. Could you be travelling alone like that?
I could now. I'm good at being alone with myself. I did the same thing when I was writing a book. However, I don't need a phase where I ask myself who I actually am. But I can imagine that with a task. However, I'm more of a person who likes to go on adventures like this in a group - with a division of tasks. Especially on a boat, where there are clear instructions, I can well imagine that. Then there's no discussion if things get difficult. I can imagine something like that working extremely well, even over a longer period of time. That's also what my father did. In his role, he knew his duties, even in an emergency situation. Then it's "all hands on deck". It goes like clockwork and then everyone jumps back into their normal tasks. That's great. That's the kind of bonding that happens. This "No matter where you come from, no matter who you are, no matter what language you speak, we're a team and we look out for each other". At the end of the day, it also helps me when I look out for you, because then you can fulfil your task again tomorrow.
On a boat, the roles are clearly distributed. In a professional context, there are increasingly other approaches, free of hierarchies, a lot of co-determination, transparency. Is this clear division of roles still appropriate today?
Oh, I don't care whether it's up to date or not. Some things can't work if nobody takes charge and every step is discussed. I believe there has to be a hierarchy in certain situations. But that doesn't mean that in normal situations the person in charge can't take a step back from time to time. It depends on the task. I think the big things were only developed because some visionary made decisions. In general, I'm a total democrat and everyone has a right of co-determination, but it has to be the right time - and that's definitely not at a regatta.
in addition to Boris Herrmann, Team Malizia had two co-skippers in the Ocean Race, Rosalin Kuiper and Will Harris. Rosalin will now skipper Team Holcim-PRB in the Ocean Race Europe.
That's great. That's more or less a promotion, but she has to pass like everyone else. That means she has to prove that this mandate is in the right hands. And if it doesn't work out, will she be a skipper again? But it is important for personal development to become familiar with tasks. The only question is what happens if you are not seen. If you're always the last one to be picked when you play football at school, that's obviously stupid too. So how do you get yourself chosen? Sometimes you have to be a bit louder, a bit more extroverted than others. I don't think performance alone will always work. Unfortunately.
More about the Ocean Race Europe teams:
It's about finding your place and then claiming it. Does being on the road help you to find your place in life?
Yes and no. That restless spirit we talked about earlier is still there, but I can categorise it better. My place in life is more within me. I am more secure with myself. It has nothing to do with the place. It's more to do with the environment and the people I want to spend my time with or who want to spend their time with me. You always make a decision. Sometimes you leave even though you don't really want to. But compared to before, I'm more intense with the people I've stayed with. That is something that has changed and that is my place. Being on the road has massively strengthened this feeling of being at home, of arriving, of docking.
Can you actually "at home"? Will the van be sold at some point?
At the moment we no longer have a van. And I can be at home, very well in fact. But it's not that I always want to be at home. Winter in Germany is a real pain for me. I like December, but I hate November and February. So that means we'll definitely have a place where we live - and then spend the winter where we like the climate better. It doesn't have to be South America, Australia or South Africa. Not at all, we've already seen it all. Just somewhere where we have a bit of guaranteed sunshine and can jump into the water in December. For example, in Sardinia, where we had also wrapped the fairy lights around a palm tree.
So dropping anchor somewhere doesn't mean you have to stay there all the time?
The Cap San Diego or the Rickmer Rickmers in Hamburg sometimes go out and come back. They want to show that they can still do it and say: Hey, we could do another big tour. I only have tattoos from the maritime world; the Rickmer Rickmers is also emblazoned on my arm. For me, these are symbols of being on the move, of being outside, of the water taking you somewhere. Having the courage to set off, to let yourself drift, to stay on the wave or, when the wave comes, to skilfully dive under it and then carry on regardless. Nothing symbolises this better than sailing. I am somehow a sailor on land, my heart beats with the water.
Gerd Blank spent several years travelling Europe in a motorhome and working where other people go on holiday. Travelling is in the blood of the son of a sailor. The journalist and author has been writing about technology and outdoor topics for magazines for many years. He has also published two camping guides and co-hosts the podcast "Campermen".
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