Week 16: Luebeck

This past weekend we took a road trip to the other side of Germany to visit with some friends who were competing in an autonomous sailboat competition. The competition was held in Luebeck, Germany, which is very close to Denmark and very far away from us. We split up the drive on our way out, stopping off in Dortmund to stay for the night (about 3 hours from home) before making the rest of the drive to Luebeck (about 4 hours). We hit some traffic, saw a jackknifed RV, but we made it to our friends' competition at exactly the right moment.

When we arrived, they were working frantically on getting their boat working. They had just finished a run and had found that the timing on their code was way off--they were able to finish the course on that try, but it took 5 times longer than it should have. We stayed out of the way while they got everything ship-shape (ha!). A few minutes later their boat was put out in the water and it did its thing. Flawlessly.  

The Autonomous Sailboat Completing its Run

Evidently, we brought luck with us on our long drive, as this was the only successful run our friends had during the multi-day competition. We only saw one portion of one event, where the boat had to execute a series of maneuvers relative to the buoys. They didn't win, but it was pretty cool. We were both very impressed with our friends' achievement, especially since the boat had sat over night on the bottom of the Charles about a week before.

The Boat Being Torn-Down

After the competition awards were presented, we all went out to wander around Luebeck. On our friends' recommendation, we all went to a restaurant that focused it dishes on potatoes and even had some seats outside. Very good food and very good beer. A great way to spend a late summer evening.

Group Photo: 4 Nerds

On Sunday, we hopped in our car and drove around Luebeck a bit before we headed back to Speicher and our friends headed off to their next vacation destination. We drove east of Luebeck, to get out to the Baltic Sea. Jason and I realized that we had never seen the ocean in Germany and the last time we had really been close to it was when we were in Norway a couple months ago. Odd for a couple of people who have lived walking distance to the Atlantic for the past five years. 

We bid our adieus and headed back to Speicher, arriving late on Sunday evening. We slept well. It was a very nice weekend, but we were a little bummed that we had missed Wittlich's Pigfest (or Saeubrenner). Or thought we had. In reading some posts on a base related Facebook site, I found out it wasn't over until Tuesday(!). So, for dinner on Monday night, we headed on over where we were greeted by a large pig on a stick and offered his tasty insides to eat on a Broechen. And, my, they were delicious.

Eat Up! I'm Tasty!