Sailing-Tiki.at

Sailing Seaweed?

What’s that supposed to be? Why it’s colourful, why over 250 people are running around in old underwear for the good cause in Vienna, why blonde people get bald heads, a world record, free drinks, dirty bathtubs, and a lot to sea (sorry, that had to be;))

 

First things first….

We will end our current stay in Croatia on August 17th to participate in a very special event. I’m looking forward to having my embarrassing old underwear painted by strangers. I even had to steal the bra from my favorite neighbor (thanks to Steffi) because I didn’t have a white one. Eric is not particularly convinced of the idea, but married to me and we are now definitely sitting in one boat, so – he has to get through it. (No worries, in the evening he was also enthusiastic;))

Saturday, 19 August 2017,06:30 – the alarm clock rings, we hate it. Shortly afterwards he convinced us, we get up, the cats are confused, don’t even want to eat. Eric gives us a snack, I get towels – the old creepy parts again. Despite an unusually early hour we manage to have breakfast without injuries, grab our things and drive towards Moedling.

Here we meet with our friends Manu and Chris (you remember? last post, freediving and so on…) and drive together with a car to the fairground. We drive to the parking garage (well, almost) and arrive punctually at the fairground. First hurdle passed. Go in, name and signature on our consent form and down to the dressing room.

 

Getting undressed

We take off our clothes, hand them over and rush into the crowd. The hair is slapped on our heads, Manu is blonde and gets bald. Not shaved – just the hollywood version, bald, with her own hair just covered! Her hair would show stains from the event for a long time. Ours are poured by the gel aka “devil’s stuff” hard like  stones, like in epoxy, will this wash out again?

 

 

Shortly to follow, a rough classification so that we know where we belong. Small changes can be made later. We have to wait until then we’ll be on the move. The time is running out, the first bad news… out of 300 subscribers, only 200 came.
Come on, now! Everywhere you see people on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms post to lure friends and family into the exhibition hall. Here is the video of the call. Eric is the “painted man”, I’m on top of it with a particularly witty “Alles Super” message in the picture:) The mood stays great, that’s all right. It has to be done!

 

 

 

Bodypainter

working as fast ass they can, the models are painted or lead (as we do) great conversations with strange people. We all belong together, we are one reef – whether rocks, fish, coral or sea grass. We only succeed together – and that’s what it’s all about here and now!

First Pictures

slowly you can see something, the picture becomes clearer, the first sample photos are taken. From the seagull’s perspective, you can already assign a lot of things. We can see and admire the pictures on a laptop. Crazy, evil thing, hot shit, and similar things can be heard – and everyone is right. The painters get instructions on how to arange all of us. The record picture should be perfect – and no one wants to be cut off. Backing up is called for. Fortunately, it is not too hot today, excessive sweating would be unpleasant in many ways:

 

The reef neighbor would be, the colour runs and smudges and when a rock arch arrives at a fish belly, the fish petrifies or at least turns grey. But as I said, it’s not that hot and we keep our colours to ourselves.

 

 

 

Thrilling…

The Social-Media call has helped us, we are very close to the 250 models we need, the painters are asked – and of course they join in as models. Nothing will stop the record! As a little bonus I can paint “my” painter together with a second seaweed. We look for the material, the material, the slush, the brush, orange and various greylines and make a coral out of her (unfortunately I forgot your name: ()

 

 

Arrange again

Again, all the points allotted, a view from the checkpoint, looks good. Last paintings are finished, a few highlights in white, the mood is noticeably different, but always good! I guess it’ll be the tension before the final picture.

 

It’s getting serious, NOW – all faces to me, one can hear the photographer Martin Aigner shouting down from the crane, eyes closed, it’s done. The photo is in the box, so – nowadays rather on the memory card, doesn’t matter. Done, record, we’ve done it, we’re a reef, we’re a picture, we’re the world’s first 3D bodypainting image, we’re a world record maybe even two?

Here it is! Final Picture *tadaaa*

Afterparty

at Le Meridien there is an afterparty, starting at 6:30 p.m. A cosy come-together, food and drinks are served without obligation, the hotel sponsors desserts, starters and drinks until 9:30 p.m. (thanks a lot for that, it’s not a matter of course and it was excellent!).

 

Here we also meet Erik K F Goossens “The Swiss Guy”again. He was there and took some great “Making Of” pictures.

 

 

 

We

We were 253 models, 60 bodypainters/make-up artists, many helpers, some photographers and of course some media representatives. A team, a reef 187m² in size – or to put it in the words of Reefcalendar:”Alone you are just a single fish – together we are a big swarm!

 

There will be another #Reefcalendar for 2018. Save your copy, with the world record photo as cover picture, give it away to friends, hang it up where it is seen to reach many people. Help, to become part of the swarm!

 

 

Thanks

Thank you all, Martin & Mike for the great idea. Thank you for the smooth organization, thank you for not losing sight of the goal for months – thank you for making it possible for us to participate in this great and important project. Even though you both liked to push it on us models and the painters. The real heroes were and are you – because it was your idea, your time, your nerves!

Info to the reef mates yesterday: if you want to have my pictures without branding and in good resolution, please let me know. I’d be happy to send it. I also forward all the pictures I took yesterday to reefcalendar.org, as I requested via wetransfer.com/. If you also have some, please do so as well!

 

Why and for what purpose was all the work done?

Not (only) to reach a world record. It is a crying out for attention that the seas, the oceans and all living beings in it urgently need our help, our protection. Daniela described it well in advance (german only):  Lies hier Ihren Beitrag.

The ocean needs our attention. A program to protect coral reefs, sharks, tuna, whales, etc. – or things that each of us can do on land, almost without any additional effort. If you use resources sparingly, try to avoid plastics, often it’s just little things you don’t even think about. Make yourself aware of them, help! The protection of the oceans concerns us all!

 

If you would like to follow our sailing trip, new entries will be published on Facebook

 

 

#reefcalendar #weltrekordfürdiemeere #theprojectforourseas

 

 

 

 

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