In „The Water is Wide“
my journey alone on my sailboat along an old route through Scandinavia’s
gorgeous nature comes to an end. Part#3 of the docutainment trilogy "The
Viking Route" goes from the Åland-Islands deep inside the Finnish
archipelagos and in the Viking museum in Rosala. After 4 weeks of touring with
my band at the Baltic coast, my journey on the old route continues to Tallinn.
Here, the long and exiting way home begins and leads me through Estonia, Latvia
and Gotland. On the way I found many more traces of the Vikings. The movie again
shows, beside the travel itself, the emotions of a long time-out and the
ingenious navigational methods and the epic mythology of the Vikings. With
circumnavigator and Viking expert Burghard Pieske I could get another very
interesting person in front of the camera.
In the Danish National Archives, the description of this old sea
route is kept like a treasure. By coincidence Claus Aktoprak got aware
of this itinerary and curiosity kicked in. This document, written by
monks in Latin script, is one of the oldest and exiting sources about
navigating the Baltic sea. It mentions many places which together
forming - mostly sheltered by skerries - a sea route along the east
coast of Sweden, over the Åland-islands and Southern-Finland to Reval
(todays Tallinn). This sailing route, already used by Vikings, the
40-year-old sailboat LA MER auctioned at eBay and a kayak are the
ingredients of this new Baltic sea adventure from Claus Aktoprak through
the dreamlike archipelagos of Scandinavia.
Click here to watch "The Water is Wide" on PrimeVideo in the US
Click here to watch "The Water is Wide" on PrimeVideo in the UK
In „Skärgård“ Claus Aktoprak continues to follow
an old route through Scandinavia’s gorgeous nature alone on his
sailboat. Episode#2 of the docutainment trilogy "The Viking Route" is
leading deep into the spectacular world of the Stockholm archipelago in
during summer, makes a stopover in the old Viking settlement of Birka in
the lake Mälaren end ends on the Åland-Islands. The movie shows, beside
the travel itself, the emotions of a long time-out and spotlights – as
already in part 1 – the ingenious navigational methods and the epic
mythology of the Vikings.
In the Danish National Archives, the description of this old sea
route is kept like a treasure. By coincidence Claus Aktoprak got aware
of this itinerary and curiosity kicked in. This document, written by
monks in Latin script, is one of the oldest and exiting sources about
navigating the Baltic sea. It mentions many places which together
forming - mostly sheltered by skerries - a sea route along the east
coast of Sweden, over the Åland-islands and Southern-Finland to Reval
(todays Tallinn). This sailing route, already used by Vikings, the
40-year-old sailboat LA MER auctioned at eBay and a kayak are the
ingredients of this new Baltic sea adventure from Claus Aktoprak through
the dreamlike archipelagos of Scandinavia.
Click here to watch "#2 Skärgård" on PrimeVideo in the US
Click here to watch "#2 Skärgård" on PrimeVideo in the UK
Adventure Meets History - In this docutainment trilogy Claus Aktoprak is
sailing single-handed on the traces of history through the dreamlike
archipelagos of Sweden, the Åland-islands and Finland to Tallinn in
Estonia. Following an ancient itinerary, written by monks in the 13th
century, this oldest and exiting source about navigating the Baltic sea
is dating back to the age of the Vikings. This sailing route, his 40
year old sailboat LA MER auctioned at eBay and a kayak are the
ingredients of this new Baltic sea adventure from Claus Aktoprak through
the dreamlike archipelagos of Scandinavia.
In the Danish National Archives, the description of this old sea
route is kept like a treasure. By coincidence Claus Aktoprak got aware
of this itinerary and curiosity kicked in. This document, written by
monks in Latin script, is one of the oldest and exiting sources about
navigating the Baltic sea. It mentions many places which together
forming - mostly sheltered by skerries - a sea route along the east
coast of Sweden, over the Åland-islands and Southern-Finland to Reval
(todays Tallinn). This sailing route, already used by Vikings, the
40-year-old sailboat LA MER auctioned at eBay and a kayak are the
ingredients of this new Baltic sea adventure from Claus Aktoprak through
the dreamlike archipelagos of Scandinavia.
Click here to watch "#1 Salt&Earth" on PrimeVideo in the US
Click here to watch "#1 Salt&Earth" on PrimeVideo in the UK
Director Statement
My goal was to create a movie which shows all sorts of historical
facts and documentary content found along the route in combination with
my personal emotions and experiences. Highlighted by big pictures of
the unique landscape in the Scandinavian archipelagos. A movie that
makes you longing for your own time out and also open your eyes for the
history of the region. The hardest part was filming without a team and
in parts also saiing single-handed simultaniously.
Director Biography
- Claus Aktoprak
Claus Aktoprak is a professional musician and songwriter. In
2014 he made his first long journey on a sailboat to write 19 songs for
his album "Zeitmillionär". After 6 month at sea, he produced this album
with 30 international musicians, and also produced a documentary movie
about the travel and the creation of the music and the album. This was
followed by touring along the coast of the Baltic to perform his album
live. Another product of that journey was a educational video teaching
the techniques of single-handed sailing. In 2017 Claus Aktoprak had the
idea for the partly crowdfunded documentary "The Viking Route" and set
sails in 2018 for the elaborate production of the trilogy.
Length of movies: Salt&Earth 83 minutes, Skärgård 73 minutes
Language: English Subtitles: English
Click here to take a look at the original text of the itinerary
