Voyage of the Hippo: Bulgaria and Turkey

Hippo is an 36’ junk rig schooner.
@schooner.hippo

Hippo (originally named Hippolyte) was built on Tilghman’s Island, MD in 1984 by Timothy W. Stearns and Kathleen T. Poole. The couple had two young sons, Noah and Clemens, at the time of building and their daughter, Araminta, was born on board the year after completion. The family traveled the East Coast of the United States, calling the boat home off and on throughout the mid-80’s.

In the early 90’s Captain Tim became sole owner and shortened her name to Hippo. She found a regular port of call in Mystic, CT, while intermittently voyaging along the East Coast. Hippo’s most notable voyage during this period was a lengthy expedition to Central America in 1997.

In 1999 Hippo, crewed by Tim, his two teenage sons, and a friend, embarked on a voyage that had been a dream since her construction: to cross the Atlantic to Europe. From that summer on Hippo has extensively navigated European seas and waterways. After making landfall in Ireland in June 1999, Hippo traveled for a decade under Captain Tim, seeing the shores of Ireland, the UK, France, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Holland, Belgium, and Germany.

Hippo’s fate changed again in 2009, when Captain Tim was killed in a motorcycle accident. At the tragic death of her builder and captain of 25 years, Hippo was passed down to Tim’s three children, Noah, Clemens and Araminta. Although the prospect of continuing the voyage of the Hippo was daunting at first, Tim’s three children resolved to find a way to preserve this part of their family history. Starting in 2011 Clemens began to prepare the boat for new voyages.

Under Captain Clemens Hippo has made two successful voyages with a rotating crew of friends. In 2012 she traveled from Würzburg in Southern Germany, to Belgrade, Serbia. In 2013 she continued the route to the Black Sea and found a winter harbor in Varna, Bulgaria. In 2017 Istanbul sailed to Istanbul, Turkey. The crew looks forward to new adventures in the coming years, with more exploration of the Black Sea, Sea of Marmara, and Mediterranean Sea planned for the summer of 2018.