An informal start to proceedings was provided by the familiar icebreaker-party on board the Polish vessel RIV NAWIGATOR XXI, moored in the vicinity of the conference hall. After the formal opening by Horst Hecht, chairman of DhyG and Julian Grant, chairman of the Hydrographic Society, the Lord Mayor of Kiel presented some facts and figures on his home town, emphasising the importance of maritime activities for the city. The keynote speech was given by the Minister of Economic Affairs of Schleswig-Holstein, who referred to the impressive figure of 5 to 6 billion Euros as the global turnover of hydrographic activities. The first invited lecture was presented by Prof. Dr Peter Eblers, Director of the Federal of Agency of Navigation and Hydrography. He drew special attention to the importance of hydrography, not only for the safety of navigation, but more and more for other marine activities such as the protection of the environment, biological, marine geodesy, etc. For more details of this very interesting presentation, reference is made to the November 2002 issue of the International Hydrographic Review, in which it will be published in full.

Sounding the Future
After the coffee break, a series of technical and scientific papers started to address the theme of the conference: ‘Sounding the future’. Many specific fields in hydrography, as well operational software and hardware development, were touched upon. It goes beyond the scope of this column to mention all the papers in detail - those interested can consult the proceedings in which almost all papers have been published in full. The proceedings are on CD-ROM, but fortunately the conference bag also contained a hard copy, which was very convenient for those having left their laptop at home.

Exhibition
The parallel exhibition was very well attended. Some 53 companies and organisations had taken stands and the layout was very convenient, enabling participants to easily visit the show during coffee breaks and lunches. The programme provided ample time to spend on the exhibition.
Some more statistics: about 300 participants, of whom over 65% were from beyond Germany. The same percentage applied to exhibitors and those who presented papers. These figures must have satisfied the organisers, as it clearly met their aim to push further the internationalisation of the German hydrographic community.

Performance of the Pilot’s Choir
The traditional conference dinner, held on Wednesday evening, is worth a special note. Ambience and food were excellent, but the outstanding finishing touch was the performance of a choir, consisting of pilots and captains their age ranging from 49 to 94 years. The programme included folk and popular sailor songs which created and supported a real ‘nautical’ atmosphere.
Premises and organisation of the entire event were near perfect and there is no doubt that HYDRO 2002 will be remembered for a long time. Hopefully, DhyG will take up the challenge again in the near future and organise, once more, a successful HYDRO.