For decades, the largest contiguous fleet of 40 Square Metre Boats has been sailing on Lake Starnberg. An afternoon aboard Aphrodite, one of the latest examples launched by Munich boat builder Helmut Fischer, explains why.
Bavarian singer-songwriter and cabaret artist Georg Ringsgwandl once named ‘watching television, drinking and playing golf’ as the Germans’ favourite leisure activity. It would be sad if Ringsgwandl is right. Because watching television and drinking in high doses makes stupid and heavy, definitely in its synchronised use.
Perhaps stranger than the pastime of playing golf is the sedentary sport of sailing. Further, it used to involve high levels of boozing. For generations, sailing, and alcohol were two sides of the same coin. There is the departure beer, the 11 o’clock beer, the high-proof mizzen sheeting-in sip, the berthing beer and later the so-called sherry time. In the evening, it’s time to say cheers (in German ‘Prosit’) aboard. In Berlin, there is a prominent yacht called ‘Prosit IV’.
However, there is a more enjoyable and healthier drug, sailing Square Metre Boats. In contrast to the ubiquitous wide bodied and heavy vessel, they are so light and long that they do not stand around miserably in little to no wind. Thus, they are so enjoyable that beer, wine, or high percentage spirits can stay ashore.
When a third of the boat hovers above the lake
A while ago, I went to visit the boat builder Helmut Fischer. His main job is making typical Bavarian dining tables in Munich-Trudering. You know, those solid wood benches made from local pine with hearts in the backrest. As a sideline, the quiet craftsman put four thousand after work hours to build a 40 m2 Skerry Cruiser on his own and then because it was so nice, in 2007-9 a second one called Freya with the sail number 56. This replica of the Estlander design from the 1920s is 14.83 m long and 1.77 m wide. We had arranged to go sailing on Lake Starnberg, where Fischer’s first boat named Aphrodite was moored.
Aphrodite moored at Possenhofen/Lake Starnberg – Photo Helmut Fischer
Having travelled all the way from the windy north to beautiful Possenhofen, where Lake Starnberg lived up to its reputation. There was no wind and little hope for a breeze. Barely a wave marred the sight of Aphrodite, who nearly appeared twice on the mirror of the water. On the way to Bavaria, I found the boat’s name a little exaggerated. Here on the lake, it seemed appropriate. With her bow and stern stretched well out over the lake, Fischer’s forty seemed to hover more than float.
Elegant ambassador from another world
When the Fischer and I moved from shore in his little rowing boat, I was already perched on the back seat. With the appealing proportions of the hull protruding just 1’7 (0.48 m) above the lake, the small cabin under the filigree whipped mast, she seemed like an elegant ambassador from another world.
Unimpressed by the unmistakable calm, Fischer threaded the mainsail into the track of the honey-yellow spruce mast, pulled it up, unfurled the headsail and pushed the bow off the buoy. The other boats stood around covered like sleeping seagulls at the buoys. We stood there too. When I had a closer look at the green water, I spotted a few algae drifting gently past the mahogany planks. Fischer was not yet talking about ‘wind’ or ‘sailing’. The sporty Bavarian is rather a man of action than words anyway. Amazingly, the boat was already steerable. Sailors, like anglers, are relentless optimists. Meanwhile, I enjoyed the atmosphere of Lake Starnberg, where the rural landscape blends harmoniously with the exclusive suburban life of Munich.
The wide transom is a trademark of Estlanders 40 m2 designs – Photo Helmut Fischer
Addicted to the 40 m2 Skerry Cruiser
Fischer, who as a teenager went from his parents’ caravan to sailing on the lake, made “the wonderful mistake” of sailing a vintage 40 m2 Skerry Cruiser in the 1990s. “I was simply drawn to the class,” Fischer says, describing his thin-rigged destiny. He completed it by building Aphrodite himself between 2002 and 2005, from initially shaping templates, construction of the keel and rigging, all the way up to all the stainless-steel fittings.
For some months, the trained master carpenter and kitchen builder worked more than 280 hours. Aphrodite is a new build of the Gustaf Estlanders 40 m2 Skerry Cruiser named Hagen, with sail number 33. In the 1920s, the Class was called “Rennkreuzer” in the German Reich. At that time, an astounding fleet of 48 boats were built in just five years.
Fischer’s boat was the first launch of the class in 80 years. Compared to the traditionally planked, used for decades, often inconsistently maintained, and unfortunately even tinkered with or neglected classics, with the corresponding repair costs, Aphrodite is a low-maintenance boat thanks to its epoxy resin-sealed construction. What you need to do is regularly sanding the surface and give the chestnut-brown mahogany the next coat of marine varnish. Then it looks like a piece of floating sea furniture.
Sailing like in the 1920s
Suddenly, the water began to ripple somewhere on the port side. And not from a school of fish coming from the middle of the lake toward Rose Island near Possenhofen. Apparently, it was wind. Fischer said nothing. He didn’t even offer any steering tips, something boat owners never manage. Routinely, he adjusted the gap between the foresail and mainsail, as if such phenomenal breezes were as common here as the surrounding land was Catholic. So the sailing frenzy began.
Audible from the open cabin, the water murmured along the hull. With the tiller gently pushed aside, I guided the slender planks closer to the ripples. The speed increased from a lively, eager, even hasty, lapping past to a delicious sloshing and hissing. The initially indecisive wind of 0.5 to 1 Beaufort grew to a solid 1 1/2.
As in the nearly forgotten days of dinghy sailing, I sat happily on the windward side of the boat, playing with the mainsheet car and the sheet, enjoying the fine tuned adjustments of he sails. It was smashing to guide the gleaming mahogany projectile through the northeast breeze. A wonderful harmony between wind and water developed, the prerequisites for which, of course, were just as much waiting for the breeze as this toy. Aphrodite sailed upwind with a sensational height. Fischer and I said nothing, simply enjoying this sailing festival aboard the light air windmill.
All the boats I’ve sailed, old or new, small or large, seemed like crude, unfinished creations compared to this one. Even compared to my proudly owned Swede 55. In just a breath of wind, 3 tons driven by actually 55 m², is an entirely different story than a 8.5 tons driven by 74 m². It’s simple physics, expressed in a sail to weight ratio of 5.1 instead of 4.2. Added to that is the small wetted area. The endless hovering overhangs touch the lake as the speed increases.
Aphrodite close hauled on Lage Starnberg – Photo Helmut Fischer
Except for an IACC-America’s Cupper from the 1990s, which I once had the pleasure of chasing across the Ligurian Sea in similar conditions. That was a similar story. So we whizzed through sailing’s Elysium to Leoni: Aphrodite, the owner, and I from windy Hamburg. The votive chapel peeked through the green of the afternoon sun. I’ll never forget those wonderful hours on the windward course.
They are no ducks
Later, on another occasion, I met the class leader, Dr. Stefan Frauendorfer in Tutzing. When I told him about my experience with the 40s, he said laconically: “Well, they are no ducks.” As an expert and temporary owner of two classic 40s, he was familiar with the pleasure.
So if you live near this beautiful stretch of water, rarely blessed by wind, then listen to the Ringsgwandel and me. For the reasons stated above and for heaven’s sake, grant yourself such a slim boat with a length-to-beam ratio of 8:1 instead of one of the usual wide bodied ones.
If you don’t have one yet and are interested in sensitive sailing pleasure, then talk to Fischer. He has been a master boat builder since 2007 and will continue to craft Bavarian dining corners with hearts in the backrest until he can again deliver a Estlander designed Skerry Cruiser.
47 feet length to 5’3 beam
Construction
2002-5
Design
Gustaf A. Estlander 1923
Replica of G 33 Hagen
Papst Werft Berlin-Köpenick
Built according to the second revision of the Skerry Cruiser Rule 1920
