Association of yacht teams in Eckernförde
The association of yacht teams in Eckernförde was founded in 1906 to place fishermen as yacht sailors on the large yachts of the time.
On 10 November 1906 18 fishermen founded Eckernförde under the direction of fisherman Heinrich Prüß in the local "Ostseehalle" in Eckernförde (Jungfernstieg / corner Tatenberg) by accepting the statutes (statute) the club . According to § 1, the togetherness of the members is to be cultivated and consolidated, the members are to be provided with positions on sailing yachts and the members are to be supported to the best of their ability.
Task of the association
The task of the association was the placement of fishermen as yacht sailors on the large yachts of the time. It thus served as a job exchange . The association negotiated the wages , food, accommodation and clothing of the men. For the job as a yacht seaman, the applicant had to meet special requirements. He had to be strong, agile, well educated and a good sailor . The association had three witnesses confirm that it had gained seafaring experience as a fisherman. If there were complaints, the club member had to expect punitive measures such as fines or the suspension of a chance calculation. The admission fee at that time was 1 Reichsmark (RM) and the monthly fee was 0.50 RM.
Creation of the association
The development goes back to the need for suitable teams on the large sailing yachts at the beginning of the 20th century, with which their owners wanted to sail ambitiously in regattas . The sailing yachts Meteor I – V of the German Emperor Wilhelm II should be mentioned here in particular .
In order to be able to operate these yachts with a length of 50 meters and a sail area of around 1000 square meters, a crew of around 32 was required. The first Meteor and its successor consisted only of English sailors, as the yachts were built in Scotland . The third Meteor was built in New York , but sailed with a German crew. In the course of national self-reflection, the fourth yacht of the same name was built at the Germania shipyard in Kiel and sailed with a purely German crew. In this way, Kaiser Wilhelm II was able to meet his claim "German from Kiel to the flag button" .
The fact that the Eckernförde fishermen joined forces to form the yacht team association is due to the fishing season in Eckernförde Bay , which lasted from September to May depending on the spawning behavior of the cod and herring . In the summer only small-scale fishing with set nets was carried out. The majority of fishermen were therefore unemployed in the summer months.
So they had time to use their seafaring skills, which they had acquired on the sailing fishing boats in the harsh winter, on the large yachts. The association specifically addressed the nearby yacht clubs in Kiel and on the Baltic Sea. Regatta successes soon followed, as the Eckernförde yacht sailors were faster than other sailors in their sailing maneuvers. The word got around among the ambitious owners of large yachts such as Meteor , Germania , Nordstern (ex Meteor III ), Hamburg .
The fishermen earned well as yachtsmen and traveled a lot in the world. Some of them were able to use the wages saved to finance their attendance at the navigation school and later make a career as a captain . The crew hired some yacht owners all year round. She then stayed on board the entire time and had to look after the ship and sometimes the summer houses of the ship owners, cook food and carry out butler activities. Occasionally the wives were hired. High demands were placed on the sailors on the ocean-going yachts. Some yachts got caught in storms and heavy seas during an Atlantic crossing in the Mediterranean. The motto of the Eckernförde yacht sailors In storms and weather, God is our savior testifies to the struggle with the forces of the sea.
Development of the association
The association had its heyday before the First World War and from around 1923 to the beginning of the Second World War with 128 male members, around 30 were employed overseas. During the two world wars the club life was idle. After the Second World War, the need for good yacht sailors declined because the sporty owners sailed on their now smaller and technically better equipped yachts themselves or with a small crew from among friends.
As of 2018, the Eckernförde Yacht Team Association had 66 members, including three women. They are no longer employed on large sailing ships, but some are themselves active as skippers on their private sailing boats. The club has transformed into a traditional club.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Lorenz Marckwardt sen and jun., Captain Otto Graf: Association of yacht teams in Eckernförde (founded 1906) (= information publication Museum Eckernförde ). 1999.
- ^ Klaus Kramer: Max Oertz. Genius, yacht designer, aeronaut and inventor (= series of publications on the history of yachts and shipping ). 1st edition. Klaus Kramer Verlag, 2001, ISBN 978-3-9805874-3-3 , p. 38 ff .
- ↑ Michael Krieg: The Emperor's Yacht Sailors. In: floatmagazin.de. float, May 2, 2018, accessed January 11, 2020 .
- ↑ Eckernförde yacht teams are at home on all seas. In: www.shz.de. Eckernförder Zeitung, February 18, 2014, accessed on January 11, 2020 .
- ↑ Where fishermen are sailors. In: www.shz.de. Eckernförder Zeitung, February 6, 2018, accessed on January 11, 2020 .