Der Drachen

Back in February, fantasizing about spending more time in Germany, S perused ads for used sailboats in the Fünfseenland (Five Lakes Region) near Steinebach. To be clear, I myself do not fantasize about sailing, ever, but S's parents met at a sailing club and spent summers sailing in Greece and Italy, and S himself grew up sailing with his parents and eventually had a boat of his own that he sailed on the Ammersee, and he's continued to sail for as long as I've known him, so it makes sense that S fantasizes about it.  

The life preserver from the Jorinde, a Drachen S's parents sold ca. 1965

One of the boats his parents owned was a ca. 1938 Drachen. The boat design dates from 1929 in Norway. These sailboats are still built today, although the all-wood design was modified in 1973 with the addition of fiberglass.

One of the boats S found listed for sail was a Drachen, located one village to the northeast of Steinebach in Weßling.

He thought: "hm, didn't Dati sell his boat to someone in Weßling? I wonder if it's the same boat." 

He sent the ad to his older brother, who also grew up sailing, and asked: "what do you think, could this be the same boat?"

His brother didn't reply, but S's nephew did: "Should we buy it?" 

S's nephew did not grow up sailing, but he values family lore. S advised against buying it, given the amount of work it would probably take to fix it up.

The next day, his brother sent a message: "We bought it."

And wouldn't you know, it's the boat S's father sold to the seller's uncle some 60+ years ago.

When we were in Germany over spring break, S and I walked to Weßling to see the boat and to talk with the seller, who was equally delighted that the boat was once again exchanging generational hands.

The Drachen will indeed need much work before it's again lake-worthy, but as S has said for as long as I've known him, "half the fun of owning a boat is fixing it up."

Visiting the boat in Weßling

I was delighted to observe that the uncle is the owner of this mailbox, which I first photographed in 2012. 

As the Jorinde life preserver at the top of this post indicates, S's family held onto to assorted sailing memorabilia. R conveniently has a letter from the Herrsching am Ammersee sailing club, written in  1974, promising him club membership if he ever wanted to return. Of course, it's unlikely that anyone at the sailing club today remembers the family, or even recognizes the official club stationary, but how nice not to need an introduction.

Meanwhile, S had the key to the sailing club door. The locks have probably been changed in the intervening decades.

After T bought the bought, S located the cap'n's hat in a storage closet. It was too small for both R and T, so it probably belonged to Helen rather than Dati.

Who will repair the boat? Will it ever sail again in the Ammersee or beyond? Tune in in another decade to find out!