"I immediately fell in love with this story," says Berlin-based photographer Hardy Berthold, describing the moment in December 2019 when master boat builder Jens-Peter Weiß told him that he was going to build the Zeesboot FZ 54 "Romantik" will be reconstructed. "A shipyard seven kilometres from the water naturally aroused my curiosity," recalls Berthold. "After all, she's a bit strange on dry land like that."
The owner of the "Romantik" is Rika Harder. Her Zeesboot was built in 1929 at the Carl Holzerland junior boatyard in Barth: made of oak, carvel-planked, as a pointed lattice with a convex stem. The hull measures 11.03 metres between the stems. The ketch is 3.55 metres wide and has a draught of 95 centimetres when the centreboard is raised.
From sailing fisherman to passenger ship and traditional sailing vessel
First owner Willi Grählert used the boat with the fishing number BOD. 10, later PRU. 6, for fishing until 1974. Then, as the last Zeesen fisherman, he hung up the sack-shaped net, which is used to fish drifting across the wind. The shipping company Käpp'n Brass used the boat as a passenger ship from the Alter Strom in Warnemünde until 1981 under the name P-903 "Käpt'n Brass". First as a fishing boat again, then as a pure pleasure craft, owner Frank Müller turned it into the traditional sailing boat FZ 54 "Olle" in 1987. After being sold to the current owner Rika Harder in 2012, FZ 54 is now called "Romanticism".
In winter 2019/20, the story of the total refurbishment of the hull begins. As its general overhaul in Wustrow in the 1990s was not carried out properly, boat builder Jens-Peter Weiß will have to replace the old parts step by step and replace them with new ones. This is the only way he can restore the original shape.
Project develops into a real love affair
Photographer Hardy Berthold decides to document this extensive work. In January 2020, he travelled to the shipyard for the first time to take photographs. There were 14 visits in total. "It was always at least a full working day, but sometimes I stayed for two or three days. The refurbishment was actually supposed to take four months, but things like that rarely work out as quickly as initially thought." The photo project can actually develop into "a real love affair" over a year and a half, Berthold explains. He converts his digital photos into black and white images on his computer at home. "It was clear to me from the start that they had to be black and white photos. It just suits the theme and the aesthetics of the shipyard so well."
Berthold was a lecturer at a photography school for a long time. In 2011, he ventured into freelance photography. In addition to industry and events, he photographs architecture for a location agency and regularly takes photos for tourism marketing. His clients are mainly cities in southern Brandenburg. Around ten years ago, the Berliner got to know the Zeesboote in Western Pomerania. "I used to go sailing with friends in Berlin. As most of them are regatta sailors, one day they took me along to a Zeesboot regatta." With every additional participation, the contacts in the scene increase and become more intensive.
Zeesboot reconstruction: classic craftsmanship
At the shipyard of master boat builder Jens-Peter Weiß, classic wooden boat building is still practised today. In addition to restorations, new boats are also regularly built here according to traditional models or new constructions according to the owner's wishes.
He is in regular telephone contact with master boat builder Jens-Peter Weiß during the one-and-a-half-year reconstruction of the "Romantik". This allows them to coordinate when photography is particularly worthwhile again. "We had wonderful conversations during each visit, during which I learnt a lot of new things. Terms like 'aufpallen' or 'straken', for example," says Berthold.
Jens-Peter Weiß has to replace the sterns and all the frames and re-plank the entire hull. "If you store the boat in winter, it gives way in the bracing when the wood softens. The boat gets dents or a frame gives way. The ship then sags at some point, the lowest point is no longer amidships, but at the sterns. They hang lower and the top of the deck gets a cat hump," explains Weiß.
Five oak trunks for "Romanticism"
He sees it as his job to ensure that the entire boat is once again reasonably strong. "The nice thing about completely restoring a hull like this is that you can also eradicate the old faults straight away." "The curves and lines on a boat like this are purely organic. It's incredible how precisely Jens-Peter works," says photographer Berthold. "He notes down any numbers, saws a plank to size and makes it pliable with hot steam. Then it is fitted into place and literally sucks itself into the intended position as if it had always belonged there. Really impressive."
"The dimensions of the next planks are determined using the 'embroidery bar' (Ree,Editor's note)is determined and noted on it. The sawn oak planks are then cooked in a steam box for an hour. Water vapour has a temperature of 100 degrees and the planks are cooked through and through. Then it's off to the boat on the double. The clamp is attached at the front, and the next person has to push the plank around with it," explains Weiß.
The boat builder procured five oak trunks for the "Romantik", four of which are completely finished. The plank seams are calendered with cotton and then sealed with sealant. The boat is painted with a mixture of linseed oil and varnish, in which the proportion of linseed oil is reduced with each coat. "Every two years, the varnished surfaces are then sanded again and given two new coats of varnish."
Owner is impressed by her "new" Zeesboot
The new deck that Weiß is laying is made of softwood, as is usual for the Zeesboote, which is otherwise almost exclusively made of oak. Jens-Peter Weiß trained as a boat builder back in the GDR era. After reunification, he became a master craftsman and received his first order for a new build at the age of 24. He rented a former LPG tractor shed in his home town of Bartelshagen II and got started. He still works here today, building new boats and repairing old ones. The boats come in and out of the water in Barth on the Barther Bodden.
In May 2021, the 9.7-tonne, newly built Zeesboot will also return to its element here. Owner Rika Harder is delighted with the result of the reconstruction and calls it stunning. The flowing lines are a testament to the beautiful craftsmanship that shows Jens-Peter Weiß to be a truly gifted "boatbuilding artist".
Documentary film shows the boat work
After initial scepticism about the photo documentation, he and photographer Hardy Berthold grew closer and closer as the project progressed. The growing trust allowed a "very personal, close story" to emerge. The photographer can well imagine his aesthetic photographs as an outdoor exhibition. The best motifs could be presented on large panels and an additional collage could show many other motifs from the renovation. Berthold is keeping an eye out for where his black and white images of the reconstruction could fit in well: perhaps in the harbours during the Zeesboot regattas.
Hardy Berthold has also created a multimedia documentary from his pictures and sound bites from the boat builder. The 17-minute film allows the viewer to participate in the boat work in a very lively way. Negotiations are underway to show the film at the Darß Museum in Prerow in the future. So that the wonderful craftsmanship of a typical Pomeranian Zees boat made of oak can be seen there too.
Traditional sailing boat Zeesboot
Named after the fishing gear, the Zeese, these vessels are still contemporary witnesses of sail fishing today. As stable centreboard boats, the Zeesboote were ideal for shallow waters and were used for fishing throughout the Bodden waters.
Zeesboot 54 FZ"Romanticism"
The ship is based in Krummin, in the north-west of the island of Usedom on the Peene River. It was built in 1929 from oak, planked with carvel at the Carl Holzerland junior boatyard in Barth. First owner Willi Grählert used the boat with the fishing number BOD. 10, later PRU. 6, for fishing until 1974.
