It's eight o'clock in the morning. Half covered by a tarpaulin, "Gloria" lies in the Strander harbour on the Kiel Fjord, as if hiding from prying eyes. The owner, Peter Kohlhoff, comes cycling along the jetty on an old Dutch bike. "Moin, a coffee and a chat first? We have to wait for my wife anyway." With this greeting, we board the boat. "No, this isn't a Nissen construction. That's what many people think, but the crack comes from Horst Stichnoth," explains Kohlhoff.
On board, the impression of having landed on an oversized dinghy cruiser is reinforced. Not only the tidy deck layout without halyard swivels ("They only create friction, and you usually have to go forwards when manoeuvring"), but also the huge cockpit with its curved tiller, which extends all the way to the stern, are strongly reminiscent of a 25er.
Below deck, "Gloria" remains true to the purist Jolli style. The saloon is dominated by a massive table, but the expected centreboard box is not hidden underneath; instead, the engine and batteries are positioned directly above the keel to save weight and in the centre. The sparse interior fittings are also fitting: frames, deck beams and beam walkways are exposed, "this saves weight and looks more honest," says Kohlhoff, justifying the lack of bulkheads and any kind of panelling.
The Kohler rig provides plenty of sailing horsepower
The open design is made possible by the fact that the hull is not given its strength by bulkheads, as is the case with a plastic boat, but rather by the solid, 40-centimetre-wide Kambala keelson and the countless glued and closely spaced oak frames, floor frames and the strong beam walkers.
The icing on the cake in terms of strength is the double Karweel planking made of ten millimetre thick Khaya mahogany. As the planks are glued with epoxy resin, the hull practically does not work. Kohlhoff: "Apart from the annual paint job, 'Gloria' is as low-maintenance and dry as a modern plastic yacht." The fact that some water is still sloshing around in the bilge when you look under the floorboards is probably due to the recently renewed mast seal - and is noticeably unpleasant for Kohlhoff: "That must be fresh water, I find a wet bilge completely unacceptable."
Plank for plank
Classic wooden boat building means, above all, many frames; "Gloria" has more than 46 of the moulding transverse stiffeners. The Wegmann shipyard first laminated the oak frames twice as wide as necessary and then sawed them through lengthwise. This saves work during mould construction and results in a symmetrical hull. In addition, solid floor beams and the wide keel made of Kambala teak ensure stability. To avoid excessive tension in the wood, the 20 millimetre thick outer skin consists of two layers.
Another detail ensures maximum strength. Even the teak deck contributes, because the joints are not made of permanently elastic casting compound as usual, but of epoxy resin coloured black with graphite. The modern rig was only possible thanks to the rigid hull, as the configuration with the swept spreaders requires high shroud tension. The stainless steel beams are correspondingly massive. "The lee shrouds never come loose, even in strong winds, and nothing creaks when sailing," Kohlhoff enthuses about the durable construction.
Below deck, you travel back in time, but there's no sign of high-tech here
At first glance, "Gloria" appears very spacious down below. However, this is quickly put into perspective, because apart from the separate forecastle and a small washroom with toilet, she offers very little living space by today's standards. Optimising usability was more important to Kohlhoff than a huge amount of space. Instead of squeezing a cramped aft cabin into the flat hull, he favoured a spacious, seaworthy dog bunk. The rest of the aft section remains empty and serves as storage space. However, the long saloon berths can be enlarged to an impressive width if required.
On the technical side, the philosophy is similar. Only the bare essentials such as heating and autopilot have been installed. There is no pressurised hot water or other comfort features, or they are integrated in such a way that the classic appearance does not suffer. The on-board electronics, for example, only become visible shortly before setting sail, while the switch panel and plotter are hidden behind the mahogany sliding door of the navigation app.
The catalyst for the creation of "Gloria" was the launch of his father Utz Kohlhoff's "Seewolf". An even more radical Stichnoth rig, optimised for the East Frisian Wadden waters, with water ballast, a swivel keel with a depth of up to 3.20 metres and a swivelling gennaker pole.
Peter Kohlhoff liked the new build so much that he jokingly remarked: "I'd like to have a boat just like that one day." Master boat builder Ludger Wegmann took him seriously and explained that he did not yet have a follow-up order and could start immediately. The moulds were already in place. "We had just bought a house, so a new boat wasn't really on the cards," recalls Kohlhoff. Wegmann, an old friend of the designer and passionate boat builder, found a solution in view of his new customer's tight financial situation: he would only ever pay for what was finished. What's more, the future owner himself was to be involved: the labour-intensive paintwork and fittings were Kohlhoff's private pleasure. It took the small shipyard in Weyhe-Dreye, Lower Saxony, and the owner three years to complete "Gloria".
Owner's position as a wholesaler of yacht accessories is an advantage during construction
"The finish may not be as perfect as a boat from the Martin shipyard on Lake Constance, but the price and craftsmanship are just right," says the owner. It is hardly surprising that Wegmann's timber construction can easily keep up with high-end shipyards - after all, master craftsman Wegmann learnt his trade at the de Dood shipyard in Bremen. Many details, such as the angle of inclination of the superstructure, were taken directly from the yachts of his old employer.
Kohlhoff benefited from his position as an importer and wholesaler of yacht accessories when purchasing fittings and rigging, but "Gloria" was still not a really cheap boat. "If you add everything up over the years, it was probably around 400,000 euros," he summarises the construction costs. However, the Hall-Spars mast, which weighs just 80 kilograms, and the 3DL sails from North account for over 75,000 euros.
Even if the high-tech equipment suggests otherwise, "Gloria" is used almost exclusively for cruising, with a few exceptions such as the odd Wednesday regatta or the Doublehand Challenge. As if to emphasise the family boat character, owner's wife Melanie also brings the youngest addition to the family on board. While father Kohlhoff tethers eight-month-old Emma in her baby cot under the saloon ceiling, we get the boat ready for sea(Editor's note: This article first appeared in YACHT 16/2008). It is always noticeable that two worlds collide here, on the one hand the classic wooden boat construction with solid brass fittings and on the other hand weight-saving high-tech materials in the rigging.
For example, the jib does not slide on the PBO forestay with conventional brass hooks, but is attached with stays made of tiny rope shackles: "Although they cannot be changed as quickly as conventional metal hooks, they save 20 to 25 kilos in the rig compared to a furling system, and you can simply drop the sail onto the deck with a shove for recovery."
However, ultra-light Dyneema shackles and slings are also used in other areas wherever possible, all products from the company's own range. The "Gloria" is Kohlhoff's floating showroom and test laboratory in one: "Only when you try things out yourself do you realise what works and where there is still room for improvement."
A YACHT test would give top marks for sailing
How far this process has already progressed becomes clear when sailing. Fogging arrangement, trim and rudder feel - a YACHT test would give them top marks. However: five knots of speed in 13 knots of wind - we would have expected more. "You need to speed up for a moment," is the comment from the owner. In other words, fall away until the leeward lines of the jib blow off. At first a little stubborn with clear rudder pressure, then "Gloria" picks up speed more and more light-footedly. At just over seven knots, the tip comes: "You can pull up again until the lines are clean." It works: the same height as before, but a whopping two knots more speed.
The fact that expectations are so high is due to the external appearance of the almost twelve metre long yacht. The carbon fibre rigging, the finest fittings and a textile forestay on a wooden boat are unusual enough, especially when we are talking about a dedicated touring boat.
The fact that the lines also look like an oversized dinghy cruiser clearly sets "Gloria" apart from the increasingly fashionable retro single-deckers. The only thing that takes a bit of getting used to is the necessary "gybing" upwind. If it is simply luffed up, "Gloria" doesn't really get going. It is all the more astonishing how fast and high she can be sailed once she has been accelerated. Sitting on the side deck with the tiller jib and traveller sheet in hand, the feeling of sailing a dinghy cruiser quickly creeps back in. "Gloria" is correspondingly communicative on the edge of the wind, unfortunately often only until the next big wave. This is because swell and swell don't particularly suit the dinghy hull, at least not when it comes from the front in light winds. "In a swell, it bangs quite a lot at the front," agrees Kohlhoff. In the current conditions, a quick "speeding up" helps and the fun of sailing is restored.
As elegant and delicate as the varnished mahogany may appear, "Gloria" is not an exhibit, but is sailed intensively. She logs around 3,500 miles per season, which is naturally favoured by her high speed. "We are about as fast as an IMX 45."
Shortly before surfing
The boat owes us the proof today due to a lack of competition. "One more stroke and we can run back into the fjord with the bubble," Kohlhoff announces the use of the large gennaker, visibly looking forward to the passage. Although only 7/8-rigged, "Gloria's" rig is designed to carry the 185 square metres of the huge downwind sail even without additional stays at the top. If it blows stronger, however, only the 130 square metre 7/8 gennaker can be used. "I should have let the shrouds run all the way up, then we could also set a code zero at the top of the mast in light winds to maximise speed upwind." In view of the fact that we are more than doubling the sail area, the owner advises caution: "The rudder is a bit short, so it can get dicey downwind."
As soon as the colourful cloth is up, "Gloria" shows her best side again. Now the flat underwater hull and wide stern pay off. At speeds of up to 9.5 knots, she rushes dutifully towards the inner fjord, with no sign of stalling. Instead, every little push and every wave makes itself felt: "One more little tick and I'll be surfing away," she seems to say.
Looking at the log is irrelevant, the speed pulses are so clear. It's a shame that we don't have a few knots more wind. But it's not just the speed that's fun, it's also the easy handling - there's little sign of the boat's twelve metre length and enormous sail area. "'Gloria' sails like a big little boat," Kohlhoff describes the effect.
Technical data of the "Gloria"
- Design:Horst Stichnoth
- Shipyard:L. Wegmann
- Lüa:11,99 m
- Width:3,85 m
- Depth:2,45 m
- Displacement:6,7 t
- Ballast (water):2,0 t
- Large:60 m²
- Fock:31 m²
- Gennaker:185 m²
This article first appeared in YACHT 16/2008 and has been updated for this online version.
