Interview: Happy ending after a two-year search - capsized sailing boat recovered
Have you never thought about giving up?
No! I'm not giving up! Not on principle! For one thing, I was a professional soldier in the NVA, and for another, I escaped from the GDR twice. The first time they caught me and I had to go to prison. Despite this terrible setback, I tried again and eventually made it to freedom with a special ladder I built myself. With time, there is a solution to every problem. I already knew how to lift the boat, I just had to find it.
But why does it take two years to find a boat in a relatively small lake?
I knew exactly which section the boat must be in, but I couldn't see anything in the dark water. With the help of an echo sounder and an anchor hanging from a rope, I kept fishing for the mast in the hope that the anchor and mast would get snagged. I even found it twice and marked it with a plastic bottle. Both times, however, the line was cut because someone probably thought there was something useful hanging there. So I had to start all over again each time. I also kept getting confused because my depth sounder showed a second boat that was a good 20 metres away from mine - a canoe that had sunk in the lake a few years earlier.
Didn't your friends and acquaintances think you were crazy?
No, for a very long time nobody knew that I had drowned there because I was simply too embarrassed. I carried out my search mission in complete secrecy and only asked for help from friends as late as possible.
How did your sailing boat end up going deep?
I was sailing on our lake with my girlfriend and her brother. He kept pushing me to steer until I finally let him take the tiller and went forwards to cast off the lines. Then a gust came in, the boat capsized and we all ended up in the water. When we tried to right the boat, it completely filled up and sank. The top priority was then to pull the two of them to shore alive, which was a tough job. Fortunately, I had trained on this lake for my escape attempt and was therefore very familiar with the conditions.
How were you able to salvage your boat?
I installed a special lifting device on two rowing boats using building blocks and a chain hoist. We spent two days righting the boat piece by piece and lifting it with the help of air hoses. Then we towed it into the shallow water on the shore. We returned home exhausted at 11 p.m. and the next morning a large-scale operation was immediately triggered as walkers discovered the boat and feared the worst. The whole story blew up and ended up in the daily newspaper.
Will you ever hand over the tiller again when your sailing boat is ready to sail again?
No, I will definitely not repeat this mistake.
About Jürgen Tobien
The former NVA demolition expert has been sailing on Lake Groß-Wariner in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern since his childhood. After fleeing to the West, he came back to sail and set up a sailing club for young people
