For a long time, he only sang about the sea. Since the Musician Björn Both but fell in love with his "Capella", he goes out on the water with her every free minute. If she hadn't found him one day, he says, he would certainly be looking for "Capella" today. And yet - when he talks about the day they met for the first time, he emphasises that she took the initiative for everything that has happened since then - not the other way around. "She was lying there on the jetty in Flensburg's museum harbour, all dressed up and flagged over the tops, and she hit on me!"
That was more than six years ago. Years in which the current owner has extensively restored his ship and sailed many thousands of nautical miles. Years in which they have grown together in a way that owners and ships rarely grow together. Years that have completely changed his life and even himself, as Both says when asked what happened.
"Actually, she had already won by then!"
In retrospect, the likelihood of this actually happening was rather slim on that summer morning in 2015 when the frontman of cult band Santiano was invited to the christening of his long-time friend and fellow musician Pete Sage's second "Ragtime". "The chances of me getting up so early on a Saturday that I had to turn up at 10 a.m. in a place 120 kilometres away like Flensburg were not particularly great," says Both and laughs, but he made it. And there on the jetty was "Capella". "And then I look at her and hear a very dark voice from the companionway: 'You can buy it! That was Günthi."
Günther Wulf has been the owner of the "Capella" since 2007. The Flensburg native has been sailing since his school days, unlike Both, who spent so much of his childhood sailing along the North Sea coast on his father's boat that he knew every Frisian island by first name, but whose life as a musician later left him no opportunity to realise his dream of sailing on his own keel. "My wife was the first person on board and called me to come and have a look." He replied that he would be careful - not that he would actually end up buying the boat! But Both then gave in and climbed on board. "She had actually already won," he says looking back, not referring to his wife.
Two days later, the musician has a rehearsal in Flensburg and this time he has no problem getting up early. When he arrives at the jetty, the still waters of the Flensburg Fjord are still covered in an Indian summer morning mist. He takes some impressive photos of his new flame, which he happily takes with him to look at like a trophy.
Cape Horn has accompanied Both since the stories of his grandfather
Today, Björn Both says that it was bound to happen one day. He sits in the cockpit, has a mug of coffee in his hand, lights a cigarette with relish, looks contentedly across the deck and talks. About his youth on the west coast, for example. About his grandfather. He went to sea as a captain and could tell stories of voyages around Cape Horn. After school, Both originally wanted to emulate his father and become a marine engineer. He even completed relevant internships and trained as a mechanical engineer.
Cape Horn has accompanied the boy ever since the stories of his grandfather, who was a captain
"But the music was always there," he says and begins to talk with just as much passion about how he bought his first electric guitar with his confirmation money and hasn't been able to put the strings down since. After all, he was born into music, his grandmother was a concert pianist and his father an organist and accordionist. And Both has actually known since his first concert - which he gave spontaneously at his school's graduation ceremony - that he wanted to go on stage and make music. Above all, the training should be a safeguard. Afterwards, he worked for six months as an apprentice, but then committed himself wholeheartedly to life as a musician. That was over 30 years ago. A long time in which the longing for the sea slumbered within him.
The unquenched wanderlust for the sea remained
"No matter where I was, I was always loitering around the harbour and looking longingly at the boats," Both recalls. But back then, music and seafaring were two worlds that were not so easy for him to reconcile. "I hadn't even got my mite dry yet, I was only ever on tour, making contracts again and constantly having to come up with new ideas. It was all quite a treadmill."
And so the artist's work as a singer, guitarist and bassist, who was on the road in various bands and as a solo artist, left him no room to live his second self. What remained was an unquenched wanderlust for the sea. "I always had this dream inside me, I always wanted to go to sea!" Until one day he sang about it and was so successful that he was able to fulfil his dream.
Nobody expected it to happen like this"
Santiano, says Both, was a crazy idea. "We sang sea shanties at a party with attitude, and somehow there was something about it." Instead of a hangover, things continued the next day. Three songs were written. By the time the record company had heard the first of them - Santiano - the conversation had ended successfully and the first album was under contract. Both still assumed that it would be a nice episode, nothing more. "Nobody expected it to take off like this."
But the lyrics of freedom and expansiveness strike a chord with many people, and the mixture of folk and rock makes the whole thing catchy but tangible. Poetry that nobody has to hide and messages that come from the heart. "We always use metaphors that could describe the rules of life on board. And ones that wouldn't fit so badly on land. Where you can also orientate yourself a little," says Both. The success proves him and his band colleagues right. Their concerts have been consistently sold out for ten years and their sixth album is currently in the making.
"Capella" was the gateway to another world for Both
Today, says Both, he is able to combine his music and his time on the water. Experiencing how the two complement each other. With "Capella", therefore, more came into his life than the beautiful, classic yacht that she is to outsiders. For Björn Both, she opened the door to a whole world. A world that until then he only vaguely suspected he might be missing.
"It's not as if my life has been uninteresting so far. I've had great success with what I've always wanted to do, which has been amazing. And back then I thought to myself, what else is there to come?"
But then "Capella" actually changes hands, and together with previous owner Günthi and boatswain Jan, they set off on their first voyages across the salty waters of the western Baltic Sea. The rock musician Both, who had been singing about setting sail with his band Santiano for three years at this point, suddenly found himself standing at the main halyard and the steering wheel and was "completely blown away". When he talks about these first experiences on board today, his eyes light up and his face is one big grin: "I thought, what a waste of time these years have been!"
Both sinks into his new world with relish. He doesn't just go out on the water, he soaks it all up. He reads about the theory and practice of sailing, boat building and designers, safety and technology. He takes up the trail of his circle of friends, immerses himself in the world of classics and delves into the history of yachting. "I didn't buy a boat, I bought a whole life," he exclaims enthusiastically, looking at his counterpart with wide, shining eyes.
I didn't buy a ship, I bought a whole life"
His fascination with his new life crosses a bridge from his previous one. "There are parallels to the world of music," says Both. "There are the great works that have been carried through the centuries. And there are the old ships on which thousands of people have sailed in a hundred years and carried them through time," he says with enthusiasm in his voice. And he talks about the infatuation with these beautiful works and the passion with which people devote themselves to them, whatever the cost.
"Capella" was a lifelong dream that quickly came to an end
It will be particularly interesting for Both to take a closer look at his own ship. The 6-KR yacht designed by Anton Miglitsch and laid down by Henningsen & Steckmest in Kappeln an der Schlei in 1968 was launched in 1969 and christened "Nils Holgersson" by its first owner. He had fulfilled a lifelong dream with the sea cruiser.
The hull, built in mahogany on oak and painted white from the outset, was fitted with a superstructure made of the finest Burmateak, a stick deck made of the same precious wood and a spruce rig. Numerous owner requests prompted the old Henningsen to make changes to the construction and interior, which still set the ship apart from the seven sister ships built at the same shipyard.
After the first summer of sailing, the "Nils Holgersson" is sold for health reasons. The owner for the next 37 years was Irmgard Prätorius, a ship chandler in Kappeln. She named the yacht "Capella" after the main star in the constellation of Fuhrmann, which was extremely impressive at the time. This owes its name to Greek mythology, according to which Zeus was nourished by a goat - Capella in Latin - when he was growing up.
The name fits. Because from then on, the 6-KR yacht fuelled the sailing drive of the Prätorius family, whose children grew up on her while their sea legs grew. And three decades later, "Irmi" Prätorius is still sailing with a dedicated crew of women on voyages and regattas. Until the ship goes to Günther Wulf in Flensburg, from whom Both acquires it in 2015.
The former owner and her children enjoy being guests at Both
In Praetorius' time, "Capella" was not only known for regatta victories and a long wake, she was also one of the most outstanding pieces of jewellery in the ASC harbour, always as good as new and well maintained. And a happy ship. And when they meet in any harbour in the Baltic Sea, the former owner is now just as happy to visit Both on board as her children.
In the intervening years, says Both, "Capella" had been sailed diligently and kept in perfect technical condition. "But I quickly realised that someone really needed to step up their game again," he says, describing the situation when, after the purchase, he was briefly concerned that it might be too much of a task to manage this classic.
As luck would have it, the concerns soon disappear - like a cold front behind which the sun shines. This is because Both meets up with an old musician colleague, his neighbour at the Flensburg museum pier. Mike Pelzer and he know each other from previous festivals, quickly strike up a conversation and Both learns that Pelzer now runs a shipyard and traditional boatbuilding business here in Flensburg and restores everything made of wood.
Always do just enough to get back on the water in summer"
The new owner develops a four-year plan with Pelzer before the first winter. "The idea was to only ever do so much that we could get back on the water in the summer," says Both, explaining the plan and emphasising that it was only actually mid-June once in the four years.
The typical owner phrase is uttered: "Then I would never have done it!"
And so in the first winter, the stick deck is replaced, all the natural varnished surfaces are stripped and rebuilt, and the sails, upholstery and windows are replaced. In the second, the mast and interior fittings are removed and rebuilt, parts of the sternpost and two keel bolts are replaced. On-board outlets and valves are replaced, as are the rig wires, and a furling system, spinnaker and gennaker are fitted on board.
In winter three, the engine is due to be replaced, which entails various jobs. The freeboard is stripped, lined and repainted at the Robbe & Berking Classics shipyard. The biggest job, however, is the overhaul of the rudder system. The trained mechanical engineer takes on the job himself, doubles the cradles, turns new bronze shafts, welds cages for the deflection pulleys and installs a fixed drive for the new autopilot.
In the fourth winter, the bow and stern pulpit are rebuilt according to the owner's ideas, the cockpit is refurbished, given a new traveller beam and new locker lids. And at Robbe & Berking, the refurbishment of the outer skin, which has already been completed above water, is now also being completed in the underwater area in the same way.
"I think she was just as lucky with me as I was with her," says Both, laughing and uttering the phrase often heard from owners that he never thought about what it would cost. Because: "If I had, I would never have done it."
After working on the "Capella", the hands have to be softened again
But Both is not only making material sacrifices. He has to get his former craftsman's hands used to working with tools and materials such as wood and metal again. To ensure that they remain musicians' hands, he has to soften his fingers afterwards. He always has his little bass with him when he goes sailing for the same reason.
After the first summer with previous owner Günthi and boatman Jan, Both really tasted blood. "I'm a North Sea kid and was fascinated by the world that opened up." He enjoys the fact that there is always water when he wants to sail and always a harbour when he has had enough. "A world opened up for me and I wanted to discover it." Making distance becomes his motto, in the coming summers "Capella" never logs less than 2,000 nautical miles. Both explores the east of Sweden and leaves the ship at anchor when he has gigs coming up. He is often accompanied by friends, usually Jan. The Flensburg native came on board during Voreigner's time and has been as much a part of the ship as the mast and engine ever since.
I reached for the top shelf for everything"
He is also on board today and helps the owner to recover the furled headsail. The large genoa is to be struck and set. Both operates the halyard winch, which runs on grey Dyneema instead of wire. "I've reached into the top shelf for everything I've hauled on board here," he says, while his sturdy paws operate the crank. It's hard to imagine how they can operate a delicate musical instrument. But after the initial introductions to "Capella's" secrets, Jan has long since left the direction to his owner.
Both actually comes from the ship onto the stage - just like he sings with Santiano
This summer, he even switched - a job offer lured him onto the "Germania VI". Since then, Björn Both has travelled most of the nautical miles single-handed and is already discovering a whole new world. He is learning to adapt his sailing time to his own rhythm, experiencing the intense thrill of having all his senses challenged at the same time and therefore constantly wide awake because there is no-one around to take over a task. Both learns to appreciate harbours more than ever as a place of encounter, because at sea he is now often alone with himself and his thoughts. And he realises how much he enjoys this change, this wandering between two worlds.
Even though they are now in their seventh year together, Björn Both has by no means had enough of "Capella" and the new worlds into which it constantly whisks him away. Anyone who asks him whether it influences his music that he is now actually setting sail himself, he replies without giving it much thought that it mainly helps him as a person. "Who I am in music too. Sailing has given me a whole new sense of calm. I no longer allow myself to be shaken to my foundations. Sailing has already done that."
Both has now steered "Capella" out of the harbour and set sail. A light north-westerly breeze allows the ship, which displaces seven tonnes, to effortlessly reach its hull speed. The owner stands happily at the wheel and squints into the main.
Of course, says Björn Both, there are now also lines in his lyrics that can only be written down by someone who regularly gets salt water on their face. "But above all, it's just a damn good feeling when I moor up in Sweden and drive home because a concert is coming up and I'm really getting off the ship and onto the stage. The floor is swaying, I'm still on board in my mind and I'm giving a concert in front of 10,000 people in this state. And I sing about exactly what I'm feeling! It all feels really real to me then! And then sometimes I'm almost ashamed of this happiness."
Capella" technical data
The 6-KR yacht was built by Henningsen & Steckmest as one of 14 sister ships based on a crack by Anton Miglitsch. Each of the ships is unique; only the first two were built by the boatbuilders Jörn Henningsen and Franz Steckmest according to the crack. On "Capella", ex-"Nils Holgersson", the draught and freeboard were increased, the transom was positioned more vertically and the superstructure was flattened. There are no drawings for this.
- Design engineer: Anton Miglitsch
- Building yard:Henningsen & Steckmest
- Year of construction: 1968/69
- Construction number: 33
- Hull:Mahogany on oak
- Structure and deck: Teak
- Rig:Spruce
- Sail number: G 6/550
- Length over everything:10,77 m
- Waterline length: 7,89 m
- Width: 3,03 m
- Depth:1,60 m
- Displacement: 8 t
- sail area: 51.0 sqm
- Measuring: 6.35 KR
- Motor: Nanni diesel, 30 hp
This is Björn Both
Born in Husum in 1965, Both grew up in a family with both seafaring and music in their blood. As a boy, he got to know the west coast on his father's boats. He has been playing guitar and bass ever since. After leaving school, music became his profession and Both has been firmly at home in the North German music scene ever since. Since 2011, the band Santiano, with colleagues Peter Sage, Hans-Timm Hinrichsen, Axel Stosberg, Andreas Fahnert and himself as frontman, has consistently reached the top of the German-language charts.
This article first appeared in YACHT classic
