Boatbuilding: German Navy buys new Sunbeam sailing yachts
The crew at Sunbeam dealer Mittelmann in Kappeln are exceptionally busy these days. This is because the current order for the delivery of five new Sunbeam 36.2 yachts from the shipyard involves a number of logistical tasks that do not usually arise in the private customer business. However, the customer is reliant on special approvals, as the ships are to become part of the German Navy's fleet. The navy is in the process of expanding the sailing fleet of the Mürwik Naval Academy. The existing Hanseat 70B and Nadine 24 training yachts will remain in service, meaning that the number of berths will increase by around 25 with the five Sunbeams.
"This is purely a supplementary procurement because we have received a significant increase in the number of officer candidates," said Captain Nils Brandt, who, as commander of the "Gorch Fock" and an inveterate sailor, was part of the navy team responsible for the selection. As Brandt told YACHT online, this began with an intensive market survey. "To do this, we worked with the procurement authority to draw up a specification with the requirements for a training ship for the navy." Formal criteria, such as CE seaworthiness classification in the Alpha category, safety standards for the equipment, flame resistance of the superstructure, but also very practical things were important: "For example, we didn't want any furling systems."
Four shipyards took part in the competition after the tender, two were left over and Sunbeam submitted the best offer. "We naturally set certain hurdles with our quality requirements. For example, by requiring construction supervision by Germanischer Lloyd," says Brandt. However, this was justified by the tasks at hand. The Hanseats, for example, have been in the training business for 40 years.
Sailing as a school subject
Sailing has a long tradition in officer training in almost all navies. Those responsible appreciate that the understanding of their nautical craft and the necessity of team building on board a sailing ship can also be made plausible to newcomers.
When the German Navy was founded in 1955, the desire for training yachts quickly arose. As early as 1958 and 1959, the twelve-ship "Sphinx" and "Inga", which had been built before the war, were acquired for this purpose and used as the "Ostwind" and "Westwind". In 1959, the "Gorch Fock II" was also put into service for the basic nautical training of officer cadets, which is also part of the training fleet. Today, rowing and sailing cutters, pirate dinghies, the aforementioned Nadine 24 and Hanseat 70B, and three yachts over 15 metres in size are moored in the harbour of the naval school. As the sailing training ship has been in the shipyard for a major overhaul since the end of 2015, these smaller units of the training fleet play an important role in officer training.
"In the first six months at the naval school, basic maritime and nautical training takes place, and the exercises on board are a very important part of the transition from theory to practice: chart work in the lecture theatre, implementation on the water," says Captain Brandt. "We also use sailing for supervisor training. A sailing boat is ideal for this because it can only be manoeuvred as a team."
From the Alpine Republic to the Flensburg Fjord
Sunbeam's Co-CEO Gerhard Schöchl is particularly pleased to have been awarded the contract for the "Supplementary procurement of service sailboats for nautical-seafaring training at the Mürwik Naval Academy", having prevailed against several other manufacturers: "Sunbeam Yachts was chosen because the shipyard and yachts best meet the high requirements. We are proud to have been chosen by such an experienced customer." After all, the service life was set at 30 years and, in addition to the many high requirements of the navy, a monitored and certified quality assurance system was binding, says the managing director.
Modified winner type
The eleven metre long Sunbeam 36.2 is a Georg Nissen design from 2010, which is based on the Sunbeam 34 from 2007. The Sunbeam 34 won the European Yacht of the Year title in 2008. The moderately wide boat is equipped with a single wheel, has chines and runs a conventional rig with a short overlapping genoa. Some modifications have been made for the navy. For example, the boat will not have a furling genoa but individual headsails, there will be no teak deck and no anchor windlass, cockpit table or lazy bag. In addition to the complete equipment in accordance with the requirements of the See-Berufsgenossenschaft, the order also includes the harbour trailers.
The boats stationed at the Mürwik Naval Academy in the Flensburg Fjord are due to be delivered by autumn 2020 via sales partner Mittelmann's Werft and will then become a permanent fixture on the sailing scene in northern German ports.
The shipyard's youngest yacht, Europe's Yacht of the Year 2019:
