100 years at the gateway to the world: The Cuxhaven Sailing Association celebrates with a large flotilla
Ursula Meer
· 28.05.2026
The Cuxhaven Sailing Association is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a three-day festival from 29 to 31 May. The highlight will be a spectacular flotilla parade on the Elbe on Saturday at 1 pm: 52 boats will be flying their top-sail flags and will sail in formation for two kilometres against the tide towards the marina – a maritime spectacle that can be best viewed from the Alte Liebe. What began in 1926 with 15 enthusiastic sailors is now Germany’s gateway to the world for anyone looking for more than just a Sunday sail.
52 boats in formation off the Alte Liebe
On Saturday afternoon, a sight rarely seen in Cuxhaven will unfold: 52 boats, all flying their flags at the top of their masts, will form a two-kilometre-long flotilla in the Amerika-Hafen and then sail deliberately slowly against the tide back to the marina. The parade begins at 1 pm and can be viewed perfectly from the Alte Liebe – a spectacle not only for club members, but for all Cuxhaven residents and visitors who appreciate maritime tradition.
After the parade, once all 52 boats have moored again, the model boat regatta will start at 3 pm in the harbour basin. A tugboat sounds a mighty foghorn to signal the start, and then the little boats set course for the clubhouse – a sight that can be clearly seen from the shore, where spectators can stand shoulder to shoulder. The model boat group, which has been active in the club since the 1950s, demonstrates that sailing is a great source of enjoyment even on a small scale.
Home port of legends
The list of those who set out on great voyages from Cuxhaven, or who felt solid ground beneath their feet here again after a long time at sea, reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of German sailing history. In 1927, Captain Carl Kircheiß sailed into Cuxhaven aboard his ten-metre-long cutter ‘Hamburg’ after 30,000 nautical miles and two years at sea – the first circumnavigation of the globe by a German after the First World War. He had rounded Cape Horn, sailed through typhoons and called at South Sea ports that were not marked on any nautical chart. In 1931, Ludwig Schlimbach completed the first German solo Atlantic crossing in his “Störtebeker” – he, too, made Cuxhaven his home port.
Decades later, Wilfried Erdmann, the man who had sailed round the world ten times, made the SVC marina his home port. On 9 May 1968, the club welcomed him back after his first round-the-world voyage, during which he had covered 32,000 nautical miles. Prior to this, the exceptional sailor had moored at Heligoland, but nobody there believed him when he said he had sailed single-handed round the world. He sailed from Heligoland to Cuxhaven, and upon his arrival there, the floating jetties could barely bear the weight of the 90 curious onlookers. Word of his story had spread faster than it took him to plunge from the Red Rock into the Elbe. A reporter from *Stern* came on board and whisked him off to the magazine’s Hamburg headquarters, where editor-in-chief Henri Nannen himself bought the exclusive story. Erdmann became an honorary member of the Cuxhaven Sailing Association, and anyone walking through the harbour today will still come across sailors who remember the arrival of the “Kathena”, and the slight man with the weather-beaten face who spoke of the world’s oceans as others might talk about a spot of shopping.
This was followed in 1970 by Rollo Gebhard, also a circumnavigator, also an honorary member. “Cuxhaven was always the first port that sailors called at when coming in from the open sea,” explains board spokesman Jörn Pietschke. This is no coincidence: its location at the mouth of the Elbe, where the river opens out into the North Sea, makes the port a natural hub for all those travelling between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, between inland waters and the open sea – or indeed between Germany and the rest of the world.
420 nautical miles to Scotland
From 1968 to 2019, the SVC co-organised one of Europe’s most challenging sailing regattas: the The Edinburgh Regatta took place as part of North Sea Week Every two years, a 420-nautical-mile voyage from Heligoland to Granton near Edinburgh, straight across the North Sea. “Without proper oilskins made from a breathable membrane, without GPS, relying only on coastal radio beacons and celestial navigation,” recalls Dr Jens Kohfahl, whose father Meinhard launched the regatta in 1968 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Royal Forth Yacht Club.
Navigation was a real art back then: along the coast there were lighthouses and radio beacons, whilst out on the open sea there were the Consol radio beacons from Stavanger and Bushmills, which transmitted at 60 characters per minute. You had to know which sector you were in, determine your approximate position using dead reckoning – the ship’s position based on course, drift and distance travelled – and, with a bit of luck, work out a second line of position astronomically, for example by calculating the noon latitude. “And even worse than a storm was the fog, which you always had to reckon with,” writes Kohfahl in the club chronicle. “Crossing the North Sea was a real challenge that not everyone felt up to.”
That is why participation was low at first. But over the years, the Edinburgh Regatta became an institution; in its heyday, 50 to 60 boats took part. A German-Scottish friendship developed, and receptions were held by the mayor at the City Chambers in Edinburgh, and it remains an unforgettable memory for everyone when, in 2007, Klaus Plate played the ‘Hamburger Veermaster’ on the bagpipes, followed by an enthusiastic crowd of singing German sailors who marched with him through the venerable halls of the City Chambers.
From youth to the very top
The SVC youth section, which currently uses Optimists, Lasers and the club’s own J80, the ‘Gerda M’, has consistently produced sailors who have gone on to reach the very top of the international sailing scene. Gordon Nickel He started out in an Optimist on the Elbe, learnt to sail in a current, which helped him to give the big Optimist stars a run for their money at the Störtebeker Cup off Heligoland. Sailing in 420s, Platu 25s and larger keelboats, he made his way up to the 32nd America’s Cup off Valencia – the Mount Everest of sailing. Today, he is project manager on a Danish XR-41 and won silver at the 2024 World Championships.
Jan Schoepe, who learnt to sail as a toddler on his parents’ boat, went on to forge a career in international match racing, competing for world ranking points as part of Markus Wieser’s team off the coasts of San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro and Malaysia, before eventually joining United Internet Team Germany for the 32nd America’s Cup. Later, he sailed major double-handed regattas on the North Sea with Alfred Zahn, including 1,000-mile races between IJmuiden and Bergen, and the ‘Round Great Britain and Ireland’ regatta – experiences which, as the chronicle notes, ‘would be worth a book of their own’.
“In Cuxhaven, you don’t just learn how to sail for pleasure,” says regatta sailor Dierk Müller, who has competed in regattas for decades himself. “With the necessary personal commitment, you can become a very good regatta sailor. Training takes place on Optimist dinghies, after which ILCA dinghies and a J80 are available for regattas. But the key factor is the sailing area: anyone who can cope with the currents, tides and shipping traffic here is well equipped for just about anything.”
Traditions with a touch of humour
Not all of the SVC’s traditions are as serious as the Edinburgh Regatta. In June 2018, for example, following numerous requests, Jens Nickel organised a revival of the legendary ‘Gelbsand’ brunch – a sumptuous breakfast on the seabed. The Gelbsand itself had since become off-limits within the national park, but the sailors, who knew the area well, found an alternative that offered good anchorage for nine boats.
Smart attire was a requirement for this unusual event: the ladies in dresses – preferably long ones – and the gentlemen in jackets – preferably tuxedos. A tender provided transport to the sandbank, where, at low tide, a long, albeit very low, banquet table had been set up. A white tablecloth and candlesticks were essential, whilst the culinary offerings were varied and extraordinary. The vastness of the Wadden Sea and the exclusive dining experience stimulated all the senses, until the tide came in again and everyone set off on the short journey home with beaming faces.
The ‘Buttpedden’ also takes place on the mudflats – an ancient tradition in which, at low tide, people wade barefoot across the mudflats, feeling for flounder with their feet. What sounds like a relic from centuries past is very much a part of everyday life for SVC members: when you have the Wadden Sea on your doorstep, you don’t just use it for sailing.
Every two years, the club organises a fleet cruise from harbour to harbour, followed by a grand pig roast – a tradition that combines conviviality with seafaring camaraderie. The destinations vary – sometimes it’s Heligoland, sometimes Büsum or other ports in the region – but the principle remains the same: sailing together, celebrating together, and sharing stories that nobody will believe later on.
And then there’s the Bornemann Regatta, a fun regatta featuring nautical challenges, where it’s not about the fastest time but about skill and dexterity. Throwing lines, tying knots, man-overboard manoeuvres – all things that have to be done correctly in an emergency, but which are spiced up with a good dose of humour at the Bornemann Regatta.
From 1993 to 2001, the Sailors’ Ball in the HAPAG Halls was a social highlight, where the sailing community dressed up to the nines and danced until the early hours of the morning. The tradition lives on in a different form: at the regular curry evenings in the harbour, at impromptu barbecues at the new barbecue hut, or simply in the conversations on the jetties as the sun sets and memories come flooding back.
“That’s what makes a club,” says Peter Kahl, the long-serving harbour master. “Not the infrastructure, not the moorings, but the people and the experiences they share. Whether it’s brunch in a tuxedo on the sandbank or curry in a sailing jacket – it’s always about the same thing: community.”
More than just a marina
The Sailors’ Association’s harbour has 150 berths for yachts of various lengths – boats over 20 metres are accommodated subject to prior registration with the harbour master. Its prominent location right on the River Elbe has, over the years, established the marina as a popular port of call for boats on transit voyages between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
Many crews use Cuxhaven as a strategic stopover to refuel with bio-free diesel, wait for the weather to improve or for the right tide before continuing through the Kiel Canal or out onto the North Sea. The facilities include modern sanitary facilities with showers, a boat refuelling station with bio-free marine diesel (available 24 hours a day on a self-service basis), electricity and water connections, as well as a children’s playground and public catering facilities near the harbour.
However, unlike commercial marinas, the Sailing Association’s harbour is run by volunteer members. The labour-intensive preparations for the season – from positioning the floating jetties to getting the fuel station up and running – are carried out by the members themselves.
A rough stretch of water, tough sailors
The deepening of the Elbe in recent years has made the area even more challenging: the current has grown stronger, the swell higher, and the mudflats have changed. “But no less appealing for all those who are familiar with wind and waves,” as the foreword to the commemorative publication puts it. Some spots that were once used for mudflat walks at low tide are now barely accessible.
Lutz von der Bank, who has been a member since 1951 and started out in the model boat group at the age of eleven, still remembers very different times: the old sailing harbour behind the Seebäderbrücke, where the town’s untreated sewage flowed into the harbour basin and fish oil from fish processing would caked onto the sides of the boats. He remembers the days when not every boat had an engine, and most of the engines didn’t work anyway. He recalls fleet trips to Neuhaus or Brunsbüttel, where 200 to 300 people would turn out for the opening of the sailing season, led by the marching band of the shooting club.
After 100 years, the SVC is facing new challenges: expanding the winter storage facility, modernising the infrastructure, building a new barbecue hut as a meeting place, and digitising its administration.
The aim is clear: to remain a vibrant club, a community centred on sailing, camaraderie and voluntary work. And for anyone looking for more than just a barbecue by the harbour basin, Cuxhaven remains what it has always been: the place where many a great sailing trip begins or ends.
Ursula Meer
Redakteurin Panorama und Reise
