The members of the Heidelger-West Water Sports Club (WHW) are celebrating 100 years of the club’s history this year. The German Sailing Association (DSV) is marking the anniversary with a profile on its website. You can also read it below here on YACHT online, courtesy of the DSV:
A strong sense of community and an exciting area
The Heidelberg-West Water Sports Club on the Neckar has been in existence for a century. This community of sailors and other water sports enthusiasts is united above all by one thing: a love of nature and the water. The German Sailing Association congratulates the club on its anniversary and wishes it all the best for the future.
How it all began
Starting point in a former turbine house on the River Neckar
The history of the Heidelberg-West Water Sports Club began with a group of enthusiastic water sports enthusiasts. Paddlers and a few sailors in Heidelberg on the River Neckar decided: ‘Let’s set up a club and get out on the water together.’
What was missing was a suitable site and a boathouse. The club members quickly reached an agreement with the City of Heidelberg and leased the former turbine house belonging to Portlandzement Heidelberg. The site had been destroyed by a fire in 1895; the company’s headquarters were relocated, and the city purchased the property, including the turbine house in question.
Little remains from the early days of the WHW; a membership list from 1938 shows 78 club members. Following the National Socialists’ ‘Gleichschaltung’ (bringing organisations into line), the Heidelberg-West Water Sports Club, like all other clubs, was temporarily dissolved. After the end of the war, the boathouse and boats were confiscated by the US Army, as the occupying power, and used for leisure activities and as the headquarters of the military radio station AFN.
What happened next
Re-establishment, refurbishment and sailing as an independent section
At the beginning of 1950, the club was re-registered: the WHW had been reborn, and things were set to get back on track quickly. However, the club members had to wait a further two years before the boathouse was returned to them. Once it had been returned by the Americans, the building on the banks of the Neckar first had to undergo a thorough renovation. In 1953, there was a lively reopening ceremony, and sporting activities were able to resume.
Until the construction of the Iqbal Embankment – a section of the B37 running along the left bank of the Neckar – in 1965, the boathouse was effectively cut off from the Neckar, and rowing and sailing were temporarily severely restricted. Today, an underpass leads down to the water.
Sailors have always been part of the WHW; in 1975, they went on to establish an independent section within the club. Organised training for children and young people began – partly in Optimist dinghies built by club members themselves.
In 2010/2011, the club premises and the boathouse underwent a complete refurbishment. And ever since then, as always, we’ve been pitching in wherever necessary.
The Heidelberg-West Water Sports Club today
Open to everyone and with a broad remit
At the Heidelberg West Water Sports Club, everything is open for business today; many members are out on the water in kayaks, Canadian canoes or sailing boats. “And that certainly has its own special appeal,” explains sailing coordinator Moritz Bellers.
The canoeing section offers recreational and family sports activities involving white-water and touring paddling in kayaks and Canadian canoes, on both local and international waters. In the canoe polo section, recreational and competitive teams train and play with and against one another.
The sailors in the WHW organise and enjoy their sport in a sailing area that’s a real challenge, yet one they love all the same. The rather narrow Neckar, with its currents and winds that vary due to buildings, trees and the Odenwald, as well as commercial shipping, rowers and other water sports enthusiasts, places high demands on sailing skills – anyone who learns to sail a dinghy here knows what it takes.
Keyword: ‘Learning’. For many years now, two WHW sailors in particular have been working tirelessly on a voluntary basis to support young sailors: Waltraud Schöfer and Andreas Wernz regularly run Optimist courses, which start after Easter and culminate in the Junior Sailing Certificate. The young people learn and train on Lasers and 420s, and also take part in regattas in the local area.
The phrase ‘Learning at the WHW’ also applies to another area: the club offers young people and adults the opportunity to obtain a recreational boat licence for inland waters and the sea. This training is a key activity for the club: “The theory course starts in November, followed by the practical training in April – and this programme consistently attracts new people to us, who often end up staying,” explains sailing coordinator Moritz Bellers. Sailing together during the regular training sessions on Wednesdays and taking part in regattas round off the programme.
As is typical of a university town, club life on Schurmannstraße on the banks of the Neckar is characterised by a certain degree of turnover. The students and staff at Heidelberg University and the numerous research institutes and hospitals shape the life of the city and, consequently, that of the club. “Many people only come to the city and join the club for a few years, but they always bring a breath of fresh air with them.”
Nevertheless, there’s that typical club atmosphere where everyone knows everyone else, there’s always time for a chat on the jetty, “and we help each other out when needed”, explains Christoph Hennch, who has been a member of the WHW for more than 30 years. “I, too, came to Heidelberg for a job, and then stayed, partly because of the club.”
A declaration of love
Sailing, sailing and more sailing – what more could we want!
Trying out sailing, learning to sail, competing in regattas, obtaining sailing certificates, sailing with the whole family – even without your own boat – “because here, WHW members can borrow the club’s own Lasers, 420s and 470s”, says Bellers, pausing briefly for breath before continuing his declaration of love for the club on behalf of the WHW sailors. Joint outings and plenty of chats at parties, barbecues and cook-ins, cleaning and repair sessions – the list of activities is long. “What unites us is our love of water sports.”
And all this against the breathtaking backdrop of the city and Heidelberg Castle – what more could sailors ask for!
This is what they’d like to see at WHW
Plenty of wind and a fixed jetty
“Here’s to plenty of fair winds on the Neckar and to keeping ‘this mix of young and older, active and cheerful members’,” says the sailing officer. But there is still one dream left: a fixed floating jetty that could remain in the water all year round. At present, the wooden jetty sections have to be launched in the water in spring as part of a large community effort and then taken out of the water again in autumn. “Whilst this makes for a great community event, it’s also exhausting for everyone.”
This is the Heidelberg-West 1926 Water Sports Club
The club is situated on the River Neckar, right in the city of Heidelberg. As well as the sailors, the club comprises sections for touring and white-water paddling, as well as canoe polo – the club has a total of around 350 members, a third of whom sail. Club members share the site – which also houses a restaurant – with the University Sports Department and the Heidelberg Rowing Club. There is a jetty right on the Neckar, with 19 dry berths and eight berths in the water. Also available are numerous club-owned boats for free use, for training and practice – including 12 Optimists for youth development. The sailing area on our doorstep – the River Neckar – is both exciting and challenging. Address: Schurmanstrasse 2, 69115 Heidelberg; Email: vorstand@whw-hd.de Website: https://www.whw-hd.de/