Siegfried Rauch has been on stage and on set since 1958, and there is hardly anyone in this country who does not recognise his distinctive face. The wiry man with the sea-blue eyes appeared under many names in front of millions of viewers in cinema and television: as "Traumschiff" captain Jakob Paulsen, as Captain Oskar Steiger (in the seven-time Oscar-winning film "Patton - Rebel in Uniform"), as Old Shatterhand, as racing driver Erich Stahler alongside Steve McQueen in the motorsport epic "Le Mans", as "Bergdoktor" Roman Melchinger. Siegfried Rauch was one of Germany's most popular actors. He died of heart failure last Sunday at the age of 85.
Only a few people were aware of his passion for sailing. Although the dreamboat captain's largest boat was "as white as the 'Deutschland'", as he told YACHT, it was a few sizes smaller, an Etap 21. He sailed O dinghies until the end and was still active in regattas. His home waters were the Staffelsee in Bavaria, less than eight square kilometres in size and around 60 kilometres south of Munich.
To remember Rauch, read the conversation about his great passion, sailing, that he had with YACHT author Holger Peterson in 2015.
YACHT: Mr Rauch, how did your enthusiasm for sailing come about?
Smoke:I grew up on the Ammersee. My father was already a dinghy sailor there around 1912. Later, he even organised regattas with Manfred Curry. That's how I came into contact with regatta sailors as a young boy. That left its mark.
You mean the Olympic sailor, designer and inventor of the curry clamp?
Exactly. Although he was a US citizen, he lived in Riederau on the western shore of Lake Ammersee at the time. Manfred had a houseboat - I stood in front of it in amazement. The idea that you could live on the water promised an adventurous life. From a child's point of view, every lake is a huge body of water and you can't imagine what's beyond the shore. Incidentally, despite the war and post-war years, Curry also remained loyal to the Bavarian lakes. He died in 1953 in Landsberg am Lech, where I was born.
How were you drawn to your own planks?
My father taught me all the tricks of the trade early on. He had dinghies with 15 to 20 square metres of sail. I also admired the excursion steamers on the Ammersee and wondered how a person could manage to steer such a large and heavy ship all by himself. I really wanted to be a "captain", not an engine driver like many of my friends. The black steamboats stank; but a ship that big and white, that was my childhood dream ...
... but you initially stayed in Bavaria and only later went to sea as an actor.
Water and mountains in a marvellous landscape - you are already blessed with that. In the early 1960s, I bought and restored a farmhouse in Untersöchering near Weilheim. Since then I have sailed a lot on the Staffelsee with my wife Karin. The shore is not far away.
There probably weren't many boats on the lake back then.
There must have been six of them - there were already too few for a proper regatta. I looked for a shoreline property for a sailing club and found like-minded people who managed the paperwork for the foundation. That's how the Staffelsee Sailing Club in Uffing was "born" in 1964. I am still a member and use my boat there. Incidentally, guest sailors are always welcome at our club, where there are also buoys.
Which boat class dominates the lake?
With a few exceptions, two-man dinghies are sailed. Combustion engines and antifouling are not permitted.
What patent does the "Traumschiff" captain have?
The A licence has remained my only patent. I don't put much stock in it. You learn to sail fast not just through lessons or exams, but through feeling: you have to be able to steer with your eyes closed - feel the wind on your face, interpret the pull on the sheets, pick up the heel in your stomach, feel the pressure on the tiller - then you become one with your boat and the water.
On which boats did you enjoy this feeling the most?
I really enjoyed Finn regattas. But I also had a corsair and an FD dinghy. But back in the seventies, I also bought a wooden O dinghy from a professor in Berlin. Built for the 1936 Olympic Games, the boat is not a glider, but it is not slow either. The centreboard should be replaced, but otherwise the dinghy is in good condition. Unfortunately, I haven't got round to sailing this year - too many appointments.
You are very active at over 80 - how do you keep fit?
If you stop rowing, you drift back. I often chop our own firewood, go hiking in the mountains and hopefully I'll get to sail more again soon.
Preferably sporty, it seems.
The whole club is sports-orientated. It has around 50 boats and organises regattas or takes part in competitions elsewhere. Last year, to mark the club's 50th anniversary, it organised the International German Championship in the centreboard class. And I myself have also been sailing on the Steinhuder Meer. That's where I met Ullrich Libor, well-known Alster Pirate and runner-up in the Dragon Sailing World Championship. When I mention people like him, it's to emphasise how close I feel to the dinghy scene - for more than 70 years.
How do other sailors deal with your fame - are there any fears of contact?
Here I'm the "Rauch-Siggi" for everyone (switching from High German to Bavarian). I'm not interested in adulation - especially not on board. Of course I was happy when up to ten million people watched an episode of "Traumschiff", but we're all the same under the sun. My job is to play the roles as well as possible. But that's no reason to climb onto a pedestal. Most of our profession sees it that way. My friend Steve McQueen, for example ...
... the godfather of your first son ...
... has remained a modest man throughout his life and has not changed despite his fame.
How did you prepare for the role of "Captain Jakob Paulsen" on the "Traumschiff"?
Navigation on the high seas is not particularly difficult when the course is set by computer for hundreds of nautical miles, so there is no great role to play as a sea dog. It was more about the balancing act between realistic nautical leadership and integration into film history. I had a gifted mentor in the real captain of the "Deutschland" at the time, Andreas Jungblut from Hamburg-Övelgönne. He is an excellent passenger ship captain who gives his commands with confidence - at the same time he is a gentleman and a good conversationalist. Perhaps that's why Heidi Horten poached him. He is now in charge of her 98 metre long mega yacht "Carinthia VII". Jungblut and I probably just happened to sign off on the "Deutschland" at the time when it was at its best.
Have you ever been allowed to steer the ship yourself?
Jungblut allowed me to do a mooring manoeuvre, and I would probably have managed it, but if you're even half a knot too fast in this crowd, you'll get dents. I'd rather be on the water in a regatta with his brother Thomas.
Which sailing film did you particularly like?
Of course I saw Robert Redford in "All is lost". Opinions may be divided about the plot, but his acting is first class. The tension is maintained even though he only speaks one sentence. Perhaps there is often too much commentary these days - scenes are filled with quick dialogue.
Have you never had the desire to go on a long voyage with a keel yacht?
I didn't have the time. I'm also a family man and love my home country. I'm not aware of many "busy" actors with ocean-going yachts. Günther Schramm or Sigmar Solbach are probably the exceptions. Of course, I admired the pioneers of cruising yachts. Rollo Gebhard came from near Tegernsee. I attended one of his lectures and admired his way of travelling, especially the beginnings with the Hansa dinghy in the Red Sea and with the barely six-metre small chine keeler across the Atlantic.
With all the many dream destinations you have seen from on board the "Deutschland" - didn't you find it tempting to go sailing in the South Seas, for example?
Filming means concentration and work. My hunger for travelling was automatically satisfied. Perhaps a brief excerpt: Australia eight times, New Zealand seven times, Samoa four times. I also experienced a tsunami, an earthquake and, on board the "Deutschland", a hurricane. Perhaps it is this life with so many destinations and experiencing the forces of nature that makes me humble and allows me to sail happily on the Staffelsee without ever missing anything. Not even Bora Bora, no matter how beautiful it was there. I feel an infinite love for mountains, lakes and seas alike. We humans are comparatively petty busybodies. Nature sets the tone, you can feel that even during a heavy thunderstorm, especially over the lake or in front of the peaks.
As a nature lover, do you also have a thing for cities?
For Munich and Hamburg! The Hanseatic city has a special flair and is still the "gateway to the world". Did you know that it is home to the largest Alpine club north of Bavaria? Many dinghy sailors from Hamburg come on holiday to the Bavarian lakes and combine this with mountain tours.
And yet you once had a yacht with four berths.
Exactly. An Etap 21, relatively spacious and unsinkable. I hear that a family with a child has even sailed around the world on such a boat? Respect! (Editor's note: the Habeck family from Lünen, to be read in "Mal seh'n, wie weit wir kommen", Delius Klasing Verlag).
How far have you got with this?
All the way to Canada (laughs)! No, I've actually only been on the Staffelsee. But it has seven islands and the Alps in the background. There are anchorages with all-encompassing silence and no view of civilisation - just like in Canada. At night in my bunk, with the hatches open and a view of the stars, I don't miss anything at all. I think the Staffelsee is Bavaria's most beautiful sailing area and guest sailors should feel at home here. The lake is mostly deep, except for a shallow area with a water depth of 90 centimetres. That's why my small keel yacht only had a draught of 60 centimetres.
Why did you sell the Etap 21 again?
She had three faults: she was too young, she had a sluggish ballast keel and she wasn't made of wood. The good-natured old O dinghy suits me and my area.
