- Elmar Specht can't get "Elfra" out of his head for three and a half decades
- Inside, the "Elfra" looks like an old English parlour
- Sunk in the moat of Stade Castle to save it from being seized by the British occupying forces
- Regattas remain the element of the "Elfra"
- A boat fairy tale, almost too good to be true
- Change of generations is a natural part of "Elfra"
- Technical data of the dinghy cruiser "Elfra"
It is the late 1980s when teenager Elmar Specht is travelling on the Elbe with his pirate. The young man was 17 years old at the time and already an accomplished sailor. Discos and lowered Opel Manta cars were of no interest to him. Specht prefers to spend his time on the water, using every free hour to whizz across the river in his dinghy between Glückstadt and Finkenwerder.
On this summer weekend, he has moored his dinghy in Stade's inland harbour. In the morning, he stands on the quay wall with a coffee and looks at the yachts moored in the harbour. Vessels under sail arouse his particular interest from an early age. Especially traditional ships.
When he walked along the quay wall that morning 35 years ago, he couldn't believe his eyes. Specht suddenly spotted a "beautiful, oaken and seemingly never-ending dinghy cruiser pushing into the harbour under sail". The boat stands out. It is significantly longer than all others in its class. The gaff is longer, the stern wider.
Also interesting:
A blonde boy of pre-school age sits at the tiller, while a petite, elderly man stands at the mast and calmly lowers the mainsail. The dinghy cruiser takes a final swing as grandpa and grandson swap places on board and the boat floats up to the quay wall. Specht walks a few metres and approaches the ship. His eyes wander quietly over the dinghy cruiser lying in front of him. He sees the teak deck, the framed portholes. He sees the long, tapered superstructure, the beautiful stern.
But it's not just the boat that captivates him. The crew also struck a chord in the young man. Specht remembers: "How I would have loved to have done something like that with my own grandad back then, as he also sailed, but unfortunately he was already too old and no longer sprightly enough for it."
Elmar Specht can't get "Elfra" out of his head for three and a half decades
Elmar Specht still knows nothing about the history of this exceptionally large dinghy cruiser, which bears the name "Elfra". He doesn't know that Ella and Franz Schröder are behind the acronym and that the siblings once had the dinghy cruiser built especially for them: in 1934 at the Karl-Richters shipyard in Wischhafen. Franz Schröder has long since become a grandfather. But he still sails on the Elbe with his "Elfra", and has done so for 55 years now. And Grandpa Franz never tires of taking his family, especially his son and grandson, out on the aged dinghy cruiser. Now, however, the ten metre long and 2.86 metre wide "Elfra" has found a new admirer. Elmar Specht will never forget the ship.
More than three and a half decades have passed since the meeting in Stade. Sailing grandfather Franz Schröder passed away a long time ago, after which his son Volker took over the ship. Elmar Specht, now 54 years old, stands at the long stern of the Wischhafen yacht club. In front of him in the water, freshly painted and rigged since Easter, lies the "Elfra". The boat floats and sails like on the first day. It still attracts many and is also celebrating a remarkable anniversary. The gaff-rigged dinghy cruiser with the enormous sail area turns 90 this year and has returned to where it was once built. In Wischhafen.
The new owner climbs aboard on this Wednesday in May. Elmar Specht had never lost sight of the "Elfra" in all those years - before he and his partner Conny were able to take her over from the Schröder family in September 2018. Since then, he has looked after and maintained the ship. He sails it like old Grandpa Schröder once did. In any weather, in any wind - and preferably with his family on board.
Inside, the "Elfra" looks like an old English parlour
The high tide comes in the evening. Specht and his daughter Jacqueline get the boat ready, cast off and sail out onto the Elbe for a few strokes. The large dinghy cruiser sets off immediately, even with a light wind in the harbour. This is probably mainly due to its length, the full-size sail area of 48 square metres and the shallow draught of just 30 centimetres (1.90 metres with the centreboard unfolded). The "Elfra" almost always came top in regattas, winning the Blue Ribbon of the Lower Elbe in the 1950s and still outshines many a modern yacht today. The "Elfra" has always been well known among traditional sailors. It is followed by the saying: "They haven't found the brake yet."
Inside, the ship is all the more cosy and looks like an old English drawing room. Green upholstery, white wooden floor, lacquered cupboards and cabinets. At the centre of it all and also usable as a saloon table: the large centreboard. The old cruiser offers plenty of space below deck: for sleeping, for cooking, for living. When Elmar Specht took over the ship in 2018, he was quite astonished. Down in the saloon, next to the centreboard box, there was still his son Volker Schröder's 28cc men's bike and the old surfboard that he had always used as a dinghy. Utensils that would normally cause ships of comparable length to burst.
But ultimately, it is not just the speed and space offered by the classless "equaliser" that make it so special. Nor is it the fact that this dinghy cruiser is significantly larger than even its big 30-series brothers. "You have to know the life of this boat to understand it," says Elmar Specht. "And this story goes way back to the days when we weren't even planned here."
Sunk in the moat of Stade Castle to save it from being seized by the British occupying forces
The Schröders ran a household goods shop in Stade in the 1930s and presumably had a sporty, but also family-friendly ship in mind when they commissioned the shipyard to build the cruiser. The "Elfra" is still reminiscent of those early yachts, which were initially large and sturdily built. Some of them had a sophisticated interior and had yet to be defined as a touring sports boat. When the ship was launched in Wischhafen in 1934, it was a real eye-catcher: very solidly built at three tonnes, planked oak on oak, with every third frame not glued but naturally grown and sawn.
The Schröders mainly sail the "Elfra" on the Elbe at that time. They went on family outings, anchored off the river banks and Franz took part in regattas. But the years of initial sailing happiness were soon followed by war. In order to save the beautiful "Elfra" from the British occupying forces after the war, Franz Schröder and the members of the Stade Sailing Club came up with a daring idea: they drilled a hole in the floor of the oil locker - and sank the "Elfra" in the Stade moat. The entire barge sank three metres and was never seen again!
While sailing, Elmar Specht bends down briefly and opens the cupboard. The hole can still be seen today. A brush is still in it, the handle that was later used to close the hole to save it. Because the "Elfra" hidden under water was betrayed. The English soon had the German dinghy cruiser raised and demanded that the owner, who was familiar with the area, please take the gentlemen for a little ride on the Elbe. Franz Schröder had also discovered that all the sails had been cut. Now he had to take care of his "Elfra", ordered by the highest authority, so to speak. Of course, he didn't take long to do so and became one of the first sports boat sailors to be allowed back out on the Elbe during the crew.
Regattas remain the element of the "Elfra"
Fortunately, the dinghy cruiser later remained in the family. Franz Schröder was soon sailing regattas again, and the "Elfra" won so many races over the years that the Schröders ended up having to have their own cabinet built to store all the gold and silver trophies.
After the death of Grandpa Franz, his son Volker takes over the dinghy cruiser. He also sails regattas and spends a lot of time with the "Elfra" on the Elbe. He often sails single-handed, even in strong winds. He soon became known in the area for sailing into harbours under full sail in force seven winds. With his sails flapping, he crosses the harbour and brings the "Elfra" to the jetties, making a lot of noise.
However, manoeuvres of this kind were probably not only due to his temperament. The furling system on the main boom is not so easy to operate single-handed - and so the son often sailed on under full sheets because the sails could not be reduced quickly. The fact that he sometimes made wild harbour manoeuvres was also due to the fact that the old ten-horsepower Marstal engine often went on strike. His son Volker Schröder took it in his stride: "Sailing then!
However, he couldn't resist a few jokes under sail. Because he knew the area very well from his many trips with his father, he often took shortcuts during regattas and crossed many a flat. And because the "Elfra" still looked large and like a keel yacht from a distance, the skipper was often followed by ships with a much deeper draught - and they promptly ran aground! During one of these chases, a yacht is even said to have broken its mast.
A boat fairy tale, almost too good to be true
A son just like his father: a sailing enthusiast right down to the tips of his hair. And he was all too happy to pass on this euphoria. Pupils and young people came along on the "Elfra" time and again. At the Stade Sailing Club (STSV), where the dinghy cruiser is still in winter storage today, the Schröder family taught countless novices how to sail over the years. And once again years later, after the death of Volker Schröder, it is finally the grandson of the family who now owns the dinghy cruiser, which is now over 80 years old.
But times have changed. In the third millennium, there is less and less spare time to look after the old ships. Not everyone has enough free time or the knowledge and drive to sand, paint and varnish - and keep these aged beauties sailing. So in 2018, it is Elmar Specht who has never forgotten the "Elfra" in all these years and who is now taking her over from his grandson Sönke Schröder - from the very "little Butsche" he saw sitting at the tiller at the end of the 1980s when he discovered the Elbe with his grandfather and sailed into Stade harbour in the morning. It almost sounds like one of those boat tales. Almost too good to be true.
As a boat builder and friend of the classics, this extraordinary dinghy cruiser means a lot to Specht - and not just because of its peculiar anecdotes. The "Elfra" is a unique specimen within the family of "Jollies". And she is still sailing in her original condition. To this day, neither a plank nor a frame has been replaced. Only the centreboard box has had to be replaced twice. And that, too, is probably quite unique: a 90-year-old classic that is virtually first-hand.
However, a lot has happened since Specht took over the boat. The "Elfra" has been given a new engine, a new shaft system, a new propeller and a new rudder blade. Specht sealed the deck and centreboard box, built a new mast and refurbished the original interior. Further measures followed: new running and standing rigging, new electrics, new tarpaulins.
Change of generations is a natural part of "Elfra"
Then there was another surprise. Specht's daughter Jacqueline, now a sailmaker in Wischhafen, gave her father a new, self-tailored jib for Christmas, and her mother-in-law sewed new cushions. This closes an old circle for the "Elfra". A tradition that has also become a rarity today: the whole family sails. The whole family joins in. Child and cone - in one boat.
And one thing remains the same as it always was. "The 'Elfra' is at home on the Elbe," says Elmar Specht. "And she will continue to sail here." With all the detours that go with the nearby North Sea. The Spechts have already sailed to Büsum and Neuwerk in the dinghy cruiser and have let themselves fall dry several times. With its flat hull, the boat is made for this. Soft landings in the silt, with the centreboard and rudder blade being caught up in a few easy steps. On this day in May, however, something else is happening on the Elbe that is probably in the "Elfra's" genes - in addition to all her sailing qualities. The change of generations that takes place on board as a matter of course. Even today.
5 Beaufort winds blow and lay the "Elfra" on her side as she heads upwind. Reefed, the boat immediately makes seven or eight knots and pulls effortlessly across the flat water. Elmar Specht stands at the tiller, while his own children have long been romping around in the saloon and the large cockpit. Daughter Jacqueline is on board with her two sons. Jannis, three and a half years old, and his brother Kian, just six months, are already lively sailors - and this is by no means their first time on board.
The toddlers learn early and get to know everything in the child seat. And they love it. No screaming, no squealing. And when they do, it's for the joy of the wind. The plan is for the grandchildren to take over the old dinghy cruiser themselves one day. One day, when it is well past 100. Of course, the "Elfra" already knows all this. Only one thing is new. The grandad is now called Elmar.
Technical data of the dinghy cruiser "Elfra"
- Year of construction: 1934
- Construction method: Oak planked
- Shipyard: Karl Richters, Wischhafen
- Sail number: C-286
- Length: 10,00 m
- Width: 2,86 m
- Draught (sword): 0.30 to 1.90 m
- sail area: 48,00 m²
- Weight: 3,0 t
- Machine: Nanny diesel, 28 hp
