Text by Michael Sauter
“Germany wins bronze medal in the 8mR competition with the ‘Germania III’” reads a headline in the *Kieler Neueste Nachrichten* of 14 August 1936 from Kiel, the venue for the 1936 Olympic sailing competitions. The boat had been designed with a single aim in mind: to fulfil Alfried’s ambition of winning the gold medal in the 8mR class at the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany. Alfried was directly involved in all decisions regarding the design details of the new yacht.
The road to the Olympic 8mR yacht
With her brightly painted hull, her name in gold lettering on the transom and a 17-metre-high Sitka spruce mast that leaned slightly aft, her predecessor was certainly a real beauty when she was launched in 1934. In regattas in 1934 and early 1935, she performed well in light winds, but fell behind as soon as there was any wind and swell. By June 1935, it had become clear that the ‘Germania II’ would not become the high-performance German yacht that Gustav Krupp had envisaged for his son. Much to Alfried’s delight, he therefore commissioned a new yacht from Abeking & Rasmussen at the end of June that same year.
The Olympic qualifying regattas for German sailors took place in Kiel in May 1936, and the ‘Germania III’ was ultimately chosen; it was on this boat that Alfried von Bohlen und Halbach won the bronze medal. The “Germania III” was built in just two months and cost 29,000 Reichsmarks – equivalent to around 140,000 euros today. In mid-September 1935, she demonstrated her potential by defeating the “Germania II” and another 8mR yacht in her first two races. In the spring of 1936, the class’s first regattas of the season took place on the Riviera near Genoa. There, the “Germania III” won the prestigious Duke of Aosta Prize.
More than just an Olympic boat
One might think that a yacht like the ‘Germania III’, which was designed specifically for these Games, would have only a short lifespan, as it would be superseded by new design concepts or new regatta classes. Yet in 1998, more than 60 years after the bronze medal, the same yacht made the headlines once again: “French actor Alain Delon presents the ‘Germania III’ crew with the 8mR World Cup trophy”. And today, at over 90 years old and following a restoration that has arguably made the yacht better than ever, she still sails on the Baltic Sea or wherever regattas take her, such as recently to Lake Constance for the class’s World Championship, where she finished fifth in her category.
The current owner, Bernhard Kolbe, bought the ‘Germania III’ in 1989. Although he was a building contractor by trade, his passion lay in working with wood and sailing. Together with his brother-in-law, he had searched extensively for a wooden boat and eventually found this eight-oared vessel on Lake Constance. The boat, which had been converted into a pleasure craft, was in a pitiful state at the time.
They first took the ‘Germania III’ back to their home town of Duisburg, from where Bernhard Kolbe contacted Gerd Wegener at the Wegener shipyard in Hamburg. Gerd is the grandson of Jonny Wegener, one of the ‘Germania III’s’ former owners. Wegener’s first impression was that, with its old engine, heavy tanks in the stern and interior fittings, she had become a tired old horse, a far cry from the regatta yacht that her designer, Henry Rasmussen of the shipyard, had designed for Alfried von Bohlen und Halbach in 1935. Bernhard Kolbe brought the boat to Hamburg, where Gerd Wegener took charge of the restoration project. The two became friends and racing partners, with Gerd Wegener as skipper.
What happened to the yacht after 1936
So what had happened to the yacht in the period between winning the bronze medal in Kiel in 1936 and its discovery on Lake Constance in 1989?
Alfried’s father, the steel magnate Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, had commissioned a new 8mR yacht, the ‘Germania IV’, from Abeking & Rasmussen following the Olympic Games, and both yachts took part in Kiel Week in 1939. They were subsequently transported to Berlin and loaned to a sailing club on Lake Wannsee. A few months later, the Second World War broke out, and the 1940 Olympic Games in Helsinki were cancelled. The 8mR class never returned to the Olympic programme after the war. ‘Germania III’ and ‘Germania IV’ survived the war in a boathouse near Berlin, whilst Krupp’s earlier 8mR boat, the ‘Germania II’, was destroyed. Krupp is said to have sold the “Germania III” in 1940; after 1941, its whereabouts are no longer fully documented.
She finally resurfaced in Hamburg in 1948, where Jonny Wegener happened to see her, recognised her and, despite her poor condition, swapped her for his own lifeboat, which he had converted into a sailing vessel. In 1949 and 1951, Jonny Wegener won the ‘Blaue Band der Niederelbe’ with her. When he wasn’t taking part in regattas, he usually sailed the 15-metre-long, motorless ‘Germania III’ on his own.
The yacht changed hands several times. She was fitted with her first engine in 1952. Her name was changed twice before she was purchased in 1973 by Prosper du Bois-Reymond, who had her completely overhauled in 1976 and used her for many years as a cruiser-racer on Lake Constance.
A return to the regatta course
During the refit carried out by Gerd Wegener in 1990, the stern, the rudder and all the mahogany planks below the waterline were replaced first. A 30 PS Nanni four-stroke diesel engine, 100 kilograms lighter than its predecessor, was fitted. “Originally, the ‘Germania III’ was very lightly built for its time,” said Gerd Wegener. “We replaced the floor frames and the additional sheet steel floor frames to increase rigidity. For the renovation, we removed the entire interior fit-out and later rebuilt only the saloon.”
During a second phase of renovation, a new 19.3-metre-high wooden mast was constructed in order to restore the 3/4-fractional rig.
Bernhard Kolbe had originally planned to use the “Germania III” for sailing trips with friends and family. However, things turned out differently: with Gerd Wegener’s support, Kolbe took up competitive sailing. The boat once again won trophies at the Elbe Regatta, the ‘Blue Ribbon of the Lower Elbe’. As part of further improvements, a new teak deck was fitted in 1996, the large cruising cabin was refurbished and a cockpit with seats was installed.
In the late 1990s, 8mR yachts were gaining an ever-growing following. The 1998 International World Championship for the class, held in Geneva, was the largest gathering of this class since the 1936 Olympic Games. Six regattas were held and four prizes were awarded. ‘Germania III’, which competed in the vintage class, won the Cartier Cup World Championship trophy, which was presented to Bernhard Kolbe and Gerd Wegener by the French actor Alain Delon. “Geneva was a glittering party from start to finish,” Bernhard Kolbe still recalls today with a smile.
The years passed and the “Germania III” competed in several international championships. As the field of competitors grew, bringing with it increased competitive pressure, she won with ever-decreasing frequency. Consequently, she was further converted into a pure racing yacht. In 2011, the saloon was removed, as were the railings that had been fitted during her years as a cruising yacht. In 2018, Bernhard Kolbe approached the yacht designer Martin Menzner with a request to take the helm of the “Germania III”. As a designer and owner of Berckemeyer Yacht Design, Martin Menzner had already gained experience with metre-class yachts on the modern eight-oared ‘Spazzo’ and the classic 6mR yacht ‘Mellum’.
How the ‘Germania III’ regained its speed
Without any preparation, the “Germania III”, with a new crew, took part in the 2018 World Championships on Lake Constance. The result: a surprise third place in the Neptune class for boats restored to their original condition that were built before 1960. However, the differences compared to the winning “Caron II” were striking: “‘Germania’ lost a good 150 metres at every tack,” reports Martin Menzner. “We had the smallest genoa of all the boats and, with the inboard engine and all the deck equipment, we were carrying about 700 kilograms too much weight on board.” Using a drone photo of all the eights gathered at a jetty, he compared the J-measurements. He came to the same conclusion as Henry Rasmussen had when he designed the ‘Germania IV’: the boat’s J-measure – the distance from the forestay to the mast – was significantly smaller than that of the competition. As a result, the mast was moved aft and the forestay further forward. The aim was to improve upwind performance with a larger genoa, whilst also being able to fly a larger spinnaker.
Over the following four years, significant improvements were made to the competitiveness of the ‘Germania III’ in the 8mR Neptune class. The key factors in the 8mR formula are the waterline length, sail area and freeboard, with the yachts typically being around 15 metres long. Within the framework of the formula, Martin Menzner focused his work on the ‘Germania III’ on the freeboard. To reduce weight, the engine, fuel tank, pipes, hoses and propeller shaft were removed. Apart from a pipe berth, the forward cabin was completely cleared out. With the weight reduced, the boat could sit higher in the water, resulting in a shorter waterline length and greater freeboard. This, in turn, allowed for a larger sail area within the rules of the formula. The mast was moved 340 millimetres aft and the forestay 300 millimetres forward, increasing the J-measure from 3.86 to 4.50 metres, which allowed for a significantly larger genoa.
Following a laser survey of the yacht to confirm the new, shorter waterline, the E-measurement of the rig – that is, the length of the mainsail at the boom – was reduced from 7.20 to 7.08 metres. This meant that the 8mR formula was once again satisfied: the increased total sail area was offset by a shorter waterline and the increased freeboard. The area of the headsail triangle increased from 20.9 to 24.3 square metres, whilst the mainsail triangle decreased by just one square metre to 56 square metres – a good result. At the same time, several improvements were made to the yacht’s handling, such as moving the backstays forward and repositioning the spinnaker sheet blocks.
The cockpit was refitted by Jan Brügge of the Königstein shipyard in accordance with the original plans, and a flat floor was fitted in place of the tub-shaped structure. This also simplified drainage and created space for sheet pockets beneath the side decks. Jan Brügge veneered the floor with teak over a core of paulownia wood. “Paulownia is a very interesting timber for lightweight boatbuilding, which enabled a further 80 kilograms to be saved on the ‘Germania III’,” explained the wooden boat expert from the Schlei.
The latest results
With all these improvements, Bernhard Kolbe and Martin Menzner, along with their crew, took part in the 2022 8mR World Championship in Geneva. “The boat was really fast, especially in lighter winds,” said Martin Menzner. “However, it performed best on a day with 15-knot winds. The new sails are brilliant! We did have a few problems with the trim at first, though.” The design of the stern remained an issue. “We needed some ballast in the bow.” A DSQ in the second race – which the crew felt was unjustified – proved costly, but they still won the Neptun class heats and finished third overall.
The 2025 racing season saw the ‘Germania III’ come full circle: from its beginnings as a pure 8mR racing yacht, through its time as a cruising yacht, to a condition that is perhaps even better than the original. The 8mR World Championships took place in Finland in August 2025. The boat came second in the Neptune Trophy and seventh out of 21 yachts in the International 8mR World Cup.
So what now? The ‘Germania III’ continues to sail in the very same stretch of the Baltic Sea off Kiel where it won its Olympic medal 90 years ago.
The Krupp lineage behind the name ‘Germania’
Alfried von Bohlen und Halbach, a scion of the Krupp industrialist family, was 26 years old in 1935, the year the ‘Germania III’ was built. His parents, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach and Bertha Krupp, had a keen interest in sailing, which had rubbed off on him.
When his father developed dementia in 1943, Alfried was forced to take over the running of the company in the midst of the war and adopted the name Krupp. After the war ended in 1945, he was convicted of war crimes by an American military tribunal. He remained in custody until 1951, when he was pardoned. The US High Commissioner, John McCloy, had ruled that Alfried Krupp had not been part of the company’s management during the rearmament period. In 1953, Krupp returned to the company as managing director.
Alfried’s passion for sailing continued even after his return to industry. In 1955, he commissioned the 20-metre steel-hulled yacht “Germania V” from Abeking & Rasmussen. When Rasmussen died in 1959, Alfried commissioned Sparkman & Stephens to build his final yacht, the 22-metre aluminium yawl “Germania VI”, which was launched in 1963. Following his death in 1967, his estate passed to the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation, including the“Germania VI”, which is still used today to train ocean sailors. The green ketch is familiar to every Baltic Sea sailor. And it links the present with a significant part of German sailing history.
These Krupps
Sailing runs in the Krupp family’s blood. In 1896, the Essen-based dynasty commissioned a 28-metre-long gaff-rigged cutter with a steel hull, the ‘Kommodore II’, which was followed by six further yachts; although these differed greatly from one another, they all bore the name ‘Germania’. The first was a gaff schooner, whose hull was built in 1908 from Krupp’s own stainless steel. Designed by Max Oertz, it was built at the Krupp Germania shipyard in Kiel. As Alfried’s interest in 8mR regattas grew, boats bearing the name ‘Germania’ were designed by Henry ‘Jimmy’ Rasmussen in versions II, III and IV as 8mR racing yachts with wooden hulls and built at his shipyard in Lemwerder on the River Weser. Further information: www.krupp-stiftung.de
Technical specifications of the “Germania III”
- Shipyard/Year of construction: Abeking & Rasmussen/1935
- Fuselage length: 14.98 m
- Waterline length: 9.34 m
- Width: 2.53 m
- Draught/Alt.: 1.99 m
- Weight: 8.56
Which fascinates you more: the Olympic history of the ‘Germania III’ or its technical conversion back into a racing yacht? Let us know in the comments.