"Nordwest": Hundred-year-old sea cruiser is a floating member of the family
"You get wet on this boat!" Thomas Körner sits at the tiller, laughing and clearly enjoying himself. The leeward coaming, on which he rests his feet, regularly submerges and lets water into the cockpit. It is midsummer on the Lower Elbe, the westerly wind is blowing at a good three Beaufort, the log is rising to seven knots and the pressure in the cloths ensures that the "Nordwest" runs fast, but also lays heavily on its side. Immediately after setting sail, Körner's sons Paul, 24, and Peter, 21, set the unreefed mainsail and the Genoa I. Without much ado, they decide to switch to the smaller G III.
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Below deck, the work continues until the sail bag comes through the companionway. In the rising gusts, the water is already flowing over the deck and past the windows, and the hasty foresail work with the headsails on the staysails is making a lot of noise down here. "We are regatta sailors," comments Körner Senior. "We change sails all the time. And when they're all wet, it gets nasty down there!"
The events give an impression of what has been everyday life on the "Nordwest" for a hundred years. Since its launch in the spring of 1924, the classless yacht has been put to the test on voyages and regattas. And it is now in its fifth generation of the same owner family.
Built for regatta sailing
Körner had already talked about the extraordinary history of the "Nordwest" before setting sail, when it was still dry below deck. In the cosy saloon, the owner picked up the first logbook of his yacht and opened the yellowed pages. It was written in pencil by his great-grandfather Johannes Schulz, who had no idea at the time that he was compiling a chronicle of his family's sailing history alongside handwritten tide and pay tables, weather and travel records, which would be continued by his descendants a hundred years later.
Records from 100 years
Despite war and crises, all of the logbooks have survived the times and contain valuable memories of the previous owners. Owner Thomas Körner is happy to take the trouble to decipher the handwritten lines. They tell of long journeys and successful regattas, but also of the crew life of the different generations, sailing customs and experiences during the war summers.
The logbooks have also preserved nautical information such as the tide tables or old telegrams, which were used to report home from en route that the "Nordwest" had arrived at its destination unscathed. When Walter Schulz opened a new logbook in the spring of 1987, he stuck a photo of his recently deceased wife Käthe on the first page of the first time they sailed together on the "Nordwest" in the summer of 1934.
The beginning is straightforward, written in German script and consists of just one line: 7 July 1924 - Launching. It was launched at Heidtmann, a renowned shipyard in Hamburg Uhlenhorst on the Alster. The client, Johannes Schulz, ran a sawmill on the Elbe island of Altenwerder and, in the economically difficult post-war years, had the means to have the ship, which was still 11.60 metres long at the time and his third, built.
He learnt to sail on board his father's fishing boat on the Elbe. Schulz built his first boat with a friend when he was still a boy and had "Nordwest" built. The plans were drawn up with the help of the owner, inspired by agreements with other Elbe sailors who wanted to sail against each other in regattas with comparable yachts without receiving any compensation. The contemporary national cruisers were too over-rigged for the rough waters, the contemporary sea cruisers too sturdy, and so they simply agreed on roughly similar dimensions. And so several yachts were built on the Lower Elbe with dimensions between those of the 45 and 75-metre National Cruisers, but with a smaller sail area.
Cosy inside, sporty outside
Below deck, the "Nordwest" was comfortably furnished. Fixed berths for the entire crew - not a matter of course at the time - a pantry and, last but not least, numerous lockers made the ship habitable, as can be seen in the old black and white photos that Thomas Körner presents in thick albums on the saloon table. At the time, a large tube receiver still hangs from the bulkhead, the boys wear bobble hats, the girls plaited pigtails. Lace curtains hang in front of the bulleyes, the porcelain pot of coffee stands on a white tablecloth, but underneath it is the same back on which the old photo albums lie alongside the logbooks today, bringing the history of the "Nordwest" to life.
Sailing was less cosy right from the start. As early as the summer of 1925, Schulz and his family sailed to Norway in a squadron with the "Mialisa", which was roughly the same size. He had received nautical charts from Altenwerder fishermen. The voyage with the motorless ship was an extreme feat for the time and an adventure in terms of navigation, which is still documented in impressive reports today. The skipper did not really trust the steering compass, landmarks and beacons provided orientation, and the lookout from the mast was the most important aid for navigating the archipelago. In 1928, Schulz visited the Olympic sailing competition in Amsterdam with his daughter Annemarie and her friend on his summer trip.
The year 1930 almost marked the end of the "Nordwest": "Father had once again taken the holiday trip with the two ladies", wrote son Walter Schulz later in his memoirs. "They sailed across the Baltic Sea to Skagen, from there back to Hals through the Limfjord to the North Sea. On the last leg to the Elbe, they were surprised by a SW storm. My father tried to reach the Elbe through the 'false low'. The sails went to pieces."
The crew and the "Nordwest" find themselves on the Franzosensand near Friedrichskoog. Stranded in a storm surge, the ship looks completely out of place among the grazing sheep the morning after the storm. And the danger is not over yet: "Fishermen tried in vain to lure my father off board so that the beach blessing would be complete for them." But one of them managed to winch the ship back into the water at high tide with a hawser around the keel from the nearest tidal inlet in return for a reasonable salvage reward.
Owners remain loyal to "Nordwest" into old age
Johannes Schulz and his son Walter regularly take part in the often adventurous regattas in the challenging Elbe region on the "Nordwest", as well as the North Sea Week and Helgoland Autumn Week. And until the outbreak of war, they can also be seen at the start of the sea races in the Baltic Sea region, such as the Kiel-Korsør race or Rund Bornholm.
The ship survived the war without any damage apart from a bomb splinter in the outer skin in a shed on the premises of the sawmill on the local Elbe island of Altenwerder, which Walter Schulz had taken over from his father in the meantime. By the time sailing was allowed again in 1948, Walter Schulz was in his late 30s and had already started a family. He takes over the helm of the "Nordwest" more and more often, even though he has been dependent on crutches and a wheelchair since suffering polio paralysis during the war.
But Schulz still manages brilliantly on board and is known in his home waters like the proverbial colourful dog. And not just because of his limited mobility, but above all because of his numerous regatta successes. His father is still on board well into old age. "Until 1958, at the age of 89, he travelled to the North Sea Week every year," writes Walter Schulz in his memoirs. "In one of these last years, he capsized with the dinghy. He was severely hypothermic in the still cold water. He had to stay in bed for a week. We didn't expect him to take part in the North Sea Week, as it had happened just before Whitsun. Contrary to expectations, he came on board on the Friday before Whitsun with his bedding under his arm. He stayed in his bunk during the night race, but was healthy again the next day!"
During the summer holidays, the second Schulz is always drawn to long journeys. His favourite destinations are Norway or Bornholm, where he regularly visits friends in Allinge who Walter Schulz met as a boy on a cruise there in the 1920s. The friendship is maintained over many years thanks to the "Nordwest".
Ship is adapted to family needs
As in his father's day, Walter Schulz's crew is made up of the whole family. Daughter Karin, Thomas Körner's mother, was particularly enthusiastic about the job until one day she got married - to a sailor, of course - and signed off on her father's "Nordwest". Since the early 1970s, such gaps in the family crew have been filled by young adults who have outgrown the youth sailing cutters in Hamburg's marina and at some point by grandchildren like Thomas Körner, who joined the regular crew at the age of 15. He can now look back on a lifetime on the "Nordwest" himself. He watched his three sons Paul, Peter and Hans grow their sea legs on board.
He has also adapted the boat to his needs and optimised it for family sailing. He has carefully preserved the character of his classic. Modern technology such as a plotter and radio are not installed in the visible area and stylistic elements such as the removable steering compass have been retained. For its 100th birthday, the floating family member was given an extensive makeover and has since shone in the splendour of completely freshly painted surfaces. The new sailing wardrobe, on the other hand, was a gift to both the "Nordwest" and the crew themselves. "It's just fun because the ship runs so well," Thomas Körner and his sons agree.
But this was not always the case. Even after the first summer, first owner Johannes Schulz was disappointed with the sailing characteristics. In comparison with the other newbuildings of those years, his ship was too lean, too luffy and did not go high enough. Fortunately, it is possible to modify the classless vessel with impunity. As a result, congenital diseases were remedied at an early stage and later structural modifications were repeatedly made in line with the ongoing developments in yacht building. The history of the "Nordwest" is therefore also a history of the boat's constant further development.
Modifications turn "Nordwest" into a racing machine
The draught of just 1.20 metres due to the tidal area was increased to 1.30 metres in the very first winter and the ballast increased from 1.2 to 1.4 tonnes. The foresail triangle was increased from 8.50 metres to 11.50 metres in 1938. In 1950, the draught was increased again to the current 1.85 metres. Since then, no one has ever complained about the cruising characteristics of the "Nordwest".
The first engine - a petrol engine - was installed in 1961. And when Walter Schulz took over the "Nordwest" from his father in 1967, he had the ballast increased to 1.75 tonnes and the 20 millimetre thick planking was given a coating of glass mat and polyester resin up to ten millimetres thick by Hanseat shipyard boss Willy Asmus, which was derided as a "shroud" at the time: "Together with my long-time co-sailor, we filled and sanded until the hull was as smooth as glass. The sailing characteristics were then improved to such an extent that older yachts of a similar size hardly stood a chance against 'Nordwest'," recalled Walter Schulz on the occasion of his yacht's 60th birthday, mentioning only in passing that the reward for the effort was winning the Blue Ribbon of the Lower Elbe in the summer after the filling.
The victory was a sensation at the time. For years, the old ship had taken on more water than victories in regattas. Schulz had already wanted to have it scrapped, but decided to give it one last try - with the "Polyestern". Now he sailed Hans Otto Schümann himself with his new "Rubin". He is not exactly thrilled when Schulz jokingly suggests: "If you concede a thousand marks, we can swap!"
New era for "Northwest"
Schulz feels so vindicated by its success that numerous changes are still being made under his aegis. Among other things, the "Nordwest" was given a top rig and a split lateral plan. But with the advent of the IOR era, the 50-year era in which the old yacht was able to hold its own on the regatta circuit came to an end.
Like his father, who once had the "Nordwest" built, Walter Schulz will continue to sail until the end of his life. The sailing summer of 1998 is the 90-year-old's last on board. "He lived for sailing," says Thomas Körner, who lives on the spirit of the old regatta sailor on the "Nordwest". Today, the hundred-year-old yacht would once again have a field of activity with the classic regattas, but above all it is still extensive Baltic Sea voyages on which the now fifth generation emulates its sailing ancestors.
Paul Körner and his girlfriend Mieke circumnavigated the entire Baltic Sea for five months in the summer of 2023. His brothers also joined them. This summer, Peter Körner is also setting off on a trip lasting several months. And even though the motor and chart plotter are available today, the "Nordwest" will be sailed in a sporty and spartan manner, just like in his great-great-grandfather's day. What the original state of construction is on board other classics, here is the authenticity of a ship that has been loved, cared for, modified and sailed intensively for over a hundred years in the spirit of the very first hour. And, as owner Thomas Körner is pleased to say, it looks like a new era is just beginning for his "Nordwest". Exactly in this spirit.
Technical data of the sea cruiser "Nordwest"
- Design engineer: Heidtmann
- Shipyard: Heidtmann shipyard
- Material: Larch on oak
- Year of construction: 1924
- Length (today): 11,30 m
- Waterline: 9,00 m
- Width: 2,65 m
- Depth: 1,85 m
- Displacement: 7,00 t
- Sail area on the wind: 51 m²
More from the world of classics
The story of the "Nordwest" is published in the current issue of YACHT classic, which has been on sale since 21 May. YACHT subscribers receive the magazine delivered to their door free of charge. You can also read a portrait of shipyard founder Henry Rasmussen, the history of Riva boats and look back on Classic Week 2024 in photos by Nico Krauss.
