"Everyone is gripped by the idea of speed, some sooner, some later, and then it never lets go. And that's a good thing. For it is at this moment that the sailor is born out of the water driver." This is how the authors of the standard work "Die Segeljolle" summed it up in 1920. Published by the Berliner Kleinsegler-Verband (Berlin Small Sailing Association), it was a real force in organised German sailing at the time, contrary to what the name might suggest. Parallel to the beginnings of elite men's sailing with paid crews on large schooner yachts, a lively regatta activity of amateurs on initially clinkered, open centreboard boats had already developed on the various inland waterways of Europe in the period before the First World War, which soon led to the definition of construction regulations for supra-regional dinghy classes.
One characteristic of these rules characterised the racing dinghies until the Second World War: Only a few limits were prescribed, particularly for sail area and weight. The designers had plenty of room for experimentation in the racing dinghy business. And this was utilised. The battle for regatta silver sometimes became more of a competition between designers than a contest between sailors.
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On the other hand, there has rarely been such a playground for development as here. Names such as Manfred Curry, Reinhard Drewitz, Adolf Harms, Willy Lehmann, Carl Martens, Artur Tiller and Harry Wustrau became famous through their successes in this era. And in addition to the art of empirical crack construction, many of today's inventions in rigging technology and fittings have their roots in these eventful beginnings of popular regatta sport. Whether hollow-glued spars, buoyancy bodies, ballast centreboards, fully battened mainsails, furling headsails, retractable rudder blades or tiller booms, the ambitious amateur sailing of the heyday of racing dinghies produced or significantly promoted them. Measured against the large numbers produced in the early days of racing dinghies, only a few of these filigree lightweight constructions have survived.
The racing dinghy classes experienced a renaissance
In contrast to seagoing yachts, the designers and builders were not interested in durability, but in the fastest possible boats. The class regulations were fully utilised, and the goal was one or two successful seasons. As the building regulations often said nothing about frames and floor frames, these structural parts were undersized or even generously omitted during construction in order to save weight. After the Second World War, the racing dinghies were gradually declared age classes. The few surviving boats were parked and forgotten. Sliding dinghies made of GRP appeared and the foresailor climbed into the harness. For a while, nobody thought that the high-tech racing boats of the 1920s and 1930s would ever flourish again.
But the racing dinghy classes actually experienced a renaissance. As existing classes with regularly organised races, four of the old racing dinghies in particular have survived into the present day. Today, 19 of the 400 10 square metre racing dinghies ("N dinghies") that were once built, ten of the 800 15 square metre racing dinghies ("M dinghies") that once existed, 40 of the 400 20 square metre racing dinghies ("Z dinghies") that were once built, and the 22 square metre national dinghy class (J dinghies - i.e. "I dinghies"), the largest fleet in terms of numbers, with 44 of the 550 former examples remaining.
The N dinghy, which emerged from the sailing gigs around 1910, has been organised in a class association again since 2010. These "tens" had been considered extinct since the 1970s, although they had experienced a real boom in the 1930s, towards the end of the racing dinghy era. In 1932, the German Sailing Association recognised the so-called "Einheitszehner", a standardised class that could take part in the ten-boat regattas with its own classification and was very popular. After the war, a number of new wooden N dinghies were built and regatta activity initially got going again in the 1950s. There were even experiments with moulded hulls and GRP, but classes such as the Korsar and the Flying Dutchman replaced the N dinghy at the end of the 1960s. The last regatta was sailed in 1973.
Wave of restorations in the mid-1990s
The class experienced a renaissance from 2006 onwards, starting in Mondsee in Austria and the waters of Berlin. The M dinghies started a new life from Hamburg. In 2013, five boats competed in a class championship on Lake Ratzeburg, and three years later there were even six boats on Lake Starnberg. After the war, there were also a few new Z dinghies built, mainly in southern Germany. But by the 1960s, the active days of this class were over. Since the mid-1970s, however, the classic Z dinghies have once again gained a fan base on the Austrian lakes.
However, the extensive restorations were carried out later. From the mid-1990s, the rare examples were rescued by enthusiasts, without whom they would have been impossible to sail. The J dinghies go right back to the first building regulations for a national dinghy class in 1909 and are therefore the oldest racing dinghy class. They are known under the four designations J dinghy, inland dinghy, 22-m² racing dinghy or national dinghy. The class was not revived at all after the war. Some of the old boats entered the 15 square metre racing dinghies with a reduced sail area. They were rediscovered as classics towards the end of the 1970s on Lake Constance and a second stronghold developed soon afterwards - on Lake Ammersee.
Twelve owners founded the J dinghy association back in 1981. Today, it is not unusual for fields of more than 20 boats to come together. All four of the old racing dinghy classes meet once a year for a joint regatta event. This involves travelling long distances, as they are spread from northern Germany to Berlin, Lake Constance, the Bavarian and Austrian lakes and even Switzerland. But what is this in the age of motorways and road trailers compared to the heyday of racing dinghies in the 1920s and 1930s? Even back then, when the boats were still transported by horse and cart or by train, you could meet sailors from Vienna on Hamburg's Outer Alster.
Scharpie, H dinghy and O dinghy
Today, classic racing dinghies also include classes such as the 12 square metre Scharpie, the 15 square metre touring dinghy ("H dinghy") or standardised classes such as the O dinghy created for the 1936 Olympic sailing competitions off Kiel. The 12 square metre standardised dinghy is the first German standardised class among dinghies and the result of a competition organised by the German Sailing Association in 1933/31. The competition was for a cheap and easy-to-sail youth boat. 37 designers took part. The class never became particularly popular in Germany, although it was an Olympic class in 1956 and competed in Kiel Week until the early 1970s. Only around 30 boats were built in Germany. The boat was more popular in other European countries. Large fleets still exist in the Netherlands, Great Britain and Portugal. Today, the Scharpies sail in European championships with up to 60 participating boats.
The H dinghy was created in the mid-1920s as a 15 square metre travelling dinghy, but as a design class it very quickly developed into a true racing boat. The intention was actually different. The construction specifications were intended to produce a real cruising boat and resulted in a much more stable boat than the M dinghy with the same sail area. However, as the H dinghy was also only given a few limited dimensions, and races were of course also held in this class, the clients also entrusted their new construction projects to renowned designers, who designed and equipped the boats according to the knowledge of the time. As the H dinghy allowed for many modern developments after the war, it developed into a modern planing dinghy. Since the mid-1980s, however, the old solid wood boats have been united in the class association as old H dinghies and are very actively sailed in numerous races.
As the name suggests, the Olympic dinghy was created for the Olympic sailing competitions off Kiel. The specification was a planked round bilge boat with a straight mast, 10 square metres of cat-top rigging, four battens in the sail, a hull length of five metres and a width of around 1.50 metres. The design by South African Helmut Stauch won the race. The boat has always maintained an active fan base. Old wooden boats still compete in class regattas today.
