Freundeskreis Klassische Yachten

Sorry about writing in English, but my German is almost non-existent.

I am an Australian sailing writer, researching for a book on dinghy and skiff design and history. There has been very little written about the subject in English in recent years, apart from Frank Bethwaite's High Performance Sailing. Frank tends to write only about skiff classes, and I'm interested in other streams of development as well.

Can anyone point me towards information about the development of the German and European dinghies? From what I can see, the Rennjollen were the most highly developed of the older classes. I have got some history from this site, but I would also like to obtain some plans and any other information that may be readily available in English.

I also have information about the O Jolle, but I'm not sure about other significant German classes. While the book is not primarily a history, the history section is important because it gives some idea about development. For instance, it's ironic that Australia is known as the place where skiffs developed, yet the most popular high-performance dinghy nationally is the Sharpie. It's built on the same lines as the 12 sq m Sharpie but about 1/3 the weight, with a different rig, trapeze and three crew giving it similar speed to a 505.

Has Europe abandoned the old-style Rennjollen/Sharpie hulls for new designs, or are there still new boats along the same sort of lines?

Any information would be appreciated.

Chris

Dear Chris,

first we want to express our cooperativeness. We're all keen on classic yachts and dinghies and have many sources and material. Most are in german, of course, but we can try to translate the information you need.

Some links:

http://dict.leo.org/?lang=en
is a very good online dictionary for german/english. It lacks a little on maritime terms but may help you.

http://www.fky.org/prestodata/search.ph ... nguage=eng
(in one line) is the extended search mask for our register of yachts. There are all classic yachts and dinghies from 1900 to 1970. I'm working on the english translation of the masks, sorry that most is in german now.

http://www.fky.org/prestodata/search.ph ... nguage=eng
(in one line) is our database for drawings. And - we translated it! So type for example at "class" "rennjolle". We have drawings in higher resolutions, just ask for them. The database is under construction but working.

http://www.fky.org/prestodata/documents ... eutschland
(again in one line! - sorry)
Manfred Jacob (manfjacob@aol.com) is the man of our organisation who knows everytring about german dinghy history (i hope) and wrote this article.

http://www.yachtsportarchiv.de/yachten/ ... ollen.html
shows you an overview on racing dinghies.

The most important existing classes in germany are (in my opinion):
* J-jolle
* Z-jolle
* O-Jolle
* H-Jolle (very interisting evolution from 1928 up to now - but nowadays with much carbon and no wood at all)
* Pirat - this is one of the most active classes in Germany. Pirates were developed in 1937 and even the GRP hulls from today have the same shape. Look at
http://www.yachtsportarchiv.de/yachten/ ... pirat.html
* Sharpies - but we have only around 20 of them. But an active class, as well.

But as i said - feel free to ask for more information.

Sincerely,
Ingo List (owner of a netherland-national-16m2-gaff-rigged-open-dingy - www.bm-jolle.de - but netherland history is beyond my scope)

I write about german (central europe classes until 1950) centerboaders. For foreign boats look at Uffa Fox books.
The german classes (H,Z,J,M,E ...) are design classes. This classes have a development in the hull. The H and Z are today build with modern materials and have trapeze , spinnaker ...
and are very fast.
The J, M, E are build until 1950.
The one-design classis Pirat, 12 qm Sharpie and O-Jolle:
Pirat: same lines of the hull in fiberglas, same displacement, same shape of rigg, mast in aluminum, spinnaker
O-Jolle: same lines of the hull, same shape of rigg, mast in aluminum
12 qm Sharpie: wood only, no development in the rules since 1950.

In the Alpin lakes, they sail Libera-Classes today. The boats were sailing with up to 15 people in trapeze. They are spectacle like 18-feeters and very fast. Modern naval architects Bruce Farr is designing them.