Klassiske Linjer nr 10 1999 - Klassisk Treseiler Klubb

62
Rasmussen (centre) with his friend and customer Willy
Ratsch on right, and his boatsman Mr.Westphal.
owned by the neighbouring
Weser Yacht Club (in exchange
they got a new clubhouse and
an extra hall for winter-storage)
to turn the yard by about 90º
southeast. The old silverpoplars
have vanished. A & R
today looks more like a modern
factory than like a boat-yard
existing since almost a century.
Herman Schaedla once said
that A & R has never built ships
but "toys for adults". They still
love those boats old Henry
Rasmussen formerly built, but
they do not build them any
longer for economic reasons. A
& R still is a family-owned
enterprise but its outward
appearance has completely
changed over the centuries due
to economic demands. These
changes made the former boatyard
"fit for the future",
although nobody in this yard
would work on the restoration
of one of the old yachts Jimmy
Rasmussen designed and built.
While Rasmussen drew his
benefits from "German
navalism" as well as from his
own European and atlantic, his
international attitude, today’s A
& R lives on specialisation.
A second basis has remained
unchanged: extraordinary
quality and – if big sailing- or
motor-yachts are built today – a
KLASSISKE LINJER NR.10 MAI 1999
marvellous elegance. These
traditional habits allowed A & R
to survive for almost a century
and will let them stay in
business for many more years.
The restoration of old yachts,
especially of those designed by
Henry Rasmussen, has become
the profession of the youngest
grandson of old Jimmy:
Andreas Krause, now 35 years
old, and the boatbuilder Edzard
Wucherpfennig started their
own boatyard about five years
ago. Everything started when
Andreas bought the old 50sqm
windfall-yacht "Seefalke" designed
by his grandfather in 1935
as No. 2941 for the Marine
Regatta Club in Wilhelmshaven.
The ship had to be restored
completely and meanwhile she
returned to her old beauty
(those who were in Laboe in
1998 could admire the result of
K & W's work on the quay).
Besides working on several
projects at the moment
ANGELITA, an eight metre built
in 1930 that won the olympic
gold-medal in 1932, is about to
be restored at K & W. When
talking to the yard’s owners, the
author hears old Jimmy’s
enthusiasm: Andreas Krause
explains that they don’t see the
restoration of old yachts as a
job, but they feel that it is a
profession. Krause:"When
dealing with old yachts we
don't primarily do it because of
the money, but we do it because
we love these old beauties". –
Their plan is to integrate the
owners in each and every
restoration project as much as
possible to give the whole work
a certain transperency within a
boat yard open for new ideas,
integrating the owners’
demands and experiences –
again we feel the Rasmussenspirit
"the best way to build
good yachts is the integration of
one’s own and the owners’
regatta- and sailing-experiences".
Also Andreas Krause and
Edzard Wucherpfennig are
active (regatta-) sailors and
active participants on the
German classic yacht scene –
family-tradition in the word’s
best sense.
To honour Henry Rasmussen,
German Classic Yacht Club will
celebrate again the "Henry
Rasmussen Race – Nations’
Cup for Classic Yachts" during
this year’s Laboe event on the
weekend August 19 to August
22. There will be an extra race
for twelve metres as three
twelves built by A & R have
already announced their
participation: OSTWIND and
WESTWIND now owned by the
German Navy and ANITA, now
owned by a very active
cruising-association – and
there is hope for some more
twelves from Denmark, Norway
and probably Sweden. This will
be real "sailing in the spirit of
yesteryears" as ECYU has put it
in one of the association’s
aims.
Information and photos have
been partly taken from a
German publication about A &
R with kind permission of the
author (Klaus Auf dem Garten:
Abeking & Rasmussen – Eine
Weserwerft im Spiegel des 20.
Jahrhunderts, Hauschild
1998). For some of the photos
of Henry Rasmussen the author
has to thank the Rasmussen
family. Another book which is
available on A & R is Svante
Domizlaff: Abeking &
Rasmussen – Evolution im
Yachtbau, Delius Klasing 1996.
Rasmussen Race - Nations’ Cup for Classic Yachts.The cup,
presented by Rasmussen’s daughter, Brunhild Krause, is in
china.The first winner in 1998 was STEAM, a 6 mR built by
A & R to a design of Anker & Jensen in 1922.