Wassersportverein Gronau e.V.
Wassersportverein Gronau e.V. is a sailing and watersports club on Lake Driland (Dreiländersee) in Gronau, Westphalia, at the tri-border area of the Netherlands, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. The grounds include a clubhouse, boathouse, jetties, slipway and youth rooms; members can use club boats such as Optimists, Lasers, 420s and Centaur and rent land or water berths. The programme ranges from weekly youth training and club regattas to sailing licence courses, youth camps and cruises on the IJsselmeer and the Baltic Sea. Emerging from the watersports section of Vorwärts Gronau founded in 1976, the club has been independent since 2025 and has repeatedly been recognised for its youth work.
History
The watersports section of Vorwärts Gronau 09 e.V. was founded on 12 July 1976 after Gerhard Kemper announced the plan at the members’ meeting on 31 January 1976. Ten interested sailors met at the inn „Zum schwimmenden Karl“; the city of Gronau provided the old pumping station at Lake Driland as a temporary base. In September 1976 the first boat arrived, a used Koralle dinghy christened „Gronau 1“ by mayor Bruno Jäkel. The first section head was Alexander Meister (1976–1988). Early sailing and windsurfing took place at Offlumer See, Veluwe Meer, Flevostrand and Nordhorn; in 1977 close ties with the Nordhorn watersports club began. In January 1981 the section joined the German Sailing Federation. From 1984 the eastern part of Dreiländersee became usable; in August 1984 the first regatta was held on Lake Driland together with the Nordhorn club. Members built a twenty-metre jetty themselves; on 31 May 1986 the boathouse was opened, later joined by berths, a slipway and a second floating jetty. In 1986 the first official autumn Optimist regatta took place. In 1995 a youth equipment house was built entirely by volunteers; in 2002 a new jetty was completed. The youth section was named youth section of the year by the NRW sailing association in 2005/2006 and again in 2017; in 2021 Vorwärts Gronau received the „Club of the Year“ award from the DSV and Seglerzeitung. Storm Kyrill damaged boats in 2007; the grounds were expanded in 2015. In 2025 the watersports section was dissolved and became the independent Wassersportverein Gronau e.V., a member of the German Sailing Federation and the NRW state sailing association. Since 2026 Julia Hüntemann has been the first woman to lead the club.
Information
Youth section
Active youth section „Drilandpiraten“ with weekly training from spring to autumn, free club boats in the first year, youth rooms, winter programme, a four-day youth camp at Corpus Christi, and multiple awards (including SVNRW youth section of the year and Club of the Year 2021).
Parking
Car park 2 at Lake Driland (paid)
Boating license training
Available: 1
Peter Tasche
Jürgen Loos
Theory lessons at the clubhouse; practice on Lake Driland and on SKS courses on the IJsselmeer