Gemeinschaft zur Förderung des Seesegelns Hagen e. V.

History

The Gemeinschaft zur Förderung des Seesegelns Hagen was founded on 20 September 1971. Henner Heinbach ran the Harkortsee yacht school at the time and Walter Lex was a sailing instructor there. Both wanted to offer training not only in dinghies but also on seagoing vessels, and to do so through a club. The idea was implemented by seven founding members, and voyages, training and examinations were carried out with their own offshore yacht. The first vessel was a Suncoast 44 purchased directly from a shipyard in the Netherlands and christened Westfalen. The practical start of GFS Hagen came with the delivery voyage of Westfalen from the IJsselmeer to Fehmarn from 28 April to 3 May 1972. Through the first sailing cruises, word of mouth and travel reports from skippers, crew and members, membership grew steadily. Through training and sailing courses it reached 64. Because demand for cruises could not always be met, a second yacht, a Sortilege, was acquired in September 1976 and named Meltemi. After only one season it turned out that the boat had run aground after a fire with the previous owner, which had been concealed at purchase, so the sale was reversed. At the Boot show in Düsseldorf they found a Phantom 38 built by Yachtbau Genzel in Hagen, purchased it and christened it Meltemi II on 29 March 1978. From 1979 both ships wintered in Burgstaaken. The following years were filled with beautiful Baltic cruises to almost all areas of the Baltic, from Fehmarn to the Kattegat and Skagerrak up to Norway, Sweden and Finland. There were setbacks too: in 1972 Westfalen had to be towed to Burgtiefe after a cable fire. In 1973 the yacht suffered gearbox damage that, days later after an anchor break, led to grounding off Burgtiefe. The rescue cruiser Hamburg towed the ship free and thanks to robust construction no repair was needed. In 1974 the longest single voyage to date covered 1,131 nautical miles via Heligoland and Thyborøn to southern Norway and back via Smögen, Anholt and Copenhagen to Burgtiefe. Westfalen was sold on 24 February 1988 and handed over in Scheveningen on 19 June 1988. As demand could not be met with one ship and a member survey showed sufficient utilisation for two boats, the club decided in 1998 to buy another yacht, a Najad 360, financed by a member loan and christened Nordlicht, which sailed its first season under the GFS Hagen flag that year. In May 1999 both club ships started a parallel cruise from Fehmarn through the Kiel Canal to Cuxhaven, then via Heligoland, Hörnum on Sylt, Esbjerg and along the Jutland coast to Thyborøn, through the Limfjord with a crew change in Aalborg, and back through Danish waters to Fehmarn. Besides individual cruises, at least one double cruise was held each year. On 30 July 2012 Meltemi II ran onto rocks off Stavstensudde on the Swedish south coast. Rescue services could not refloat the yacht; the crew was taken ashore by jetski. After about a week a flat barge brought equipment to salvage the boat, but wind and waves had caused a total loss. On 25 January 2013 a contract was signed for a Najad 361 in Großenbrode as replacement. The ship was taken over on 19 April 2013, sailed to Burgtiefe and christened Nordstern on 20 April 2013. The Gemeinschaft zur Förderung des Seesegelns Hagen e. V. celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021.