For the first time, the Krupp Foundation was ready to open its archive. A treasure trove has opened up for every historian who is passionate about sailing. Unique documents bear witness to the great German sailing history. It's about inimitable ships and their builders, about regatta successes and ambitious skippers.
It all began in 1908 with the construction of the "GermaniI", Friedrich Krupps' 55 meter long racing schooner. A year after its completion, the yacht achieved world fame when it won the regattum of the Imperial Cup in front of Cowes.
In the decades that followed, the Krupps had five more "Germanias" built, the last one in 1963 from & R. Each of these boats has its own, often eventful, history. Most of the knowledge about it disappeared after the Second World War in the private archive of the industrial dynasty.
Svante Domizlaff and Alexander Rost have now succeeded in compiling extensive documentation on the "Germanias". Her book "Germaina. Die Yachten des Haus Krupp" is published by Delius Klasing Verlag and will be presented at boot in Düsseldorf (366 pages; 49.90 euros). Excerpts from it in words and pictures are printed in advance in the new YACHT.
The YACHT 2/07 will be available in newsagents from Wednesday.