Photo Credit: Photo Credit: FRIED ELLIOTT / friedbits.com


F. Laeisz International German Championship history

F. Laeisz International German Championship 
By Marko Hasche, Secretary of the Hamburg Fleet
Jun 1, 2006

History of the Championship
The regatta has published a history of the Hamburg/Luebeck fleets and the German International Championship. It is available in German as a .pdf file. An attempt at an English translation follows:

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History of the star boats championships
by Marko A. Hasche - Secy. HF

The Hamburg Star boat fleet (HF) celebrates their 75th Anniversary in 2006, and their "daughter" fleet, Lübecker Bay“ (LUB) celebrates their 25th anniversary. This history is provided from the viewpoint of a German Star boat sailor.

The Star was designed by William Gardner/Francis Sweisguth in 1910/1911 and since 1932 has become the oldest Olympic class and is the king discipline of sailing. In the last two decades the Star has further developed the two-man high tech boat without losing anything to charm and the elegance. In its nearly 100 years old history the International Star Class yacht Racing Association, founded in 1922 by George A. Corry, has not only maintained the rules, but has constantly advanced the technical Development of the boat.

Today the star boat is world-wide. Annual Continental and world championships are held in varying districts, as well as the unofficial world championship and the highlight of each season, the Bacardi Cup which is held in Miami, USA. Over 8000 star boats have been built in the last 95 years and more than 2500 active sailors are members of the I.S.C.Y.R.A. The largest Star regattas in Germany are Kiel week "the meeting of the world-best Star boats," the German Championship and the Oktoberfestregatta at Ammersee. There are nearly 40 Star regattas alone in Germany annually, world-wide there are over 200. To celebrate their 75th and 25th Anniversaries, the Hamburg and Lübecker Star fleets together with the N.R.V. club will hold the F. Laeisz international German Star Boat Championship 23. - 27. May 2006 on the Alster/Hamburg. Coming up during the Rolex Baltic Week of the N.R.V. is the Star European Championship from 05. - 12 August 2006 in Neustadt/Holstein on the Baltic Sea.

Organization and history 
1. The sun turns around the earth! - Wrong! 
2. The earth is a disk! - also wrong! 
3. The earth is ...... from the viewpoint of Star sailors the earth is partitioned into two hemispheres: Western Hemisphere with north, central, and South America and Eastern Hemisphere of Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. These hemispheres are divided again into 21 districts, which at present consist of 177 Star boat fleets.

All of these fleets are led by a Captain and a Secretary. Two of these fleets are the Hamburg fleet (HF founded 1931) and the Lübecker Bay fleet (LUB founded 1981) in the 13th District of the Eastern Hemisphere. Both fleets extend beyond the N.R.V. club but are based there.

In the winter of 1931/32 the North German fleet was created. With the founding of the Kiel fleet in 1935 the North German fleet was renamed the Hamburg fleet. The initiator of the fleet was the N.R.V. member and sponsor Erich F. Laeisz. From the first he was so convinced that the Star was the class that, together with his friends Hans Domizlaff, Kurt Broschek and Franz Brinckman, ordered the first Star boats from the builders A&R. Since then Lake Alster has been the cradle of the North European Star boats. With the establishment of the HF fleet in 1931, there were then only 4 fleets in Europe, three of which exist still (Solent, Paris and Marseille). With this history the HF and LUB fleets feel their fleet anniversaries are something special and feel obliged to build on this special "Spirit of the Star" as a legacy and stimulus for the future.

The history of the German championship
He was a small but a large Italian! So began the history of the German championship. After the Second World War the first official German championship was not held until 1954 during Kiel week. A newspaper article from the year 1957 on the topic brought up the question. "how many German Championships have we had?" The D.S.V. had the data back to the mid 70s, and the Star Class yearbook, the Log, showed resuls back to 1957. In the 1957 newspaper article it noted that the Italian Agostino Straulino had already won the German Championships 4 times! So, after a consultation with the former German Sailing Federation president, I.S.C.Y.R.A. president, and passionate Star boat sailor Dierk Thomsen (Kiel), the conclusion was that the German Championship had been run previously in the context of Kiel Week which was confirmed by Mr. Otto Schlenzka of the Kiel fleet. Otto Schlenzka found 30 years of reports in the archives of the Kieler yacht club.

From the Kieler week archives it was found that 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957 Star Class races were rated as Open German Star boat championship and were won in each case by Agostino Straulino. As no further references exist previous to this, it can be assumed that starting from 1954 there has been a German championship. Thus the year 2006 is the 52nd official German championship in the Star class. From a historical viewpoint and as legacy and in the memory of the first German Star boat generation it will be 75 years in 2006. In the year 1931 the first international Regatta for the Star was held in the context of Kiel Week - the beginning of a history. At that time, due to the small number of German Star boats, the German Sailing Federation had not yet recognized the Star class as a supported class until the first European championship in 1932 at Kiel and the Olympic Games in 1936 (Kiel).

The Star Log show the results of 1932: (the earliest mention of Kiel week in Star Class literature) 7 Races, 7 Entries
1. 843 Mia VII - Dr. Andersen 39 
2. 810 Paka - Laeisz & Beyn 33 >br> 3. 813 Markab - Fr. & M. Brinckman 30 
4. 811 Bambuko - Domizlaff 25 
5. 842 Koenigsau - Corps Holastia 23 
6. 841 Uzel II - Dr. Lubinus 19 
7. 844 Holland - J. & A. Maas D.N.Q.

The history of the European championship 
The history of the European championship constantly ran contrary to the German championship. 2006 is the 75th anniversary of the European championship but there have been only 67 championships as during the war years 1939 to 1946 no European championship took place. With the European championship to take place during the Rolex Baltic Week of 05. - 12 August 2006, the Star returns to its North German origins, remembering the first European championship in 1932, organized by the North German fleet, which was the first continental championship ever in the Star class. Only later in 1936 came the first Australian Championship, in 1939 the first North American one, and in 1952 the first South American continental championship. 

history