What on earth do old Ossie boats have to do with a Wessie wedding? In this case, quite a lot. They played the role of a proper escort for Marcus and Maja from Hamburg, who were not keen on a standard land-based wedding in white. An idea with good reason, because Marcus himself drives a boat. Not just any boat, but a Lotus II, built in 1988 at the VEB Müggelspree shipyard and christened "Vorplay" - nomen est omen - by the two wedding guests.
VEB? So in a "state-owned enterprise" in the former GDR? Exactly. And we are already in the middle of our unusual story about a club for vintage fans of old GDR boats, which, curiously enough, was founded by a Wessie in Heidelberg who was plagued by a lack of information: Stefan Rackmann - the man who started it all.
Let him tell us himself. "Well, in my case, every few years a new project suddenly pops into my head. One of them was the idea of having a yacht out of the blue in 2001. It had to be around ten metres. Objects of desire were quickly identified, including a Super van Craft from 1960, chrome and wood wherever you look.
Then I started to have doubts about the size. The trailerable and manageable alternative appeared on "ebay". Nobody wanted to buy the old one at auction. So I contacted the seller in Brandenburg directly and became the owner of a 5.20 m long mahogany boat, GDR shipyard construction, probably Rechlin shipyard 1970, Optimist type, 2-stroke three-cylinder engine from Wartburg - but the first questions arose, especially of a technical nature.
Until then, I thought that the Internet had something to offer on every topic - far from it. Then I wanted to change that ..."
And Rackmann changed. By mid-2003, the homepage www.oldieboote.de on the net. In the meantime, the site and forum have developed into a topic-specific address for anyone who has questions about GDR shipyard construction and GDR engines and is looking for advice. At the same time, the club idea was born, a loose community of interest with the Internet and forum as its centre. The desire to meet up on the water once a year with a boat, wife, child and dog also emerged. The third oldie boat meeting on Lake Teupitz shows that this idea is now alive and well.
Downloads:
download
