A text by Gerald Guetat
The year 1956 in Cannes is all about the sea. In May, the Palme d'Or at the film festival goes to the documentary "Le Monde du Silence" by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, directed by the young diver and filmmaker Louis Malle. A few weeks later, the prestigious Motor Yacht Club of the Côte d'Azur (MYCCA) will host the world championships as part of its 16th Powerboating Week, which will be held off the Croisette, along the coast of Cannes. These races are reserved for the various categories of two-seater racing boats recognised by the world governing body for motorised water sports, the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM), and in particular the European E2 medium displacement class.
Motorboat racing in the 1950s
It is a sparse but high-calibre racing line-up at the start with the two German participants, Jürgen Baginski from Berlin and Markus Glas from Lake Starnberg, facing off against the French champions Machat and Van Praet. Baginski is a true sportsman with the physique of a young top athlete who had entered motorboat racing a few years earlier with considerable success.
In the 1950s, motorboat racing was reserved for professionals and the wealthy. Baginski belongs to the second category: his father is at the head of a successful company that, among other things, produces the most popular aspirin tablets of the post-war period in his country. Co-pilot at the helm of his "Berlin VI" is none other than the boat's architect and designer, Kurt Gersch, whose shipyard is located on the banks of the Rhine in Mainz. The "Berlin VI" is a classic hydroplane racing boat of its time, almost flat on the ground and very fast in a straight line. Its wooden construction is as light and rigid as it is precise down to the smallest detail, thanks to the perfectionist craftsman: Kurt Gersch himself is a racing boat driver with many years of experience. The motorisation was provided by the leading brand for racing boat engines at the time, the unbeatable Italian BPM from Milan. Performance, reliability and weight control are the main features of these aluminium blocks manufactured in the capital of Lombardy, which have an unrivalled record of world best performances and victories.
Turbulence in Cannes
As expected, the sun is shining in Cannes at the end of August 1956, but the wind is causing turbulence. The water surface is not as calm as one might expect in this postcard landscape. The championship is held in three rounds, and the Baginski-Gersch crew finishes second twice. The team has to come up with something for the third round.
"Berlin VI" brings unexpected success
The idea: to make the boat lighter, Kurt Gersch gives up his position as mechanic and co-driver to a young woman. She is the daughter of one of the organisers. Little does she realise that she is about to help win a world championship title. In fact, the chequered flag is lowered as Baginski crosses the finish line at the front of the race in the "Berlin VI". After the total points have been counted, the title goes to the German team. The extraordinary third heat of the race will go down in history. Back home, the German press reported enthusiastically on the success of the German team and the racing boat "Berlin VI". The year 1956 could hardly have gone better for them with six national victories and a world championship title.
But soon his father's pharmaceutical business increasingly requires the presence of the world champion, who has to say goodbye to competitive sport and his somewhat playful life for good. Kurt Gersch's shipyard, who had also won the world title in Cannes, is busy storing Baginski's last racing boat and all the equipment. Decades pass and Rolf Gersch succeeds his father at the helm of the family shipyard and marina. To make room and because no one wants to take care of it anymore, the world champion "Berlin VI" is sold several times over the years. The owner seems to have lost interest in the glory days of his youth.
Big reunion with the "Berlin VI"
After a nationwide search, the "Berlin VI" reappeared decades later, in 2009, in a rusty container in Regensburg. Regardless of the condition of the now partially rebuilt Champion hydroplane, the son of the designer, Rolf Gersch, buys the dilapidated boat in order to lovingly restore it. The work to restore it to its original condition took years. But thanks to his father's carefully preserved archives and plans, Gersch succeeds in restoring the classic on board his large Rhine barge, which houses his historic restoration workshop.
Just like his father, he is a perfectionist and patiently breathes new life into the boat piece by piece. To honour his father's memory and pay tribute to his talent as an architect and world champion builder, he has not neglected any original detail, not even the gleaming 2800 cubic centimetre BPM four-cylinder racing engine, which still starts up loudly and angrily at the first turn of the key even after all these years.
The boat
- Year of construction: 1956
- Length: 5,45m
- Width: 1,72m
- Weight: 550 kg
- Design: Kurt Gersch
- Owner/driver: Jürgen Baginski
- Hull material: Plywood
- Motor: Four-cylinder in-line engine 2.8L
- cubic capacity: 2785 cc
- Performance: 150 hp at 3,600 rpm
- Carburettor: 2 Solex twin carburettors
- Speed: 90 km/h
