Obituary: Manfred Welkamer - a little man who made it big

I am in mourning. The boating world mourns. Manfred Welkamer, BOOTE employee, veteran of the German motorboat scene, ... and my friend, died on 15 March 2022 at the age of 75.

He left as he lived; on board his Princess 33 "Filou" in Hamburg. Always sailing close to the wind of life, he always followed his credo "Hier ward nich bidreit, hier ward nicht refft". This season, the antifouling had already been painted at the beginning of March, the engines had already been winterised and the boat was in the water when fate suddenly struck.

Born in Travemünde shortly after the end of the war, six-year-old Manfred was given his first boat by his father, the workshop manager of the boatbuilding school on Priwall. After that, there was no stopping him and an unrivalled boating career took its course. Rarely straightforward, but always upright - except when he had to dive into the furthest corner of an engine room to look for a leak.

After his apprenticeship as a mechanic, Manfred worked as a boat builder for various German shipyards and travelled the world for 25 years as a service employee for legendary brands such as Bertram and Riviera. Along the way, he ferried hundreds of boats across the continent and then set up his own yacht service business.

From the early 2000s, Welkamer worked as a freelance test driver and technician for the BOOTE editorial team, was present for our readers on the BOOTE stand at all trade fairs and became a legend, not least thanks to his monthly column "Manni's Meckerecke".

I still remember exactly how it came about: As so often, we sat together as berth neighbours and friends on the aft deck of his "Filou", enjoying the setting sun over the Tatenberg lock and proudly leafing through the freshly printed BOOTE magazine. "No offence meant, but ..."

When Manfred chose this phrase, you could be sure, as he put it, that you would be "polarised". That was the case that evening too. At some point I got fed up with his constant "know-it-all" attitude and I offered him the chance to put his eternal grumblings about the magazine and the boating world in general down on paper. What I didn't realise at the time was that he took me at my word. "Manni's Meckerecke" was born and has been a must-read for many BOOTE readers for years.

And it is by no means the only thing we have to thank Manfred for.

Generations of BOOTE boating students, whom he trained as part of our boating courses in Hamburg, Berlin, Friedrichshafen and Croatia, remember his "thrown bowline". Yes, Manfred was actually able to create this complex knot in one piece by skilfully throwing the line - incredible.

There is much more to tell about this unusual little big man. And that's exactly what we want to do in an upcoming issue. Manfred's life story is so colourful and closely interwoven with the history of the German boating scene that we will be telling it in detail in an upcoming issue. Anyone who would like to contribute their own personal experiences with him is cordially invited to do so. Just send an e-mail to redaktion@boote-magazin.de with the keyword "Manfred".

I mourn...