The Gersch shipyard was founded in 1946 in Wiesbaden-Schierstein by Dipl.-Ing. Kurt Gersch. In 1959, the jetty was moved to Mainz Kastel, its current location. After the Second World War, Bootsbau Gersch & Sohn made a name for itself through the racing boat designs and racing activities of its senior. Kurt Gersch constructed the first three-pointers (hydroplanes, boats that have no water displacement and are therefore extremely fast) with outboard engines in Europe; Johnson and Mercury were the first outboard engines he used, later the pure racing engines of Dieter König (designer of racing boat engines and racing driver) were used.
In 1956, Kurt Gersch built the "Berlin VI" racing boat for Jürgen Baginski, the owner of the Spalt-Tabletten-Werke in Bad Soden. Like many other racing boat designers, he was also fascinated by driving these boats. So he sat next to Jürgen Baginski as co-driver in the boat, and both were able to record a very successful racing season that year. In August 1956, the "Berlin VI" took first place at the world championship in Cannes in the south of France. At the end of 1956, she was sold to Rüdesheim.
For 40 years, the Gersch family endeavoured in vain to find their beloved racing boat, the "family member" whose trail had been lost beyond Rüdesheim. At the end of 2009, a search advert was placed for the first time in a classic car magazine under the heading "Readers help readers" with a picture of the "Berlin VI". Luckily, a man from Regensburg got in touch on 30 December 2009 and claimed to have the boat they were looking for.
Son Rolf Gersch, successor to Kurt Gersch, who died in 1997, travelled to Regensburg with his wife in January 2010. Once there, the boat owner took the baffled couple to a container, which he said he was opening for the first time in 30 years (!).
The sight was correspondingly shocking. The roof of the container was rusted through and the boat was half full of water. The paint was peeling off completely. At some point, the boat had been converted and fitted with a flat engine cover and windscreen for water ski racing on the Danube. A used marinised Rover V8 with gearbox was partially installed and everything was perfectly assembled.
rusted.
It took Rolf Gersch half an hour to realise with the help of the original plans that he was standing in front of the remains of the "Berlin VI". Nevertheless, there was no hesitation for him: he bought the recovered "family member" and at the end of January 2010, the former owner brought the boat to Mainz-Kastel. There it was inspected by an employee of the Gersch shipyard at the time and the head of the Hillmann boatbuilding guild. After several debates about what to do, it was finally decided to use the "Berlin VI" as a training project for prospective boat builders.
The woodwork and paintwork was carried out at the Hillmann shipyard in accordance with Rolf Gersch's instructions using the original plans. The entire outer skin had to be replaced, and the frames were also partially removed, restored and reinstalled. This work lasted until 2011, after which the boat was returned to the Gersch shipyard.
Rolf Gersch now began to repair and install the entire technology. The biggest problem was finding an original BPM racing engine with two Solex twin carburettors. The purchase of a Hydroplane racing boat (European champion 1959) with a BPM engine gave him contacts in Italy, and so in 2011 he was able to acquire a BPM engine that actually dated from the time of the "Berlin VI".
That is the current state of affairs. As the BPM racing engines are all hand-built, Rolf Gersch is making parts for them and hopes to be able to install the engine as soon as possible. Then the "Berlin VI" would finally be ready for use again after its decades-long, rather uncomfortable slumber ...
