The best things in life - who hasn't experienced this - happen purely by chance. For Willi Hänsler, one of these "coincidences" was a trip to the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen organised by his Kressbronn-Gohren-based Motor Yacht Club Obersee (MYCO). It is located directly on the harbour, which - it was Interboot time - was dominated by the water sports exhibition.
A welcome opportunity for Hänsler, who not only enjoys his motorboat hobby in his free time, but also as the owner of a boat engine and accessories workshop in Neuravensburg, to take a look around the harbour mile. There he met Stephen Murkett again, whom he had got to know some time ago through problems with his twin-engined Chris-Craft 27 Concept.
Only now Murkett is not lying on the jetty with a cabin cruiser, but with a Baja 25 Outlaw, a Mercury HP 525 EFI flashing under the open bonnet. And Murkett is not alone, but part of a pack of other Bajas and other offshore boats. All with eye-catching decorations and besieged by crowds of people who can't get enough of this tingling atmosphere. They can hardly wait until the signal is given to set off and the chorus of V8s begins its bubbling canon before the incomparable sound of the engines comes to full fruition on the race course in front of the harbour.
The spectacle, which has been taking place daily between 5 and 7 pm (except Wednesday and the second Sunday of the trade fair) during Interboot in front of thousands of spectators on the Friedrichshafen waterfront promenade since 2005, is called the "Liquid Quarter Mile", an acceleration race boat against boat over the distance of a quarter of a mile (approx. 402 metres). Thrilling duels within what are now eleven boat classes, categorised according to horsepower or membership of special groups such as jet skis, classic cars or racing boats (super class). At the end, the two fastest of all classes compete in the final race for the day's victory.
The fact that Stephen Murkett, a Porsche designer from Gerlingen near Stuttgart, has been involved in the Liquid Quarter Mile from the very beginning also has something to do with chance. He had read about the trade fair's bold plans and spontaneously wanted to take part without really knowing what was in store for him. But there was another problem: his "Wild Card" does not have a Lake Constance licence! "We'll get it sorted," recalls Stephen Murkett in response to the redemptive news from the Friedrichshafen Shipping Office, which issued a temporary Lake Constance licence for the duration of the event. Murkett and the Liquid Quarter Mile - it was an instant hit.
Back with his mates from the Rhine, most of them from the poker run scene and networked in the "Offshoreonly" forum, he talks enthusiastically about his experiences and the dance of his Baja on the waves of Lake Constance - with one clear conclusion: "You absolutely have to come along next year."
They don't need to be told twice: Alexander Bollinger (Baja H2X "Sound of Silence", later Pantera SS 28 "Sunset Avenue"), Stefan Brümmel (then Sonic Sportster 220, now Aero-Tek 30 "Final Destination"), Klaus Adelmann (Baja 25 Outlaw "Legal Drug"), Marcus Schilling (Aero-Tek 28 Spirit "Bad Influence", later Activator 30 Sport and Cigarette 38 Top Gun), Michael Rauch (Donzi Z 33 Crossbow), Gunther Schwarz (Baja 26 Outlaw), Andreas Preuninger (Baja 272 Performance "Andiamo"), Torsten Rose (from 2009 with Baja 272 Boss "Booster"), Markus Schmidt (Baja 275 Performance, now 26 Outlaw), Patrick Hofstetter (2008 Phantom 23, now Baja 24 Outlaw "Pssst..!") and others came to Friedrichshafen in subsequent years with their cars with over 400 hp to 1200 hp under the bonnet and gave the trade fair event that special touch.
Even Willi Hänsler can't escape it. Which also has consequences. "The fact that they come from the Rhine and show us how to sail a boat" obviously takes the Lake Constance skipper by surprise. So he decided to join in himself from then on. In 2008, Hänsler entered a Novurania rigid inflatable boat (5.7-litre OMC inboard engine, 260 hp) for the first time in the quarter-mile duel.
But then he created his own trademark for the Liquid Quarter Mile: the "Orange Fun", a slim Flechter Arrowshaft 25 (7.80 m x 2 m), motorised with a 5.7-litre MerCruiser tuned to 290 hp. An acquaintance had bought it on eBay in a "very bad condition" (there were holes in the hull) and gave it up. A case for Willi: he restored the rarity (only seven build numbers) from the ground up: Boat turned upside down, two layers of laminate on the hull, filling, sanding, filling again and so on, then varnishing - and finally the interior work.
Hänsler also does something good for the engine: it gets new pistons and a "proper" camshaft. The Fletcher shines in new splendour for the Liquid Quarter Mile 2009. As "Orange Fun", it has since brought its new owner top placings in the K5 class (201-300 hp). "I always win the first 200 metres," says Hänsler. From then on it gets really exciting. Because that's when the heavier offshore boats also get up to speed.
Of course Willi Hänsler - like every participant - wants to get the best out of his boat and engine (if only to give the spectators on the shore something to cheer about), of course he is happy to set new records, but winning is not his primary concern - something he shares with many long-standing LQM participants. Much more important to him are reunions, socialising and exchanging ideas with other powerboat people and mechanics. Especially with those from the Rhine who have grown close to his heart over the years.
This is mutual: the offshore-only guys affectionately call their Willi "our tour guide", who, as the local hero on the LQM-free Wednesday ("Interboot Night"), is traditionally responsible for the destination coordinates of the joint boat trip. "Willi always comes up with something new," says Baja fan Markus Schmidt, whose emotional outburst over a technical problem earned him the nickname "Mr Dynamite". But that in no way means that he drives "with a knife between his teeth". Despite his sporting ambition to be the best on the day - "safety first".
Such a sense of responsibility does not fit in at all with the clichés and prejudices that are commonly held about men with powerful motorboats. Nor does the sense of community. They also cultivate this outside the Liquid Quarter Mile, during which the BMK harbour in Langenargen, including its two harbour masters Wolfgang Müller and Rolf Krause, always becomes a kind of second home.
They meet regularly throughout the year at regulars' tables, take part in poker run events, arrange to go on boat trips together, have a "fuel blow-out" at the end of the season or a "mulled wine fill-in" at Christmas markets. In short - they live the Offshoreonly motto: "Start together, sail together, arrive together and, last but not least, celebrate together and have fun!"
Probably the offshore-only clique's favourite meeting place is the Reffenthal, an old arm of the Rhine north of Speyer. You can always find "Reffis" there, you just join them. "Shortly before the last Interboot, there were twelve of us in a packet there," recalls Patrick Hofstetter, whose passion for powerboats was rekindled by Stephen Murkett & Co. at the Friedrichshafen LQM jetty in 2006. He immediately signed up to the Offshoreonly forum and has been part of the scene ever since.
Just like Michael Beyrer, who is taking his time with his LQM debut until he has the "right boat". No, not the Checkmate, which he had already been sailing on Lake Constance for a while - he wanted something really special. And this is what the mechanical engineer finds in February 2009 after six months of scouring the US boat market in the United States, which he visits every year for the Miami Boat Show: a Nordic 28 Heat, with a Mercury Racing HP 600 SCI with supercharger in the engine compartment.
This type of engine is now also associated with Stephen Murkett's "Wild Card". The transfer tour by rental pickup and trailer over several thousand kilometres in the depths of winter from the state of Utah to the ship in Europe is an adventure in itself. The driver and boat have passed the endurance test on land and have been demonstrating it on the water since 2010 during Interboot on Friedrichshafen's waterfront promenade.
All these power boats and the authentic characters that go with them give the Liquid Quarter Mile its special flair. But they are not the only thing that has made the acceleration race an unrivalled event in Europe. It is the mixture with the "normal" boats, whether from exhibitors or recreational skippers, who live their hobby with the same passion and go into the head-to-head race with the same fun and ambition: "Taking part is everything." The Olympic idea unites the LQM community.
It includes boat builder Bernd Hiltergerke - also a man of the first hour with his Hilter Royal 660 - as well as Martin Kiesecker with his inflatable boat Wiking 480 Wega, 79-year-old Dr Rüdiger Trupp with his driver Dr Gutheil in the Hellwig Milos V 630 IB "Ticonderoga". Gutheil in the Hellwig Milos V 630 IB "Ticonderoga", the 2010 LQM winner, Helmut Dürnberger with his Talon "Red Devil", Roland Adamek and his 20 hp-powered 3.50 metre Silent Craft Baby Sport (BOOTE 12/09), the Swiss boat builder Rolf Zurfluh and his even smaller fun boat "Bienchen" or Norbert Gimpl, who in his own words is "boat sick".
For him, the brilliant idea from Interboot project manager Dirk Kreidenweiß to simply transfer quarter-mile races from the road to the water and bring motorboat racing up close to the public was just what he needed. Since then, Gimpl has continued to surprise with new boats, projects and plenty of adrenaline on the quarter mile - whether he is at the helm of a Zodiac RIB 600 Yachtline, a Zapcat, a catamaran prototype with a 400 hp small block or Rolf Zurfluh's "Bienchen".
He had asked Gimpl, who runs a car engine service in Herrenberg and is also very familiar with outboard motors, for advice: "Norbert, I've got big plans for the little bee. It has to be really fast." At the LQM 2012, he was able to see for himself that he had come to the right place with Gimpl and his trimming and propeller box of tricks: "Bienchen" had become "Superbienchen" ...
As much speed as all the boats bring, the new power of the Liquid Quarter Mile are the jet skis, which are hard to beat over the short distance in smooth water due to their fast acceleration and optimum horsepower-to-weight ratio: in 2011, Natalie Rauschendorfer from Friedrichshafen won the LQM in 14.44 seconds on her father's Sea Doo GTX Limited iS 260, while in 2012 Ralf Rauschendorfer took the title himself, but at 16.61 seconds took significantly longer than her daughter in her dream run.
The fact that such a show is even possible on Lake Constance once a year for a week during Interboot is almost a miracle, given the strict regulations that apply to the area. The happy initiator Dirk Kreidenweiß explains the reason: "Everyone pulls together and gives the sport a chance." The shipping authority of the Lake Constance district, the mayor of the city of Friedrichshafen, the water police, Messe Friedrichshafen as the organiser and, last but not least, the professional and safety-conscious organiser, Match Center Germany from Langenargen - they all have one thing in common: they don't want to prevent, but rather make possible, something that delights thousands of spectators, is good for the region and demonstrably does no harm to the lake.
