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The Sailboat as illustration from above at a mooring buoy.

Sailboat Jollen­kreuzer Igele

In 1975 a sailboat was build in the Kother shipyard in Krefeld, Germany. My dad bought that boat and he named it Igele (pronounced [ˈiːɡl̩ə]). I have sailed and dreamed on it about all my life and since 2023 I'm not only the shipwright for, but also the new stuart of it.

Objective
This Jollenkreuzer was build in 1975 and I'm now the stuart of it.
Created
2017-05-21
Updated
2025-10-30
Status
Ongoing

Land-locked sailing adventures

It's most likely that you can't sail around the world when you are just sailing on a lake. Well, you can wait and dream for that big adventure, fly on vacation to the see once in a while. But what if you could go on a sail right after the office or go on a cruising adventure on the weekend?

There are more than 130 lakes larger than 100 km2 in europe alone. And about every puddle in Germany, Swizerland and Austria has a yacht club, fresh water is less aggressive on your equipment and you could go dinghy cruising by pulling out your boat from a garage.

I'm pretty much land-locked in the south of Germany. Because of the trailer, my boat won't be able to sail on another lake any time soon. And I'm bound to this location for several other reasons. But that shouldn't stop me from going on an adventure – don't you think?

 

No engine, no fun — right? Wrong!

Igele was build in the seventies as a racer/cruiser. Everything is nice and simple. No extra weight for a toilet, or galley. And because my dad is a racer, there is no engine either. Or in his own words: "That's just unnecessary weight. Makes you slower. We don't want to be slower".

Over the years I came to the conclusion that he is right. Not because it slows us down (that's because of the fifty year old sails), but because not every boats needs an engine. The simplicity, sturdiness (they built it differently back then) and lack of comfort actually makes this boat better than many modern boats. The main propulsion are the sails. Relying only on those forces the skipper to plan ahead and to be more precise with the execution of maneuvers.
But of course there is a fallback system and it's more simple instead of more complex than the main propulsion (well, kind of) to get us back home when the wind is gone or the rig fails.

And after all, it's about the adventure. It's about the journey not necessarily about the destination. It includes slowing down the time from the busy daily tasks. Watching nature and not the screen of our personal devices. And well, getting there when we are getting there.

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