PETER NEUMANN/YPS
Update
Hans-Otto himself stayed close to the development process, encour- aging the early tank testing of many potential designs. In all his enthusiasm for offshore racing Hans-Otto was always seen as one of the great gentlemen of the sport. He knew rule specialist Mary Pera well, but they never had a single argument. Nor can anyone recall Hans-Otto ever filing a protest. For him gentleman-sport meant Corinthian sport. The only professional onboard the early Rubinswas his longtime friend and sailmaker Hans Beilken. Beilken later became one of his toughest competitors and a partner in the 1973 German Admiral’s Cup team as the skipper of Carina.
The Rubin line eventually extended to 16 offshore yachts – all of them state of the art. And of course no Rubin ever carried commercial advertisements on hull, spars or sails. That was not the Hans-Otto style.
Awarded the Order of Merit and the Silver Laurel by the Federal President of Germany for services to sport, Hans-Otto personally regarded his greatest honour as being invited to join the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes… After Kaiser Wilhelm II, Hans-Otto Schümann was only the second German member of this prestigious club. As he was an unrestrained fan of technology, virtually every Rubin underwent trials in the towing tank at the Hamburg Ship Research Institute (HVSA), while his regular boat captain Steffen Müller, now CEO at Knierim Yachts in Kiel, oversaw the construction of many of his best-known yachts.
Hans-Otto was always active in trying to improve offshore racing. ‘Hans-Otto was a very keen supporter of the ORC, and through his series of Rubinshe excelled and led to victory German teams during the golden age of IOR as the primary yacht racing rule,’ says ORC chief measurer Nicola Sironi. ‘Hans-Otto was also an ORC councillor for many years. He had a special charisma. When discussions over one or another question were getting out of control, he simply used to say, “Where is the problem?” (or in German “Wo ist das Problem?”). He will be missed and his passion will be difficult to see repeated.’
‘His charisma was the model for all generations, as it was for me,’ added ORC deputy chairman Wolfgang Schäfer. While his longtime friend Willi Illbruck from Leverkusen was the first German owner to invite professionals (including Russell Coutts)
onboard his Pinta yachts, Hans-Otto continued with his well-oiled Corinthian German crew. He was an ardent supporter of amateur values in the sport. Only much later did he eventually engage the help of his namesake Jochen Schümann in his afterguard. Members of his racing crew such as Ulli Tischendorf and Jörgen Heinritz stayed with Hans-Otto well into later life, frequently joining him onboard his final yacht, the Najad 400 Rubin XVI built in 2000. Like all his yachts she featured a white hull with a red stripe, the colours of his home town of Hamburg. Only the rig was custom built, higher and with more sail area to be always that little bit faster…
And so sailing bids farewell to one of its most colourful and widely admired personalities. Fair winds, Hans-Otto! Andreas Kling and Svante Domizlaff
q
SNAPSHOTS Banned… an inland sailing club in the UK has banned foilers as too dangerous… ‘You can't hear them approach you,’ said a spokesman
Hans-Otto Schümann’s Judel-Vrolijk One Tonner Rubin pounds across the Irish Sea during the rough and rainy 1985 Fastnet. The German team duly went on to win that year’s Admiral’s Cup
10 SEAHORSE
Good biz… for Core Boatbuilders and others, as the AC45 class takes the decision to go fully foiling for the next AC World Series starting in the UK in June 2015 Nice job… Takashi Okura’s TP52 Sledtook a race win at the final round of the 52 Super Series in Ibiza… having been flown to Europe just for the one event! A new…Sledis strongly tipped to join the 2015 Super Series ranks Nope… ISAF declined the offer of America’s Cup-style electronic fleet (and startline) management for its Santander event Quite… vociferously by all accounts Of course… it would have slashed the number of ISAF officials needing to be flown around the world… Coincidence… obviously Still winning… Alinghi’s D35 won the 2014 Vulcain Trophy on Lake Geneva Big deal… a British syndicate is aiming to set a new round-the-world record of 60 days by powerboat That’s only… 15 days slower than Banque Popsailed around Like father… like son. Young Achille Onorato is the top-ranked European Melges 20 skipper of 2014 Wow…no other word for it. 515 sailors entered for the 2014 Laser Masters Worlds (and from 36 nations) What next… Grant Dalton was recently spotted on the Isle of Man qualifying for motorcycling’s Classic TT Race Back in the merde… former Mayor of Naples Luigi de Magistris, following a fresh investigation into the staging of the AC World Series event in that city two years ago Both the… Royal Yacht Squadron and the Royal Thames YC are said to be on the brink of ordering a dozen J/70s apiece for club competition That means... that the 800-boat mark is likely to be passed within another six or so months Amazing… indeed – ed Bargainissimo… The original HeinekenVolvo 60 is yours for something less than €20,000 Brought forward… the 2015 Mini Transat will kick off earlier than usual on 19 September 2015 in an effort to get ahead of those pesky Atlantic lows Off west… l’Hydroptèreflies again, in this case Alain Thébault’s masterpiece is going to have a crack at the Pacific record, Los Angeles to Hawaii US$200,000… is said to be back on the table for the second Star Sailors League in Nassau next month Bravo… after 25 years of near-misses, California’s Mike Holt finally won the 505 World Championship in Kiel Girl power… the fast ladies on Team SCAled the 2014-15 Volvo fleet out through the Gibraltar Straits Oldest VO65 team… Brunel at an average of 38.5 years Youngest… Charles Caudrelier’s Dongfeng at an average of (just) 30.5 years Also bravo… to Annabel Vose, the former ISAF Youth World Champion, winning the 2014 RYA Youth Match Racing title With two… freshly rebuilt 100-footers entered – Ragamuffin 100 and Rio 100– it’s something of a dampener that this Sydney-Hobart will also see the competitive debut of Jim Clark’s mighty 100ft VPLP-Verdier design Commanche Yikes!!! Sorry… (obviously) we meant Carl Schümacher (not Bill) in our Rod Johnstone profile last month Please now check out… ScuttlebuttEurope and RaceboatsOnly – all at
seahorsemagazine.com
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