„We cannot change the wind, but we can adjust the sails.“ (Aristotle)
Set a course and enjoy it
It was after the first lockdown from March 16th for seven weeks until May 4th, 2020, yes nobody likes to remember it. We all had to work from home. Even after that, it was preferred to work from home, so the idea came to me of maybe realizing my life's dream and buying a boat and working there, in the BoatOffice.
In December 2020, the next lockdown was discussed because the number of corona cases was rising drastically. I set myself requirements for "my" boat and the longer I thought about it, the more real it became.
And the thought of having my own boat always made me happy, with which you can sail around the world, wherever you want, the only thing is the time it takes. Yes, that's a nice course that I want to take.
However, I couldn't yet imagine how much work and time would be needed to make my boat look the way it does today (summer 2024):
„In 20 years you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did do. So untie the knots, leave the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds with your sails. Explore. Dream." (Mark Twain)
So I looked for a boat that suited my requirements and, above all, my budget. I realized that a good boat was too expensive for me, so it had to be a boat that I had to fix up myself.
Then I saw my Aaris on the internet for the first time in December 2020, I thought I might like this boat:
It is an aluminum boat with hard chine and a center cockpit, a cruising sailor that you could use to travel the world.
It turned out that the owner had died and it hadn't been used for 4 years.
The owner, the wife, had too many memories of her husband on this boat and now wanted to take the step of parting with the Aaris.
So it wasn't that expensive, but it was clear that a lot had to be done. The broker told me a few things, but there was a lot more to do.
But since the sea was so far away from me and Regensburg, it had to be a boat that you could live and work on, and the Aaris fulfilled this.
So I signed the purchase contract on May 2nd, 2021 and in the following days the Aaris was handed over to me, and I also took over the contract for the berth.
At first she was only on land in the shipyard. Here are some facts about the Aaris (Afghan for bride):
She was designed by Horst Stichnoth, a ship designer from Bremen, under the name "Stichnoth Törn 1195"
She is located in Lübeck on the Teerhofinsel in the Trave, 10 nautical miles from Travemünde on the Baltic Sea.
She is 11.95m long and 3.85m wide with a draft of 1.90m.
She is not a lightweight and weighs 12.8t dry (with empty diesel and water bunkers), of which around 3.6t of lead is in the keel as ballast. If you add 350 litres of diesel (also in the keel) plus 550 litres of water (left and right of the keel), you get a total of around 13.7t.
The engine used as a pusher in calm conditions and for harbor maneuvers is a Mercedes Benz OM616 car engine, known as the 123 240D with 72 hp, marinized in dual-circuit cooling. The Aaris is driven by a 3-bladed fixed screw on one shaft.
For cold days and nights there is a stainless steel Refleks cutter oil heater with water coil and two connected radiators in the bathroom and in the owner's cabin.
The Dacron mainsail is about 35 square meters and is fully battened, it has 3 reefing rows and can be stowed in the lazy jack. The genoa in the furling system is about 54 square meters. In bad weather, a storm jib with stay riders can be set on the baby stay. There is also a Blister sail for calm wind conditions.
She sails exceptionally well, with the long keel she is not very sporty but she is safe and the bow goes through the waves nicely. However, reversing with this long keel is not always easy.
The previous owner was a carpenter and did all the carpentry work on the inside of the Aaris himself. With its light maple wood, the inside looks more like a cozy alpine hut, which I really liked.
I then drove to Lübeck all month a week for over three years and worked on it in the afternoons until late at night. Before that I had BoatOffice.
In April 2022 the boat was launched and made its first trip on the Trave, and in summer 2022 we were able to sail it for the first time.
In the summer of 2023 we sailed a little further to Marstal and Bagenkop, but we were a bit unlucky with the weather.
In the summer of 2024 I was more or less ready and we tested the Aaris for 3 weeks in the Baltic Sea. We sailed via Wismar to Denmark, through the Danish South Sea, where the Vikings had sailed, and I learned a lot there.
