The fishermen of Holm are well aware of their tradition. In September 1480, the Danish King Christian I granted them the privilege of trawling on the Schlei. Since then, fishermen from Maasholm to Schleswig have fished the shallow Schlei with their barges.
Schlei barges are equipped with oars and sails. However, because in their early days, the heavy oak barges only had leeboards and were therefore difficult to sail upwind, they were usually propelled with oars. The sails were only set downwind in order to save energy.
The Holm fishing barges were built on five, seven or nine frames, reaching lengths (LOA) of around six to eleven meters and a length-to-width ratio of five to one (W/L=0.2). Three, or occasionally four planks were used on each side.
Woi barge „Hein Meister“
L: 9.57m W: 2.07m midship, built ca. 1950,
refurbished 2017–2018
Very different types of boats were needed for net fishing. A distinction was made between tender barges („Beikähne“) and seine barges („Woi-Kähne“). With the seine net (Wadennetz, „Woi“), the fishermen could encircle a shoal of herring. The approximately eleven metre long seine barge was driven by a crew of seven: four men rowed, two men operated a simple wooden net capstan and one man had to set the net. Another man pulled the seine around the suspected shoal of fish with the tender barge. The net was up to 1,000 meters long. The last existing seine barge „Hein Meister“ was extensively refurbished at the Modersitzki boatyard, Maasholm, in the winter of 2017/18.
„Holmer Schlie“
photo: Schleswiger Nachrichten/Pertiet
In 2009, the museum shipyard in Flensburg built a new Holm fishing barge according to old construction plans, which was given the name „Holmer Schlie“ during the inauguration of the new boathouse on May 16. Instead of the typical black and green color, the new wood was only painted with clear varnish.
Further Schlei barges
Only a few Holm sailing barges still exist today. Five of them are owned by the HSVS, with some of them having been restored by club members over many years. Some of our barges are on permanent display in the German Maritime Museum (Bremerhaven) and in the Ethnology Department of the Schleswig-Holstein State Museums Foundation (Schleswig), with reference to
the Holmer Segelverein Schleswig e. V.
The Holmer Segelverein Schleswig e. V.
The Holm Sailing Association, Schleswig (Holmer Segelverein Schleswig e.V., HSVS) was founded in 1950 and is a non-profit organization that maintains and sails the Holm fishing boats and introduces children and young people to the sport of sailing. The club and its youth section, „Lüttsegler vom Holm“, have been based in the striking red boathouse at the Netzetrockenplatz (net drying ground) in the „Auf der Freiheit“ district since 2004.
Twiebakken-Regatta
There is strong competition, not only upwind…
The fishermen’s family life took place on Sundays. The whole family would go sailing on the Schlei for pure pleasure. If the wind was favorable, races were also held. Everyone enjoyed it so much that the first official fishermens‘ regatta was organized in 1935, during the traditional Schlei Week. A second „internal race“ followed in the same year, establishing the tradition of Holm barge sailing.
The prizes for the regatta were donated by local merchants and tradesmen. However, when it occurred to a stingy baker during the first post-war regatta to offer only a bag of rusks as the first prize, this went too far even for the otherwise frugal fishermen. The rusk was not given to the winner, but to the last person to cross the finish line. Since then, the regatta bekame known as the „Rusk Regatta“ (Low German: „Twiebakken-Regatta“, High German: „Zwieback-Regatta“). To this day, the prizes often consist of food, and the last to finish is still rewarded with a bag of rusks (and a bottle of Korn liquor to wash it down).