A 12-Meter’s Renewal

Any yacht—especially a racing yacht—that has had a long life has likely also endured many twists and turns of fate. The 12-Meter yacht HETI went down the ways at the yacht designer Max Oertz’s shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, in 1912, and she, too, has had her share.

Her gaff sloop rig was replaced with a yawl rig in the 1930s, and she served as a liveaboard during the World War II years. In the late 1960s, she returned to racing under a new Bermudan sloop rig. At the same time, her hull’s wooden planking was thickly sheathed in fiberglass and her forward profile was altered. In the late 1970s, she was taken from Germany to the Mediterranean, where she was actively campaigned again. She went through seven name changes.

Another twist of fate came in 1998, when she was dismasted in a racing collision. After that, she came home to Hamburg, first by donation to an association and, in 2001, into the care of the fledgling Hamburg Maritime Foundation. A group of classic sailing enthusiasts, operating under the banner of a separate organization, “Friends of HETI,” raised money for a restoration, including a return to her original gaff sloop rig. Since then, these volunteers—now 80 of them in all—have not only cared for her but also campaigned her in lively Baltic regattas with as many as a dozen restored 12-Meters competing. She has also regularly raced at Kiel Week and has been a celebrated participant in Hamburg’s annual anniversary boat parade.