Wisteria

A Modern Approach to An Old Design

Wisteria is an ongoing, often back-burnered project bringing to life a design I came across in one of Roger Taylor's Good Boats books. The original design, called Nirwana, was published by professional yacht designer Felix Rehfeldt in 1907 in the German boating magazine Die Yacht. He created a number of similar designs including Gretel and Go-On II. These designs were also published in the magazine during this period of time. It also appears that there was an active racing fleet of these "Gigs".

Nirwana was briefly reviewed in the pages of The Yachting & Boating Monthly in 1907. The editors had this to say:

A Shallow Draught C.B. Gig.
Although one may not call this boat a canoe and be technically accurate, there are many points of similarity. Her lines and plans, which we take, with kind permission, from our contemporary Die Yacht of June 19, show a type of craft which should be of interest to many of our readers. The Nirwana, which was designed by F. Rehfeldt, woud be a very useful boat on shallow inland waters and for river work where smooth water sailing can be obtained. She should be fast, and the rig is simple and coule easily be handled by anyone. Her dimensions are, L.O.A., 20ft.; L.WlL., 16.6ft.; beam, 4ft.; displacement, 787lb.

The Yachting & Boating Monthly, 1907

I've come across these other boats and an article about the class racing on the lakes around Berlin within Die Yacht through the wonderful mechanism of a new online resource which allows for a search of the index of Die Yacht magazine (all the way back to 1904) and also links to actual articles! Hence, I now have copies of the of the original articles about these boats. Visit the Das Yachtsport Archiv for hours of fun.

After building a study model a few years ago I decided she'd not only make a good traditional construction project but might also lend herself to modern plywood and epoxy construction techniques. As time passes I'll continue to play with the idea, drafting new plans, offsets, etc. Then, when I find the time, I'll take a crack at building her as Wisteria.