At the end of the garden the poplars are swaying in the breeze, their leaves singing like the sea rolling onto a shingle beach. A week ago we had been elsewhere: writes Ken Dickinson {seen here in inset - picture by Mary Dickinson}.
Introduction
Lake Konstanz (Der Bodensee) lies on the southern edge of Germany. The north shore and 16 kilometres of shore from the western end extending south to Konstanz are German. Konstanz straddles an overflow of the lake which opens out3kms later into the Untersee which terminates 14 kms later in the River Rhine. The southern shore of the Untersee and the south shore of the Bodensee are Swiss. A small section of the lake at the eastern end is Austrian. The lake is 62 km long east to west and 14 km wide at its maximum. There are German and Swiss villages all round the lake. It seemed an ideal place for a summer cruise.
The German (1) and Swiss (2) Tourist Offices produced good information together with the sailing regulations. As expected from last year’s experience on Lake Geneva (3) the Swiss required documentation, inspection and reporting to the police. The German regulations were more lenient. As long as the sail area was less than 12 m² then there was no need to report. All was well as long as we left the spinnaker at home. The restrictions on engines appeared to mean that below 5 HP there would be none. A letter to the official authority (4) in Constance produced a 4 page document, a form to complete and a request for 30DM. A reply written in the most conciliatory tones (composed by a long-standing German friend) resulted eventually in a letter giving permission to use our 2 HP outboard engine.
A chart was purchased at the suggestion of lmray Laurie (5) by telephoning Hamburg (6). Of course, the woman spoke excellent English and trusted me to pay (cost 38 DM). We did not obtain a pilot book because one did not seem to be available. A road map of the Bodensee area is published by Kompass (7) and complimented the chart. The Lake is deep and shelves quickly and no anchor was taken.
Neither the German nor Swiss Tourist Offices at local level gave details of yacht havens or launching facilities. The chart was helpful but not detailed enough to determine where to start. However, a leaflet (8) issued by the Konstanz and District Hoteliers had a photo of the Land Hotel Bodensee, Wallhausen which showed small boats, a quay, a launching ramp and a hotel just behind. A map in the brochure showed a marina. I telephoned in March and to my delight the receptionist spoke English (how lucky we were - no one else on the Hotel staff did). I booked in for two nights in June and confirmed later by letter.