This year’s DRV Junior Regatta was an excellent occasion to christen a new racing boat.

The boat was named after a very dedicated rower, fellow athlete, and former board member of our AAC/NRB State Rowing Association Hamburg.

“We are very grateful that the acquisition of new boats is generously supported by the Hamburg Sports Office and the Leistungssport Foundation. Today’s christening and the resulting availability of top-class sports equipment support our extensive activities at the Hamburg State Performance Centre as an important component of the Hamburg ActiveCity Strategy,” says Andreas Döpper, Chairman of the AAC/NRB State Rowing Association, at the beginning of the naming ceremony.

The new boat is named after a fellow athlete who was an influential umpire at national and international regattas for decades. In addition to many appointments as an international umpire at World Cups, World and European Championships, his participation as a DRV umpire at the Paralympic Games 2008 in Beijing and the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio were the highlights of his international career.

As a board member, he volunteered extensively for rowing at the AAC/NRB State Rowing Association; this was a very essential part of his life, where he found his fulfillment.

He achieved his greatest renown as the “Man of the Regatta.” The regatta facility in Hamburg-Allermöhe and the regattas held there were his “baby.” He was involved from the beginning of the facility’s construction right up to its current form. He was able to contribute his knowledge to every detail and often determined the further development in constructively critical discussions with the city and his fellow board members.

The quadruple scull, with rowers from our Hamburg Performance Centre, will compete for medals on national and international regatta courses in the future, and thus be at the heart of our beautiful rowing sport for many years. In the finest weather, it was christened “Gerhard Meyboden” in front of the finish tower of the regatta course, in honor and recognition of a consistently reliable fellow athlete, a great sponsor, and a former board member.

We wish the crews and the boat “good luck and success, no broken oars or oarlocks, and always a hand’s breadth of water under the keel!”

Photo: Meinruderbild.de Detlev Seyb