Helmut Mai from Weißach has been a passionate sailor for decades.
Now he has gone with his passion among the book authors and publishers.
Weißach - With the “Wiesseer Segelbuch” he takes a look at history - from the perspective of a sailor.
Helmut Mai has been writing his “Wiesseer Segelbuch” for around five years.
But there is the knowledge, the experience and the foresight from over 60 years of sailing on the Tegernsee.
"Actually," the 76-year-old Weißacher admits, "the book was only supposed to be a chronicle for the Bad Wiessee yacht club on the occasion of the 50th anniversary."
But - as the preface reveals - it turned out differently than planned.
Helmut Mai had picked up so much speed with his research and writing that the Yacht Club was taken into account in one chapter - which brought the 156-page work the subtitle "With unofficial chronicle of the YCBW (1971-2021)" - but six more further chapters with historical considerations were added.
Wiesseer Segelbuch: Classification of the sport and detailed information on the "Tegernsee sailing area"
With the more general ones, which concern the history of sport and leisure sailing in Germany, the nature of sailing and its peripheral disciplines or regatta sailing and its ethics, Mai managed to jibe to Tegernsee.
In doing so, he classified the local sailing area into the bigger picture before presenting the “Tegernsee sailing area” in detail.
The driving rules on the Tegernsee, the storm warning service, the peculiarities of the local wind conditions, the comments on the foehn and the "Tegernseer Farbenspiele" are not only interesting for sailors, but for everyone who lives here or is a guest. In terms of local history, Mai even landed a coup: namely, he had Reichsrat Dr. Anton von Rieppel (1852-1926), the non-sailing industrialist, knight's cross bearer and namesake of the street on which the Wiesseer Yacht Club is located, identified as an honorary citizen of the municipality of Bad Wiessee.
“The community itself has totally forgotten that,” says Mai, referring to the certificate of appointment printed on page 103. Through another of the 35 mostly historical images, he uncovered a cultural-historical error: the painting “View of the Tegernsee from Westen aus ”by Otto Strützel (1855-1930) is incorrectly dated on the Internet.
"Since the Furtwängler house can be seen on it, which was only built at the beginning of the 20th century, the picture could only have been created afterwards - and not in 1898," says Mai.
Interdisciplinary all-round view: 66 essays reveal a personal touch
He is happy to open up an interdisciplinary all-round view of the valley with his book from the sailing perspective.
Philosophical and personal considerations on sailing and volunteering, sailor anecdotes, quotes from seafarers and aphorisms make the “Wiesseer Segelbuch” worth reading even for non-sailors.
In the total of 66 essays, you can feel Helmut Mai's love for his sailing area in every line.
Mai self-publishes his book and had it printed in a print run of 200 by a local printing company.
Interested parties can also buy it for 20 euros - from the author himself (0 80 22/69 51) or in the bookstores Ilmberger, Bad Wiessee, and Kolmansberger, Rottach-Egern.
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