Albert Einstein and his endless passion for sailing

It was his favourite sport. ” Sailing is the only sport which demands no physical effort“, he said. Albert Einstein was not only the greatest scientist of the twentieth century, but he was also an excellent sailor despite his poor health. And it was precisely because of a heart disease that he had to retire to Caputh, near Berlin, in a small house overlooking the lake, where he could finally enjoy his favourite sport.

Albert Einstein (on the left) on his Tummler

ALBERT EINSTEIN’S BOATS

On March 14th 1929, the day of this 50th birthday, some friends gave him the boat of his dreams – the Tummler – a delicious 7-meter slooper, 2.35 m wide, with a movable keel that rotated on a pivot that brought the draft from 0.33 to 1.25 m, equipped with a 6 hp inboard.

Albert Einstein on board his 5-meter Tinef

The sail plan, innovative for the time, featured a 16.05-square-meter mainsail, a 3.95-square-meter staysail and a 8.25-square-meter jib. Below deck, the sleeping quarters consisted of a twin-bedded cabin. Tummler had been built by engineer Adolf Harms. ” When he holds the helm – Albert Einstein enthusiastically tells hsi friends about his latest scientific ideas. He steers the boat with the same joy and lightness than a child ”, writes his biographer Rudolf Kaiser.

But, in January 1933, Albert Einstein escaped Nazy Germany to America. His boat was seized and sold to a dentist. At the end of the war, in 1945, the great scientist tried to recover his beloved boat. Searches were vain. But Einstein never stopped sailing.

As an old man, he chose a 5-meter boat, the Tinef, docked in Huntington, Long Island, just next to the US university where he taught. Until he died, in 1955.

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