Empacher (company name Bootswerft Empacher

GmbH (; ) is a type of Juridical person, legal entity in German-speaking countries. It is equivalent to a (Sàrl) in the Romandy, French-speaking region of Switzerland and to a (Sagl) in the Ticino, Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. It is a ...

) is a manufacturer of

boats A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...

. Today, they produce

racing shell In watercraft, a racing shell (also referred to as a ''fine boat'' (UK) or simply a ''shell'') is an extremely narrow, and often comparatively long, rowing boat specifically designed for Rowing (sport), racing or exercise. It is equipped with lon ...

s for the sport of

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

History

Originally building

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

s, Willy Empacher founded his boatyard with Wilhelm Karlisch during 1923 in

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

. The boatyard was the largest east of Berlin during the 1930s. They built boats for Germany during the war, but in 1945 the family fled their town and reached Eberbach, Germany in 1947. Willy started a new business at the Seibert boat-yard in Eberbach repairing and making small boats. In 1952 they started producing racing rowing shells, an enterprise that has become their main business today. The business took off after

Jochen Meißner Jochen Meißner (born 8 May 1943) was a leading single scull rower of West Germany between 1965 and 1972, who competed in the Olympic Games. Biography In the singled sculls event, he won national titles in 1965–1968 and a European title in ...

won the silver medal while racing in an Empacher

single scull A single scull (or a scull), abbreviated as a 1x, is a racing shell designed for a single person who propels the boat with two oars, one in each hand. Racing boats (often called "shells") are long, narrow, and broadly semi-circular in cross-se ...

during the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

. They built mainly moulded cedarwood racing shells, but collaborated with

BASF BASF SE (), an initialism of its original name , is a European Multinational corporation, multinational company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Ge ...

to produce the world's first plastic shell in 1956. Empacher built the first plastic to receive a gold medal during the

1972 Munich Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

. This was also the first race worthy sandwich-build plastic boat. This process includes using a wood frame to create the boat hull and then filling with it with composite material. Hans Empacher, Willy's eldest son, took over the business in 1970. Hans optimized the company by creating internal competition and promoting plastic boat construction. Upon the death of his brother Rainer in October 2018, Helmut Empacher became the sole owner of the business.

Boats

Boats built by Empacher are easily identified by their pale yellow color and black trim. Empacher produce every

FISA The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA, , ) is a United States federal law that establishes procedures for the surveillance and collection of foreign intelligence on domestic soil.

-recognized racing boat category. The company tries to produce two new boat designs every year.

Manufacturing

Empacher, as all other racing shell manufacturers, have replaced wooden boats with

carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...

and honeycomb sandwich constructions. The nomex honeycomb reinforces the

kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s as ...

inner and outer frames. Empacher uses a vacuum bag technique to bond the outer layers with the honeycomb core. Combining kevlar and epoxy resin creates a tear and impact resistant outer shell. Empacher reinforces the

gunwale The gunwale () is the top edge of the hull of a ship or boat. Originally the structure was the "gun wale" on a sailing warship, a horizontal reinforcing band added at and above the level of a gun deck to offset the stresses created by firing ...

with an additional carbon layer and carbon foam frames. Empacher offers a wide range of boat moulds for each category (such as eights and

coxless four A coxless four, abbreviated as a 4- and also called a straight four, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four ...

s) and rigger options. Different molds suit different weight racing categories. A

lightweight rowing Lightweight rowing (abbreviated Lwt or Lt) is a category of Rowing (sport), rowing where limits are placed on the maximum body weight of competitors. According to the International Rowing Federation (International Rowing Federation, FISA), this we ...

team would use a different mould than an openweight team. Also depending on the team's needs, classical multi-stay aluminium riggers, carbon two stay riggers of carbon fibre, aluminium wing rigger, and carbon wing riggers are offered. Wing riggers are used for

sweep rowing Sweep rowing is one of two disciplines of the rowing (sport), sport of rowing. In sweep rowing each rower has one oar, usually held with both hands. As each rower has only one oar, the rowers have to be paired so that there are equal numbers of ...

Successes

Empacher rowing shells are used by a large number of crews rowing in international competitions, including

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

and the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

. Overall, Empacher boats have received 64% of the wins in all race categories during 2013. In the eights, all crews but the USA (who used a

Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudson Rodrigues dos Santos, Brazilian f ...

) used Empacher boats during the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

and the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. In the 2012 London Olympics, Empacher boats won almost all boat categories with ten out of fourteen gold medals.

Competition

Other big racing shell manufacturers include companies such as:

, WinTech, Pocock, Janousek, and Filippi.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://empacher.com Manufacturing companies established in 1923 Manufacturing companies of Germany Rowing equipment manufacturers 1923 establishments in Germany