The predecessor of the present-day HSC was the Hamburger Yacht-Club, established in October 1892, out of which a group split in 1895. In 1926 this group merged with the
Hamburger Segel-Verein. In 1927 it was registered as the
Hamburger Segel-Club at the registry in Hamburg. The founders of the original Hamburger Yacht-Club were
yacht racing and
cruising enthusiasts who joined the
Deutscher Segler-Verband four weeks after establishing the club. In 1925 the club organized the North Sea Week (Nordseewoche) sailing competition off
Heligoland. In 1927 it helped to organize the Travemünder Woche for the first time and since 1928 the Kieler Woche (Kiel Week) as well. Five years after having been established the club had 343 members and 87 boats; 46 competitions had been organized in which a total of 922 sailcraft took part. The best yachts of the club at the time were the
Freya, the
Ingeborg VIII and Otto Schümann's
Carla IV. Between 1934 and 1935, during
Nazi times, all sailing clubs in Germany lost their autonomy and were arbitrarily joined to departments of the
Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen (DRL), later renamed
Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen (NSRL), like the
Wassersportverband (Watersports Association). Since the NSRL, as a Nazi organization, was disbanded after Germany's defeat in
World War II, the Hamburger Sailing Club had to be established anew, like other yacht clubs in
West Germany at that time. Carl Georg Gewers led the club through the difficult postwar and rebuilding years. Among other achievements, he was able to convince the
British occupation authorities to give back the seized sailing craft to the club. In 1950 the Hamburger Sailing Club helped to organize the Kieler Woche (Kiel Week) again. After that the club was able to grow and expand until today. ==See also==