Erich Bruckmann

[1][2] Erich Bruckmann built the revolutionary racing yacht Red Jacket which featured a first in sailboat construction - an extremely light weight balsa core - which allowed the vessel to compete and win.

He met his future wife, Lisa (briefly) on a bicycle tour around Germany and, despite the brevity of the meeting, sent her a postcard from every subsequent destination.

[5][6] Bruckmann arrived in Oakville, Ontario from Germany in 1956, speaking no English and with little other than his carpentry tools, hoping to bring his wife and first-born son to Canada as soon as possible.

Metro Marine had evolved into a first-class yacht yard under the direction of John “Johnnie” Walker and, after a short time, Erik Bruckmann was made Shop Superintendent.

[8] In 1962 Bruckmann left Metro Marine in Bronte to found his own cabinetmaking business, ostensibly to build kitchen cabinets and counters, but he had undertaken several yacht jobs, including completion of a Canadian Northern CN35 from a Cuthbertson & Cassian design.

[8][10][11] As a result of a connection through his earlier relationship with Metro Marine, Bruckmann was asked to build this new boat, named Red Jacket, from the design by Cuthbertson.

Red Jacket is considered to be the first sailboat engineered with a cored hull (other earlier boats had balsa-cored decks and powerboat builders were then using it in transoms and superstructures).

[1] In September 1969 the design firm of Cuthbertson & Cassian Ltd. joined with Belleville Marine Yard, Hinterhoeller Ltd. and Bruckmann Manufacturing to form C&C Yachts.

[1] The ground breaking yacht Evergreen, Canada's Cup winner and Fastnet survivor, was perhaps Bruckmann's most recognized achievement.

[7] The Canada's Cup winner in 1978 was a C&C design, the Two Ton class Evergreen,[15] owned by Don Green with Hans Fogh at the helm.

The deck hatches opened inward, which could be a safety hazard if they gave way during a capsize or broach, and the Evergreen crew faced protests over this defect in both the SORC and in the Canada's Cup.

After the competition that year, the rule books were rewritten to preclude safety problems like those raised by the design of Evergreen, and as a result, C&C never received another commission for a Canada's Cup yacht.

Erich made much of the teak modernist furniture in the home he shared with Lisa, his beloved wife of 58 years and the mother of his five children.

[6] Erich Bruckmann died 28 October 2011 at Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital in Burlington, Ontario, of tuberculosis, surrounded by his family.