500. Boat Operator Candidate

Wolfgang Gahl was born in 1959 and is a Lehd veteran. He experienced firsthand what life was like in his hometown of Lehde back in the day. Almost everyone—including his parents and grandparents—still worked on small commercial farms, and almost everything was transported by barge. But life was also at the mercy of nature’s forces: ice drifts, droughts, and floods meant that the rivers were not always navigable. But they were the lifelines of the lagoon village; they provided access to feed for the livestock and also to the outside world. It was used to transport potatoes and coal, and even to carry out quite a few moves. Little Wolfgang still remembered the days when his trip to school involved taking a boat. Even if it was just a matter of crossing to the other side—a boat always had to be there; everything revolved around that vessel.

Wolfgang Gahl learned to row as a side hobby, just like almost every boy—and almost every girl—from Lehd of his generation. At the age of fourteen, he was already working as an assistant ferryman at the Lübbenau harbor, helping the ferrymen on longer trips.

Many years later, now a trained and busy boatbuilder at Karl Koal’s local boatbuilding company, he himself takes vacationers from the family-owned “Haus Kalmus” on boat tours through the Spreewald. In the process, he repeatedly observes how it’s usually the men who want to take charge of the pack themselves. With varying degrees of skill, they poked around in the mud. This gave Wolfgang Gahl the idea to start a rowboat school—and, to go along with it, a rowboat rental service. Anyone may take up to eight people on a boat trip through the Spreewald without a government permit—provided they are technically capable of doing so and are familiar with the rules of navigation. He has been offering this service since 2004; his most famous student was the well-known entertainer and singer Achim Menzel. “But there are also some driving students—very few—who just can’t get the hang of it and give up in frustration, but at least they gave it a try,” recalls the boat driving instructor.

Wolfgang Gahl calmly watches his student Torsten Münch from Halle/Sa. as he pushes the boat through the narrow Lehde. Driving instructor Gahl is the only passenger, but a very important one: In the end, he will decide whether his student receives the certificate allowing him to pole a boat. Until then, Gahl had remained silent about his student’s boat-pushing skills, but once they reached their destination, he couldn’t help but offer a word of caution as they docked: “Be careful—don’t let the pack get caught between the boat and the dock!”—which is exactly where it was headed. In the driving student’s defense, it should be noted that he was somewhat distracted and flustered by the audience and the reporter just as he was about to make this small mistake.

Newly arrived vacationers from Switzerland had gathered at the dock on the Brodg Stream. Wolfgang’s wife, Simone, had asked them to come because something “important” was about to happen. Grit Schönberg-Münch—the wife of the prospective ferryman—was also waiting at the dock. She was the mastermind behind it all and had set up this driving school for her husband; she knew about the anniversary trip, which her husband only found out about when he received his certificate to operate a boat from Wolfgang Gahl: It was the 500th!

Torsten Münch, a Skoda car salesman: “Well, I’ll even get to row a boat—and I’ll definitely be taking advantage of that during our vacations here at Gahls and rowing my wife through the Spreewald!”

The family from Halle has been staying here for 20 years, while Karin and Franco Bizzini from Switzerland have been guests only since 2017. “We come here every year for three weeks at a time; we absolutely adore the Spreewald. For us, there’s no place in the world more beautiful; we’re happy to put up with the long trip—just to immerse ourselves in this unspoiled natural idyll. Here, we breathe much more freely and let the silence wash over us,” says Karin Bizzini. Her husband Franco glances over at the driving school boat….

Wolfgang Gahl’s driving school business will likely continue to thrive for quite some time—only the prospect of the 1,000th… The idea of a certificate, perhaps in 20 years, seems to dampen the optimism a little. “But I’m on the right track—my students are constantly ‘growing’ in number. My two wooden rowboats are also frequently rented out for family outings, where the husband or wife takes the lead and they can explore at their own pace and on their own schedule!” says Wolfgang Gahl, quite pleased with his business idea from 2004.

http://spreewald-haus-kalmus.com/kahnfahrschule/

Peter Becker, August 20, 2026