Herbert Dahm 1929 - 2024

Herbert Dahm left for the better World on Sunday eighteen February, just a few weeks shy of his 95th birthday in his home-town of Dusseldorf. Herbert Dahm began his storied yachting career by accident. Following World War II Herbert Dahm started by selling electronics, including radios, and later developed financial software. Sailing was a passion during his free time, however, and by the sixties, he yearned to cruise the world, and set out to find a suitable sail-yacht in 1967, choosing the Dutch shipyard Jongert. Although he didn’t end up sailing the globe, Dahm found something else, spending the next three decades as the builder’s marketing and sales representative. It simultaneously led to him building five Jongerts for his own use. The most famous of his Jongert's was s/y Inspiration from 1985, which then became Jongert's successful 2200s semi-series, and which he ultimately owned till 2020.  Designed by Ron Holland the first 2200s had a few revolutions from a transom garage with a hydraulically lowering hatch that became a swim platform, and a custom bilge tunnel stowing her racing sails, preserving the interior while permitting quick access to them when wanted. Arguably, Inspiration was the first cruiser-racer in her size range, a novel concept at the time. Even as a sailor, though, Dahm loved motoryachts, too, taking delivery of Benetti's Classic 115 My Way in 2000. The international yachting community became accustomed to seeing Dahm attend yacht shows with his Benetti and her unusual tender, True Love. True Love was a Jongert, stowing on the sundeck. Dahm further had a four-decade run as the owner of Dahm International. Under his leadership, the company expanded beyond Germany into Monaco and Spain. Additionally, it added services such as yacht management and refit management to its roster. Although he sold the business in the late 1990s, he stepped back into it in 2006 to better serve clients, selling it again in 2014, at age 85, staying on as honorary president. He finally retired for good just last year, making the announcement during the Düsseldorf boat show in 2023, a show he co-founded in 1969.  In his last parts of his life Herbart Dahm primarily took care of the “Momentum Spa”, a wellness facility in Golzheim, Dusseldorf.