Written by Christian Brandt, CEO of RS Sailing Deutschland
After 20 years as the face of RS Sailing in Germany, Distributor Christian Brandt has decided to gradually step away from the business, and has worked closely with the European Sales team at RS Sailing to find a worthy successor. As of March 2022, Brandt will hand over the RS Dealership to Ziegelmayer Handelsgesellschaft.
As part of a transitional phase, the two Hamburg natives who have dominated the German dinghy market for the last 10 years will be jointly representing RS Sailing. For at least the next three years, Brandt will concentrate fully on further growing the RS Aero, which has been the best-selling RS class in Germany for some years now. All other classes will now be available to buy from Ziegelmayer.
Aside from the RS Aero sold by Brandt’s RS Sailing Deutschland GmbH, Ziegelmayer will be covering the entire bandwidth of small boat sailing, including the RS 21 keelboat, the youth classes RS Tera and RS Feva, the versatile PE dinghies RS Quest and Zest, as well the newly launched RS Toura. This range contains the perfect boat for practically any sailing family, school, or club.
Christian Brandt: “For me, RS Sailing has turned a corner, and I’ve seen it grow up and mature like my own 19 year old daughter. This allows me to focus on new challenges, both private and professional. I’ve always enjoyed working on those early steps more than daily business, so it’s an ideal time to hand over the brand into a strong new home. Ferdinand Ziegelmayer not only has the perfect experience to take this on, his business also has the capacity to continue growing RS and bring it to new shores. I am convinced that it’s an absolute win-win-win situation—not just for the three companies involved, but for the benefit of dinghy sailing in all of Germany. Over the last 20 years, RS in Germany has ascended from unknown newcomer to a leading dinghy brand. It was hard work. But it was really worth it and it was a lot of fun…I don’t think my body could take it for another 20 years”
For further information:
RS Sailing Deutschland GmbH
Christian Brandt
Tel.: 040 899 77 91
Ziegelmayer Handelsgesellschaft mbH
Ferdinand Ziegelmayer
Tel: 040 31 81 3003
