Page 184 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL EATING IBERIA

Terrific Tübingen

STORY & PHOTOGRAPHY BY WIBKE CARTER

he students of Tübingen are a special breed. They
Torganizethemselvesinfraternities,arehighlycom-
petitive and have an iron stomach. Once a year, on Cor-
pus Christi in June, around sixty teams of eight people
each participate in the annual Stocherkahn race. A
Kahn is a slender wooden boat up to 40 ft long. The
punter or “Stocherer” in German stands on the stern
with a stick almost 23 ft long with which he pushes the
vessel along. Punts of this kind have been used for hun-
dredsofyearsinTübingenforfishingorasferriesonthe
Neckar River, however, the race only started in 1956.
The course, lined with thousands of spectators,
getschallengingwhentheboatsmustnavigateafigure-
8, through “the eye of the needle” – and every trick in
the book is allowed. “You can sink other boats, throw
competitors into the water and there is always com-
pletechaos,”laughedMartinEberlewhilehepushedme
gently along the Neckar. The winning team is awarded
a keg of beer or eleven gallons of wine while the losers
have to drink 16 ounces of cod liver oil each to
“strengthen” them for next year’s race. So how did Mar-

Tübingen's most famous sight, a row of
colorful 16th-century townhouses.
Below: Small mammoth ivory figure at
museum Castle Hohentübingen.

184 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2020