Rollo Gebhard


Rollo Gebhard was a German multiple single hand maritime circumnavigator and author of books.

Life

His father was a private scholar. The family lived in many places around Europe. In WW II, he served in the Air Force as a photographer. In 1956 he bought his first boat, Solveig I. With this dinghy he sailed to the Red Sea. With his wooden Solveig II he crossed the Atlantic in 1963 single handed. SY Solveig III was his third boat, actually a yacht. He did two round the world cruises single handed with that from 1967 to 1970 and 1975.
In 1983 he started off to an 8-year cruise with his girl friend Angelika Zilcher, including a term of 6 month without a stop. Soon after in 1991, he founded a Society for dolphin conservation.
From 2001 to 2003, he did a Europe-Russia-Europe cruise with his 7th boat Solveig VII, a Dutch-built motorcruiser.
He published several books about his trips and about sailing itself.