Sailing and Sports School Wörthersee

It all started in 1953 with a sailing course at a German Hanseatic Yacht School. Franz Berger discovered his love of sailing there and from that moment on dreamed of his own sailing school - a dream that came true.

Just under a year after this formative experience, namely in 1954, this dream came true. Franz Berger founded the first sailing school in Austria in Klagenfurt Bay.

With only one school boat, a 20iger dinghy, he tried to bring this beautiful sport closer to the people. However, Klagenfurt Bay soon proved to be an unsuitable location. Bad wind conditions and a too low guest frequency were the predominant reasons to look around for another location.

In 1955 he founded the Wörthersee Sailing School in Pörtschach. Meanwhile 5 school boats and 3 sailing instructors were already available to the numerous guests. Business developed well and the Wörthersee sailing school in Velden followed in 1962. 1974 a branch was opened in Reifnitz. And the expansion continued: One year later, in 1975, Franz Berger expanded his business by another branch, the Faakersee Sailing School.

However, not everything always went according to plan and after a well-calculated "downsizing" and a fundamental restructuring of the company, his son Manfred Berger rebuilt the Wörthersee sailing school. He succeeded in bridging the gap to a modern, innovative and dynamic company with flying colours. The Wörthersee Sailing School is characterised by modern teaching content, creative presentation of the teaching material and top training quality. Cooperations with successful and well-known retail chains such as the REWE Group, various print media and tour operators, to name but a few, as well as the regular organisation of school sports weeks made the Wörthersee sailing school a leading and model operation.

Olympic sailor Nico Resch was trained with us. (motorboat voucher) Today, the Wörthersee Sailing School & Sports School is an active incoming school and its untiring commitment brings the Velden region an additional 10,000 overnight stays per year. There is no company worth mentioning and similarly designed on Lake Wörthersee, which can only offer sports enthusiasts approximately the same possibilities.