Top: hollow mast from locally grown pine;
Above: Stefan Züst at the helmS
wiss boat builder Stefan Züst, a great bear of
a man, with the beard of a wild Norseman
and long hair with a hint of ginger to match,
is obsessed with speed. Barely a conversation
passes that doesn’t contain reference to
such-and-such a boat that he beat into port or
overtook on the racetrack. The agent of this
performance? Her name is Alzira and she is no modern-
day race-boat. She’s a 30ft gaffer that he built and named
after Voltaire’s Inca princess who triumphs against the
Spanish conquistadors. Stefan loves the Verdi opera of
the tale, but what really appeals is the subtext of the
primitive Ancients beating the newcomers.
He describes the boat as a Lake Constance Pilot
Cutter, much to the ire of some. For starters, there is no
tradition of pilot cutters on Lake Constance. “Well, why
couldn’t there be?” Stefan asks. More importantly,
perhaps, the boat has a very fl at, modern underwater
profi le – and a hydraulically lifting bulb keel. Her subtle
sheer, plumb bow and long bowsprit might give her a