Six generations of boat-building wisdom
Head, hands and heart
From the banks of the Neckar River in Eberbach, Germany in the 17th Century, Jürgen Kaschper carries the wisdom, experience, trade secrets and deep love of rowing and boat-building through six generations of craftsmen into the 21st century.
In 1958, Jürgen’s father, Jakob, left his job at Bootswerft Empacher: a preeminent racing shell manufacturer in Germany. With $100 and a suitcase full of handtools he set out for Canada to craft a better life for his family. Eleven years later, Kaschper Racing Shells was born. Two years after that, Jürgen joined his family’s enterprise.
With the Kaschper heritage of boat-building prowess as a foundation, Jürgen introduces up-to-the-minute technical innovation to create personalized, world-class racing singles that range from classic wooden boats that embrace a timeless aesthetic to competitive, disruptive-tech composite racers.
Levator boatworks is the forward-moving point on six generations of knowledge and one man’s personal experience crafting over 700 boats. But it is also much more.
More than an artisan and technician who has committed his head and hands to his craft, Jürgen also possesses that intangible that separates the master from the manufacturer. He is also a disciple of the religion of rowing: he has also committed his heart.
Commission your personalized rowing single today. Jürgen will personally respond within 24 hours.
“The goal is more than winning. It's perfecting custom racing shells that enable that peak rowing experience where sculler, single and water become a seamless unified force.” — Jürgen Kaschper
“All material in nature, the mountains and the streams and the air we breathe, are made of Light which has been spent, and this crumpled mass called material casts a shadow and the shadow belongs to Light.” — Louis Kahn
