Since 1934, these mahogany planks have been a force to be reckoned with. For the past three decades, a Bavarian has maintained and sailed the boat of the fearless offshore sailor Herbert George ‘Blondie’ Hasler. Although the trained combat diver only had one good season on it, it left a lasting impression.
Classy 30 Square Metre Boat with K for Kingdom in its sail number
Sometimes a short sail number like K8 is a reference to a special boat. The letter stands for Kingdom and the number for the eighth of the Kingdom’s fleet of 30ties. Unfortunately, modern boats have three letters as nationality symbols, such as GER for Germany and GBR for England, and a four-digit number underneath. Who can remember that?
Considering this 13.15 metre long, 217 centimetre wide torpedo of tropic wood with a freeboard of 502 millimetres, it is difficult to believe that this delicate vessel made sailing history in the rough English Channel and the Irish Sea in 1946 and opened a new chapter in yacht building.
Apart from its obvious beauty and excellent condition today, this elegant vintage promenade sailboat would hardly be worth mentioning. You can spend a few hours on the Ammersee, Lake Starnberg, Kiel, or Flensburg Fjord on the weekend and get a sunburn in style or get wet until everyone on board thinks it’s enough.
Tre Sang was built in 1934 according to the finally revised Skerry Cruiser rule of 1925, based on plans by Harry Becker at Becker’s own Rödesund yard in Karlsborg on Lake Vättern. She obtained the sail number S 112. Owner J. E. Edlund from Västervik in eastern Sweden used the boat’s name to evoke the exclusive pastime of playing bridge. In French, troi sans atout refers to a balanced, promising hand. The Swedes turned it into Tre Sang. The accomplished regatta sailor Eklund achieved great success with the boat.
In 1937, in the hands of B. and R. Preston, the boat became the eighth in the British Thirties fleet, which quickly grew to 18 vessels. At the end of the 1930s, it was a noble pastime to sail with such elegant racers in the sheltered waters between Gosport, Cowes, and Lymington.
The boat became famous in November 1945. Lieutenant Colonel Herbert George ‘Blondie’ Hasler had just been back from the Far East for a week when he bought it from Cecil Frank Baker from Eastbourne for a thousand pounds. As an experienced small boat sailor, he had sailed a 5-metre dinghy single-handed from Plymouth through the English Channel to Portsmouth and back in 1932 as his first sailing trip in the navy. Sailors who are normally shivering and prone to freezing can only make a 600-mile trip like this with an all-round seaworthy tall ship.
In 1941, Hasler had recommended paddleboats for military purposes and showed how it was done in December 42 with Operation Frankton in France, which was inaccessible to the Allies at the time. He climbed out of a submarine into a canoe off the Gironde estuary, paddled 91 miles up the river, planted explosive devices on six guarded German warships in the Bordeaux docks at night with helpers and sank them. Since this night-and-fog operation, Hasler and his comrades have been known among experts as ‘Cockleshell Heroes’.
Scandinavian toothpick boat
Worn down by the Second World War, half of Europe cleared out and the survivors tried to find their way back to civilian life. Hasler needed a boat for regattas organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club for civilian life.
Inspired by Uffa Fox’s enthusiastic description of the sailing and rough water characteristics of the skerry cruiser, he had had his eye on this type of boat for some time. In November ’45 he sailed his ‘Scandinavian toothpick boat’, as the classic archipelago cruiser is called because of its length-to-width ratio of 6:1, uphill through the English Channel around Lands End to Appeldore on the Atlantic side of the county of Devon, where he was stationed. Nobody but Hasler travelled to the dangerous weather side of England in winter.
Tre Sang 1946 with the dinghy stored on the aft deck and Blondie Hasler at the tiller – Beken of Cowes
Hasler reported on the adventurous transfer with the sobriety of a combat swimmer in the November and December 1946 issues of Yachting Monthly: “The boat had not yet been prepared for life on board at sea. So the voyage was correspondingly uncomfortable. There were all sorts of wind, including a kind of gale. We gained a lot of confidence in the boat and learnt what to change for the coming season”. Those were the days when sailing magazines reported on sailing instead of seriously ‘gauging’ stowage spaces and measuring berths to the inch as is usual today.
Squirty Thirty with gimballed lantern
The cut-out shows the bracket of the gimbal-mounted lantern holder – Photo Beken of Cowes
Two ropes stretched from the bow along the shrouds to the forecastle served as a substitute for railings. A tent over the benches in the saloon kept the constantly dripping seawater away from the free watch. Hasler also described this practical device in Yachting Monthly and recommended it to anyone who couldn’t get their boat watertight.
Tre Sang at Classic Week 2014 at the German seaboard of the Baltic sea – Photo Sören Hese
Although Hasler claimed that Tre Sang would hardly sail any wetter than other boats of comparable size, he called his Thirty Square Metre ‘Squirty Thirty’. Hasler differentiated between the solid green water of the waves and spray or splash water. The deck would never have seen green water, the spray water would only get aft because Tre Sang sails faster than other boats through the shower thrown up at the front.
By August 1946, Hasler had sailed 2,600 miles with Tre Sang. Like the sailing successes of Adlard Coles’ famous Cohoe, Tre Sang heralded a new way of thinking in yacht building at the time. Hasler and Coles showed that comparatively small, lightly built boats could be sailed successfully and safely in ocean races.
The lieutenant colonel’s crew consisted of young naval personnel. They did what the skipper said and didn’t complain. Hasler only expected his fellow sailors to bring what they were wearing. ‘Caps, uniforms, pyjamas or spare clothes are undesirable.’ The ration card could be replaced by an equivalent amount of provisions. In the style of Erskine Childers, Hasler made it clear: “If you get off, you have to provide a replacement. I expect at least one officer from the navy.”
Vintage promenade sailboat
Tre Sang and Trione 2014 in der Kieler Innenförde – Photo Sören Hese
The low freeboard gave Tre Sang an appalling RORC rating of 34.01 feet (ca. 10 m) with an eight-metre waterline and five metre overhang. With little wind, the sailor, powered by a full thirty square metres of nominal surface area, had no prospect of sailing the necessary lead in the smallest RORC Class III. That’s why Hasler and his coxswains got serious about sailing when the fun around the British Isles generally stopped, with a toothpick boat in the open sea pretty much a certainty.
When it blew and the wind pushed the sea into a rough hump, Tre Sang swept past the array of traditionally wide and heavy ships with shaking planks. In the free watch, Hasler kept his boys happy by preparing curry-based meals. This is how the experienced leader kept the crew happy.
It was only reefed when the competition turned round. This is how the filigree racer made sailing history in the hands of the ‘men of iron’, an episode that was honoured by sailing sport chronicler Douglas Phillips-Birt in ‘British Ocean Racing’ in 1960.
Tre Sang wurde bis zum liegenden Violinschlüssel am Bug, dem Markenzeichen Harry Beckers, erhalten – Photo Sören Hese
Fetching bread rolls in Cork
Finally, perhaps the best anecdote about Tre Sang and Blondie Hasler. It recalls how in 1946, after crossing the Irish Sea in rough conditions, he got sandwiches for his crew at the end of a regatta in Cork in southern Ireland. The local sailors assumed that the caring skipper would feed his crew first, while the crew would tidy up the boat and join him before everyone relaxed from their exertions in the pub. As soon as Hasler was back on board with the sandwiches, Tre Sang set sail to return to England.
Leichtbau Myth of Malham für die RORC Vermessung optimiert: hochbordig, Stehhöhe, kaum Überhänge
The episode ended when John Illingworth invited Hasler to the Channel and Fastnet Regatta for the 1947 season aboard a radical new design that largely reflected Hasler’s vision of the future of ocean sailing. The Laurent Giles design Myth of Malham was the first boat to be consistently tailored to the RORC measurement. The judgement as to whether this boat was even half as beautiful as Tre Sang is left to the reader.
Hasler sold ‘Tre Sang’ to Bill King for £1,350. Hasler’s friends celebrated that by taking over Tre Sangs, submarine commander King had remained true to his class of boat. Hasler had sailed Tre Sang for just over a year and made a name for himself in the Commonwealth, and therefore worldwide. The boat subsequently had various owners. Although the flat-bottomed, lightweight archipelago cruiser from the Stockholm archipelago with its delicate bow and stern is not a prototypical seagoing vessel, the 1946 sailing season showed the way.
In 1998, Bavarian dragon sailor Rolf Kohlbach was looking for a larger, classic boat for the Ammersee. One of my Schärenkreuzer articles had drawn his attention to Tre Sang. Kohlbach travelled to Milford Haven, bought it from house restorer Roger Capps and put it in his garden at home. When stripping off the elegant dark blue paint, it became clear that Kohlbach, now the tenth owner, had taken on a big task with the then 64-year-old skerry. Repeated sanding had reduced the ship’s side to a worrying eleven millimetres. The legendary Tre Sang was more of a problem than a boat.
Promenadensegeln mit einem Vintage Renner an der norddeutschen Küste – Photo Sören Hese
In March ’99, Kohlbach gave Tre Sang to Steinlechner in Utting, bought a complete mahogany trunk and became a temporary boat builder until August. For six months, the trained food technician used a plane instead of a keyboard and mouse. At the shipyard, his idea of restoring the boat with as much of his own work as possible was viewed sceptically, but nevertheless encouraged. 1,200 hours of his own labour and 800 from the shipyard went into restoring the boat.
Master boat builder Christoph Hagemeyer took on tasks requiring practical craftsmanship, such as fitting the planks with millimetre precision or carpentering the stem, including the tricky task of chiselling out the spars. Parts of the sternpost and the transom were replaced. Starting at the sheerline under the gunwale, every second plank was removed and replaced with new mahogany. This also provided an opportunity to push the out-of-shape hull back into Barry Becker’s original 1934 lines.
Inspired by the work of Swiss car, house and yacht restorer Albert Obrist, whose shipyard Fairlie Restorations had many admirers thanks to its authentic boat restorations, Kohlbach took the opportunity to carefully restore the ship using photos and drawings. At the same time, he tried to save as much of the boat’s substance as possible. At that time, Tre Sang was once again fitted with a round wooden main boom with a snail reef, which attracted a lot of attention at the time.
Bremen-based sailmaker Beilken sewed a set of sails, using a light beige, patinated polyester cloth from Dimension/Poylant under the brand name “Classic,” to mimic the cotton look of the first half of the 20th century. The headsails were constructed using the typical narrow-panel cut with the center seam common at the time. Thus, Tre Sang resembled the historical photographs taken by Beilken of Cowes in 1938/39 and most recently in 1958 in the Solent, down to the last detail. The sails have since been replaced.
Das frisch verlegte Teakdeck im Passepartout des lackierten Mahagoni Schandeckels – Foto Rolf Kohlbach
The bridge deck, which was built in from the start, was practical. The narrow archipelago cruiser cockpit doesn’t offer space for conventional lockers. The transversely installed solution in front of the companionway keeps most of the water out.
More interesting than the confirmation of a restoration award at the Imperia Sailing Week in September 2000 were the hours spent on the water. In 2002, she returned to Imperia. In 2003, Tre Sang sailed a long-distance regatta to Svendborg, and in 2005, from northern Germany to a classic regatta in Stockholm. This was followed by the Midsummer Classics in the Flensburg Fjord and later several Classic Weeks. For some time now, Tre Sang has been stored and maintained at the Robbe & Berking shipyard in Flensburg. She is in perfect condition, like a piece of furniture.
Ursprüngliche Segelnummer
S 112
Länge
13,15 m
Länge Wasserlinie
8,28 m
Breite
2,17 m
Tiefgang
1,46 m
Freibordhöhe mittschiffs
0,51 m
RORC Rennwert
34 Fuß
Construction: Honduras mahogany on oak frames, frame spacing approximately 23 cm. Tre Sang received a new teak deck in 2020. According to the archipelago cruiser rule, the measured sail area consists of 21.85 m² for the mainsail and 85% of the headsail triangle at 8.13 m², total 29.98 m².
Großsegel
≈ 25 m2
Fock
≈ 9 m2
Genua III
≈ 12 m2
Genua II
≈ 20 m2
Genua I
≈ 25 m2
Spinnaker
55 – 89 m2
Today, the now 91-year-old classic appears as if it had just been rigged from the Rödesunds Varv near Karlsborg on Lake Vänern.
Tre Sang designer Harry Becker
Harry Becker (1905-92) learned boatbuilding at his father’s Rödesund shipyard near Karlsborg on Lake Vättern and began designing archipelago cruisers as a self-taught sailor at an early age, as early as 15. His 22- and 30-meter archipelago cruisers were successful and, at the time, particularly sleek. As Olle Madebrinck describes in the worthwhile chapter “The Rule. The Development from 1925 until today” in the book “The World of Square Metres” starting on page 25, Becker experimented more with his archipelago cruiser designs than his colleagues. As the boat’s plans show, Becker also placed the lead forward on Tre Sang, with a sloping transition to the bilge. Becker archipelago cruisers were designed for strong winds and, thanks to their long keel profile, favored course stability at the expense of the water-wetted area.
After the shipyard went bankrupt in 1947, Harry Becker worked as shipyard manager at Hästholmsvarvet for his friend Knud Reimers. In 1952, Harry Becker resumed his design work, now at Beckerbåt AB. He also built his own shipyard on Lidingö. Here, Harry began developing his motorboat designs. In 1953, Harry’s son, Jan Becker, began working for the company. According to another recollection, Becker worked at the drawing board and on the regatta course for his longtime friend and rival, Knud H. Reimers, in Stockholm. It is assumed that many designs from Reimers’ office at that time were Becker’s, even though they didn’t have the name Becker on them. In 1955, he founded Beckerbåt. Later, Becker designed fast motorboats with a patented floor construction that was revolutionary for the time. Harry Becker’s work comprises approximately 1,300 drawings, which were digitized in 2012. It is housed in the archives of the Stockholm Maritime Museum.
Douglas Phillips-Birt: British Ocean Racing, Adlard Coles Ltd. 1960 (Englisch), Seite 160 ff.
Carlo Sciarrelli: Lo yacht. Origine ed evoluzione del veliero da diporto. Ugo Mursia Editore, 1970. Deutsche Ausgabe: Die Yacht: Herkunft und Entwicklung, Delius, Klasing & Co, Bielefeld 1973, (Kapitel Leichtdeplacement) antiquarisch. ↑ Kapitel Das Leichtdeplacement, Seite 287 ff.
Sven Nylander, Sonja Herlin, Björn Forslund: Trendbrott. Med fem båtkonstruktörer genom 100 år, Museiföreningen Sveriges Fritidsbåtar Dokumentation Nr. 2, Förlaget Båt & Skärgård, Förlaget Båt & Skärgård AB 1993, ISBN 91-970902-3-9, ↑ Kapitel Harry Becker. Båtautodidaktnernas “tusenkonstnär”, S. 83 ff.
Per Thelander: Alla våra Skärgårdskryssare, Svenska Skärgårdskryssareförbundet (SSKF), Stockholm 1991, 160 Seiten (Schwedisch), antiquarisch, ISBN 91-970902-1-2, ↑ S. 88
Ewen Southby-Tailyour: Blondie. A life of Lieutenant-Colonel H.G. Hasler. Founder of the SBS and modern single-handed ocean racing. Leo Cooper 1998, ↑ Seite 167 ff.
The world of Square Metres. The Square Metre Rule – 100 years. Facts, history and reports from all over the globe. Svenska Skärgårdskryssareförbundet (SSKF), Stockholm 2008, ISBN 978-91-633-3069-8 (Englisch), ↑ Kapitel Square Metres in the United Kingdom, Seiten 236 ff.
Tre Sang in der Kieler Förde – Foto Sören Hese
Do you know more about Tre´Sang?
Do you know more about the history of this boat in England, its construction, Harry Becker, or have any further information relevant? I would be delighted to hear from you.
Photo above by Sören Hese: Tre Sang 2014 in the Kiel Inner Fjord during Classic Week. Thanks to Beken of Cowes for permission to publish the 1946 photo here. Published July 11, 25, updated October 11, 25. You found this article worth reading? → Subscribe the free Newsletter and you won’t miss future publications.
