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How this Knud Reimers design from 1943 became a template for his Skerry cruisers and other boats, like his Cruising Square Metre Boats.

During the Second World War, Knud Reimers designed a new 30 m2 skerry cruiser for the Hudiksvall merchant E. Ståhlquist. As far as can be ascertained from Per Thelander’s excellent chronicle Alla våra Skärgårdskryssare, it is his tenth design of the 30 m2 class commissioned by Swedish owners and the third for Ståhlquist after Vanja IV and V. As the overview further down in the article shows, there are also numerous designs for Swiss clients. Reimers designed 26 thirties for Swedish and Swiss accounts alone. So Reimers is on the subject. Vanja VI is 12.95 m long, 2.18 m wide and is rigged in the Stockholm Båtbyggeri in the summer of 1944.

Reimer’s 30 Square Metre Boats for Swedish clients

Sail No. – Launched	Boat name	Yard – Remarks
S 152 – 1933	Vanja IV	Gamleby Varv, ging 1937 nach England K11
S 117 – 1934	Valiant	Kungsörs Varv – in USA US 30
S 179 – 1936	Tarpon	Jungsörs Varv – seit 1937 in England K 9
S 180 – 1936	Roulette II	Motala Varv – ins Ausland verkauft
S 152 – 1938	Vanja V	Strängnäs Varv – ging nach Südafrika
S 168 – 1939	Caprice	Sverre Varv Göteborg – nach England, später Australien verkauft
S 177 – 1938	Roulette VII	Motala Varv – Reimers eigenes Boot, ins Ausland verkauft
S 170 – 1939	Roulette VIII	Motala Varv – Reimers eigenes Boot, 1939 nach USA verkauft
S 177 – 1939	Korybant	Kungsörs Varv – nach Engladn verkauft
S 181 – 1944	Vanja VI	Neglinge Varv – in die Schweiz verkauft

The following drawing of Vanja VI shows the frame shape with a slim waterline. It also explains why more weight with a significantly wider waterline and corresponding drag is so disadvantageous.

*Vanja IV* mit leicht zum Deck hin eingezogenen Spantformen – Sjöhistorika museet, CC BY-SA 4.0

Interesting is also the largest width, as it is included in the measurement with the factor 4 at about half the freeboard height in accordance with the Schärenkreuzer rule of 1925. Also worth seeing is the hull shape, which is elegantly drawn upwards towards the deck. The slender keel fin at the top with most of the lead at the bottom is both a sailing advantage and a challenge in terms of craftsmanship.

Fuller fore and aft sections for this Square Metre Boat

Unlike earlier skerry cruiser designs by Reimers, Vanja VI has more volume in the fore and aft sections. According to popular opinion, the bow section of a boat should be as slim as possible so that it cuts through the water with as little resistance as possible. This was also the opinion of his predecessor Gustaf Estlander. Now there is another aspect, namely the question of how much resistance has to be overcome with increasing speed until the hull reaches its maximum speed. This is regulated by the so-called prismatic coefficient. It describes the volume in the ends of the ship in relation to the main frame. A certain ratio must be maintained here so that the boat can get going quickly. With Vanja VI, he departed from the slender, delicate lines of his predecessor Gustaf Estlander, which he had continued in his designs for almost 1 1⁄2 decades since taking over the office in 1930.

Kiel und Ruderblatt von *Vanja IV* – Sjöhistorika museet, CC BY-SA 4.0

The almost horizontal suspension of the lead under the bilge provides a low centre of gravity for the ballast. Reimers will also stick to this solution for his last 30 m2 skerry cruisers at the end of the 1980s.

Reimers’ plough-shaped cabin at his Square Metre Boats

With Vanja VI, he also introduced the plough-shaped cabin. It is called the ‘plough’ in the skerry cruiser scene. It is more complex to build and offers less space than a superstructure with an angular front, but reduces wind resistance, which is probably more of a theoretical nature.

Reimers 8 m-R Yacht Glana – CC BY-SA 4.0, Sjöhistoriska museet

Above all, she is pretty to look at. Reimers gave this cabin shape a little later to the 8 mR yacht Glana for Lake Geneva. It later prevailed in the so-called Bijou type, the popular 30 m2 skerry cruiser built in series by the Beck & Söhne shipyard on the island of Reichenau in Lake Constance.

Der Reimers Achter *Glana* auf dem Genfer See © James R. Taylor/sealens.co

Another finesse of Vanja VI is the elegant side view with the imperceptible, tension-filled jump in the deck between the spoon bow and the stretched aft ship raised out of the water. Anyone who spends a little time with skerry cruisers will discover this.

Bei *Vanja IV* mit Fock und drei verschiedenen Genuagrößen – Sjöhistorika museet, CC BY-SA 4.0

As Olle Madebrink shows in a well-founded chapter of the book The World of Square Metres, which is well worth reading, on the development of the classic skerry cruiser based on the skerry cruiser rule from 1925 onwards, Reimers gave his designs a few centimetres more freeboard. Then, in the case of a heavier design on the shipyard side, they are still measured as skerry cruisers. This is because the minimum freeboard height must not be undercut. Reimers did not design on the edge like his predecessor Estlander. With a higher side, the boat becomes somewhat heavier, which Reimers, unlike other colleagues, accepted. He later even drew his 30s a little wider than required by the Schärenkreuzer rule. This does not run quite as well in light winds, but offers more dimensional stability.

The style-defining boat arrived in Switzerland in 1952 and contributed to the Central European renaissance of the 30 m2 skerry cruiser in Switzerland and on Lake Constance. As the following overview shows, Reimers was just as popular in Switzerland as he was in Sweden.

Reimers 30 Square Metre Boats built in Switzerland

Segelnummer – Fertigstellung	Bootsname	Werft
Z 2 -1935	Vespera	Chantier Naval Corsier Port
Z 3 – 1945	Kea	Chantier Naval Corsier Port
Z 5 – 1937	Beluga	Chantier Naval Corsier Port
Z 7 – 1939	Domino	Bessert & Engeli
Z 12 – 1946	Comet	Chantier Naval Corsier Port
Z 14 – 1950	Lucky II	Portier, Meilen
Z 15 – 1952	Königsberg	Portier, Meilen
Z 32 – 1934	Santa Monica	Soland, Zürich
Z 33 – 1937	Aloha IV	Portier, Meilen
Z 35 – 1938	Mary Ann	Suter & Portier
Z 36 – 1938	Stars ‘n Stripes	Suter & Portier
Z 38	Giritz	Portier, Meilen
Z 39	Landi	Suter & Portier
Z 40 – 1939	Caravelle	Portier
Z 41	Maia/Aiglon II	Suter & Portier
Z 44	Regina	Portier, Meilen
Z 45	Avosette II	Portier, Meilen

Apart from the pioneering Vanja VI, Reimers made small changes from design to design.

Aft overhang with fold

Reimers soon gave his skerry cruisers a V-shaped stern section instead of a rounded one, which reduced the water-wetted surface and thus the static friction of the water in very light winds. It helps in light wind conditions, which are as common in the eastern Swedish archipelago as in the light wind areas of the Swiss lakes and on Lake Constance. The fold in the aft overhang is indicated on his 30 Bijou type (developed from the Z 15 Königsberg), his S30 touring archipelago cruisers and the successor Swede 41 as well as the Jubilee S40. It is clearly visible on the Swede 55.

Literature

Per Thelander/Svenska Skärgårdskryssareförbundet: Alla våra Skärgårdskryssare, Stockholm 1991, Bootsregister über die 30er, S. 72 ff.
Lars Nordlund/Svenska Skärgårdskryssareförbundet: The world of Square Metres. The Square Metre Rule – 100 years. Facts, History and Reports from all over the Globe, S. 18 ff.
Reinhard P. Bäder/Internationale Vereinigung der 30 m² Schärenkreuzer Klasse: Schärenkreuzer im Herzen Europas. Geschichte und Geschichten der Schärenkreuzer in Bayern, am Bodensee und in der Schweiz. Konstanz 2010, Kapitel Schärenkreuzer in der Schweiz, S. 202 ff.