A memory of the Dragon sailor and boat builder Børge Børresen, who developed and built the wonderful three-man keelboat in his yard in Vejle, where the popular BB10 was created and the Soling Olympic class was built.
Brønsodde on the northern shore of Vejle Fjord in Jutland. Almost 9 metres of elegantly joined Honduras mahogany are hanging below the chain hoist of a dimly lit shed. The winter sun shines flat through the lattice windows and makes the planks glow in warm brown tones. All rationale for Gelcoat-shielded plastic such as job, money, family, or time evaporates like turpentine through the gap of the open barn door. Is it this moment of favourable light, the encounter with the quiet capacity of Danish wooden boat building, the handsome three-man keelboat that hangs in front of us like a sculpture?
The initial urge to touch leads my hand to the side of the boat. My fingertips run over the seamlessly joined planks, sealed with clear varnish, and the transverse wooden dowels that are only recognisable close up. They glide through the semi-circular recess of the galley, feeling the curve of the deck edge. I am there. 86-year-old Børge Børresen has been for a good seven decades. He has built 35 kites for himself, sailed them in regattas and then sold them. 325 wooden kites, the development of the plastic boat, 600 laminated kites, 51 Gold Cups sailed halfway around the world, a cupboard full of trophies, silver cups and medals at home: BB, as he is known, looks back on a fulfilling life of sailing with the Dragon.
Der erfolgreiche Regattasegler Børresen im Juli 1967 – Photo Allan Simonsen/Vejle Stadsarkiv
BB: Børge Børresen and the Børresens Bådebyggeri
Ondine”, the planks hanging in front of us, was built in 1969 and the American mahogany has darkened a little over the decades. Otherwise, it looks as if it has just been pushed out of the shipyard on Vejles Dragevej. Børresen likes American mahogany because ‘unlike African wood, it doesn’t turn grey even after years’. Occasionally the varnish has been sanded and refreshed. Børresen says little. He gives me the opportunity to take in the sight. He knows the magic of cleverly joined wood, especially when the sun makes it glow on what should be a gloomy winter’s day.
We are standing in the shed where Børresen started out as an apprentice in a fishing boat yard in 1934. That was seventy years ago. In the winter of 1935/36, 16-year-old boatbuilding apprentice Børresen helped his 21-year-old brother Albert make a kite out of pine wood. The two of them had previously made the experience with ‘Bravo’, one of the first Danish kites of the then young class, that the construction was somewhat windward-sloping. They remedied this shortcoming in their own boat by moving the mast slightly forwards, initially six centimetres and later 40 centimetres. ‘I think designer Johan Anker did this on purpose for the sake of safety, so that people wouldn’t overpower the boat and hit it,’ explains Børresen diplomatically.
The Børresen Broderne sail their Dragon once – to Svendborg. The young boat builders have already bought the after-work project from the shed in its half-finished state. ‘Nannita’ goes well, which is why the local coal merchant Thorkil Warrer instantly orders a boat, followed by six more Dragons. For a quarter of a century, Børresen tugged the Genoa round the shrouds, hoisted and sheeted the spinnaker for Warrer. In 1952 and 56, he helped Warrer win the Gold Cup in Scotland. In 1967 and 85, BB, as he is known, then sails for the coveted trophy behind the riding beam – again in Scotland. At that time, his eldest son Ole adjusted the Genoa a decisive hand’s breadth.
Børresen completes his apprenticeship in Brønsodde in 1938. His journeyman’s piece is a semi-circular fishing trawler crew boat. The hat was ‘fairly fancy’, Børresen recalls. Because fancy is more in demand for regatta boats than work boats, BB specialises in ‘Luksuskvalitet’ – boats that look like ‘Ondine’ after a lifetime of sailing. Vejle’s companies specialising in workboats have all disappeared. Børresen Bådebyggeri still exists despite repeated crises.
The following winter, the brothers built a five-by-eleven-meter shed right behind Vejle’s Neptun Sailing Club and rolled up their sleeves. The building still stands, serving as a warehouse in the furthest corner of the oxblood-red shipyard halls. In 1943, Børresen built the first Danish dinghy, followed by 64. The handsome Norwegian Knarr boat, a more comfortable, seaworthy version of the Dragon, has also been built in Vejle since 1955, with 140 examples. After his brother’s untimely death, Børge continued to run the shipyard, first with his sister-in-law and then with his wife.
For the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Regattas, Børresen delivered 40 Finn dinghies, including one for the talented sailor Poul Elvstrøm. The dinghies weren’t really that good because, in the heat of the moment, they didn’t pay enough attention to the wood moisture content, Børresen recalls, referring to what remains the largest order in the shipyard’s history. Børresen soon solved the problem of the damp Scandinavian winters with an autoclave, a ten-meter-long, heated wooden box for pre-drying the boatbuilding material. Installed with a low wood moisture content and slowly expanding again, the planks then naturally produce seamless, dense, and attractive hulls.
When Crown Prince Constantine of Greece sailed a Børresen Dragon to gold off Naples in 1960, followed by silver and bronze medals for other Dragons from Vejle, the Jutland company became an internationally sought-after supplier, and the three-man keelboat became a luxury class. In the early 1960s, the thirty-man company produced, among other things, thirty Dragons. “A Dragon was a man-year’s work,” recalls Børresen. The boatbuilders regularly pushed their single-axle carriage under the curved keel, balanced the 1.7 tons, and pulled their product out of the shed, the fore and aft sections supported by hands. A practical, simple method for moving a nearly 9-meter-long boat over land, one that requires mastery.
Prince Juan Carlos placed an order in Vejle, and the family of Greek shipowner Stavros Niarchos ordered three boats at once. Børresen, the fatherless boatbuilder from humble beginnings, illustrates regatta tactics over lunch in Athens with silver cutlery as boats and exquisite porcelain as reversible markers on the tablecloth. Despite his wealthy and high-flying clientele, Børresen remains down-to-earth. He replaces his tent with the caravan, ubiquitous at regattas, and travels across Europe with his wife Inge and three sons, Ole, Anders, and Lars. Børresen considered overnight stays in hotels “a waste of money.” He preferred to invest it in the boatbuilding business, which he expanded shed by shed. From 1948 to 1972, Dragon Regattas were consistently won by Børresen boats.
In 1962, Børresen purchased his former apprenticeship workshop, the Ustrup Shipyard in Brønsodde, a few kilometers from the fjord. However, the relocation of the boatbuilding business to the idyllic northern shore of Vejle Fjord failed due to neighborhood resistance. Børresen made the best of it, transforming the silted-up fishing boat slip into a charming harbor, parked his caravan on the magnificent waterfront property, and used the building as a winter storage facility. With the wedding gift of a Knarr boat from the Royal Danish Yacht Club to Queen Margarethe and Prince Henrik, Børresen became a Royal Warrant Holder in 1967. Two more Knarr boats and a kite followed, and finally, in 2001, Crown Prince Frederik received a Børresen kite.
Unfortunately, Børresen’s boatbuilding business thrived much like the highly wind-dependent water level in Vejle Fjord, which Børresen describes with delightful laconicism: “Sometimes the water became very high, sometimes low.” At the end of the 1960s, the business suffered its first setback. In addition, voluminous new boats are increasingly gaining ground, allowing for all sorts of things to be done on them, but not as beautifully as sailing a dragon. Colorful gelcoat is hip, while classic Honduras mahogany seems very outdated.
Because survival is about keeping up with the times, BB weighed every component of the wooden dragon and, in 1971, incorporated its weight into a new hull and deck shell made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic. A step similar to that taken at the time in other traditional boat classes, such as the 30 m² skerry cruiser, Knarr, Lacustre, and Folkeboot. However, the “real fiberglass know-how” was not yet perfect in the prototype, as was clearly demonstrated by a forestay chain link that visibly migrated from the sea-green deck shell and the fjord-blue hull during the Dutch regatta premiere of the fiberglass dragon. To the astonishment of the race committee, BB quickly repaired it on the water during the break and has since anchored the rigging iron with a few more rowings.
To check the weight distribution in the finished boat, BB devised a swing test. There are specialists who generally accommodate the required weight in the boat, but with an advantageous center of gravity. With the retirement of the Dragon as an Olympic boat in 1972, its renaissance as a racing boat for ambitious amateurs began. They value tradition, elegance, and, not least, the sophisticated social scene of the noble keelboat class.
When Crown Prince Constantine of Greece sailed a Børresen Dragon to gold off Naples in 1960, followed by silver and bronze medals for other Dragons from Vejle, the Jutland company became an internationally sought-after supplier, and the three-man keelboat became a luxury class. In the early 1960s, the thirty-man company produced, among other things, thirty Dragons. “A Dragon was a man-year’s work,” recalls Børresen. The boatbuilders regularly pushed their single-axle carriage under the curved keel, balanced the 1.7 tons, and pulled their product out of the shed, the fore and aft sections supported by hands. A practical, simple method for moving a nearly 9-meter-long boat over land, one that requires mastery.
Prince Juan Carlos placed an order in Vejle, and the family of Greek shipowner Stavros Niarchos ordered three boats at once. Børresen, the fatherless boatbuilder from humble beginnings, illustrates regatta tactics over lunch in Athens with silver cutlery as boats and exquisite porcelain as reversible markers on the tablecloth. Despite his wealthy and high-flying clientele, Børresen remains down-to-earth. He replaces his tent with the caravan, ubiquitous at regattas, and travels across Europe with his wife Inge and three sons, Ole, Anders, and Lars. Børresen considered overnight stays in hotels “a waste of money.” He preferred to invest it in the boatbuilding business, which he expanded shed by shed. From 1948 to 1972, Dragon Regattas were consistently won by Børresen boats.
In 1962, Børresen purchased his former apprenticeship workshop, the Ustrup Shipyard in Brønsodde, a few kilometers from the fjord. However, the relocation of the boatbuilding business to the idyllic northern shore of Vejle Fjord failed due to neighborhood resistance. Børresen made the best of it, transforming the silted-up fishing boat slip into a charming harbor, parked his caravan on the magnificent waterfront property, and used the building as a winter storage facility. With the wedding gift of a Knarr boat from the Royal Danish Yacht Club to Queen Margarethe and Prince Henrik, Børresen became a Royal Warrant Holder in 1967. Two more Knarr boats and a kite followed, and finally, in 2001, Crown Prince Frederik received a Børresen kite.
Unfortunately, Børresen’s boatbuilding business thrived much like the highly wind-dependent water level in Vejle Fjord, which Børresen describes with delightful laconicism: “Sometimes the water became very high, sometimes low.” At the end of the 1960s, the business suffered its first setback. In addition, voluminous new boats are increasingly gaining ground, allowing for all sorts of things to be done on them, but not as beautifully as sailing a dragon. Colorful gelcoat is hip, while classic Honduras mahogany seems very outdated.
Because survival is about keeping up with the times, BB weighed every component of the wooden dragon and, in 1971, incorporated its weight into a new hull and deck shell made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic. A step similar to that taken at the time in other traditional boat classes, such as the 30 m² skerry cruiser, Knarr, Lacustre, and Folkeboot. However, the “real fiberglass know-how” was not yet perfect in the prototype, as was clearly demonstrated by a forestay chain link that visibly migrated from the sea-green deck shell and the fjord-blue hull during the Dutch regatta premiere of the fiberglass dragon. To the astonishment of the race committee, BB quickly repaired it on the water during the break and has since anchored the rigging iron with a few more rowings.
To check the weight distribution in the finished boat, BB devised a swing test. There are specialists who generally accommodate the required weight in the boat, but with an advantageous centre of gravity. With the retirement of the Dragon as an Olympic boat in 1972, its renaissance as a racing boat for ambitious amateurs began. They value tradition, elegance, and, not least, the sophisticated social scene of the noble keelboat class.
Norwegian creations, improved and built by Børresen
It’s no coincidence that designs by Norwegian architects Johan Ankers (Dragon) and Jan Linge (Soling) embody the most beautiful open keelboats. This will likely remain so for a long time to come. They are sleek boats that are a pleasure to look at and sail. They were built in Denmark by this humble sailor, perfected over decades, and finally given a new lease of life as a plastic class, built by his sons and colleagues to widely acclaimed quality.
Das Tor der Børresens Bådebyggeri in Brønsodde, wo Ondine stand – Foto Trine Oversø Hansen/Vejle Stadsarkiv
In Brønsodde, where Børge Børresen, who died in 2007, trained as a sailor seven decades ago, terraced houses with condominiums have long stood. It says a lot about our world that Børresen earned more money buying and selling his waterfront property, which he long used as a parking space for his caravan and mahogany boat, than from the craft he mastered with “Ondine” and other Dragons. I remember the encounter with the quiet, wonderfully modest man, who spoke with quiet laconicism about his working life and sailing career, as if it were yesterday.
Photo above: Børge Børresen on May 1, 1976, launching a new Dragon – Photo: Allan Simonsen/Vejle City Archives. Updated July 10, 25.→ Subscribe Newsletter and you won’t miss future articles.
