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Square Metre Boats: A matter of sail area

Reading Time: 4 minutesDifferent to other sailboats, the true Skärgårdskryssare or Square Metre Boat and their successors for cruising are designated by sail area instead of their length or a formula. For example, the 15 stands for the smallest 15 m2 class, the 22 for the 22s, and so on. If the designation number is underlined, as in the above photo of a …

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Where to put the anchor?

Reading Time: 5 minutesSwede 55 can be enjoyed as built in the 1970s. Believe it or not and even if some do-it-yourselfers find it difficult: you can simply sail this boat as it is – with one exception: Unfortunately, the yard did not consider an important issue at the time, anchoring. A secure anchor that you can easily deploy and back on board …

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Buy the right Swede 55

Reading Time: 2 minutesNot long ago, an American contacted me regarding the purchase of a secondhand Swede 55. As a previous Swede 55 owner, he was familiar with the boat. Enthralled by the 55, he found a particular boat on the eastern seaboard of the US and sought advice on whether to inspect at all or not. He booked advice to find an …

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S30: Which spar is it?

Reading Time: 3 minutesAn S30 sailor wants a jockey pole for his cruising square metre boat for spinnaker sailing at closer angles. Together with matching eye plates to hang on the side of the mast this is no big deal. The boom and fittings are requested from the leading mast builder Seldén via the Hamburg agent Herman Gotthardt. Seldén probably supplied the rigging …

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New Swede 55 Mainsail

Reading Time: 2 minutesIt towers 18 metres into the blue and is ten percent bigger than the previous one by Swiss sailmaker VM Sails, which came with a short foot luff in the nineties. Five battens, two of them continuous at the top, stabilise the cloth. In the fall before, sailmaker Arnd Deutsch and I had discussed a special sailcloth and other details. …

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New Swede 55 Jib

Reading Time: 4 minutesDoes a post about a new jib make sense? I think so, as sailing Swede 55 is mostly about upwind pleasure. And for a long time I sailed Gamle Swede with an old, worn out and to small jib. Believe it or not: It was made by Canon/Västervik in 1979. For that long, you can use polyester cloth, also known …