Reading Time: 2 minutesAll data of Swede 55 obtained from brochures and own measurements aboard Gamle Swede: hull dimensions, weight, rig dimensions, nominal sail area and actual sail sizes. Cabin heights, tank capacities, engine and transmission, various international ratings/racing certificates. This information has been compiled from Gamle Swede and other Swede 55 over the past decades. This is just a fraction of what …
Reading Time: 9 minutesRhetorical skill, talent, and luck made the Dane, born in Aarhus in 1906, to Sweden’s widely acknowledged yacht designer. A portrait of the unwavering representative of the elegant and sleek Scandinavian line. The following four anecdotes describe the self-made man who came from modest circumstances, the passionate sailor, the sales-minded and also self-confident Dane. Aboard Agneta in the Solent: In …
Reading Time: 5 minutesA few bottles of vinegar essence and five hours of work. Descaling the cooling channels of your boat engine significantly extends its service life. Why, contrary to engine dealer’s advice, converting to dual-circuit cooling yet is worth the job in most cases. Here is a DIY instruction on how you achieve this. Indispensable fresh water cooling and seawater filter Boats …
Reading Time: 9 minutesA crush on this originally Swedish, temporarily Finnish and recently Swiss example of the 75 m2 Skerry Cruiser of 1918. How Gun keeps eight caregiving sailors happy and busy while pleasing spectators on Lake Constance. Finally, the question of who will continue this fabulous story. Let’s start with an almost forgotten detail, this arched coach roof made of maroon brown …
Reading Time: 6 minutesFor decades, the largest contiguous fleet of 40 Square Metre Boats has been sailing on Lake Starnberg. An afternoon aboard Aphrodite, one of the latest examples launched by Munich boat builder Helmut Fischer, explains why. Bavarian singer-songwriter and cabaret artist Georg Ringsgwandl once named ‘watching television, drinking and playing golf’ as the Germans’ favourite leisure activity. It would be sad …
Reading Time: 7 minutesThis 13-metre racer is an important boat for the Skerry Cruiser scene in Northern Germany. With Aurora, Georg Milz brought his idea for a sailing event from the 2008 centenary of the Square Metre Class from Stockholm to Fehmarn. She gifted fans of true and classic Skerry Cruisers and their successors, the fabulous Schlank & Rank Regatta. The North German …
Reading Time: 5 minutesAdvantages and disadvantages of the slender and long Square Metre Boat, the development of the so-called Skerry Cruiser, and how beam is measured since 1925. A brief look at the compromise between minimal water resistance in light wind and the ability to carry sail in a fresh breeze. Rapid Skerry Cruiser development in the 1910s The slimmer the boat, the …
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe contemporary sailboat is high, wide, and chunky. This Spirit 52 D reminds on the mayor purpose of a sailboat: being connected to the water with immediate response at the helm, seeing the breeze ahead and looking nice. For this custom-built manufacture, headroom and similar considerations were secondary. So this one off by Sprit Yachts is a kind of 52 …
Reading Time: 5 minutesThe appeal of a special type of sailing photography, showing the action half above and half of the aquarium-green water below. How southern German water sports photographer Ulli Seer became inspired by George Greenoughs “Psychedelic Surf movies” of the Seventies and Berlin outdoor photographer Soeren Hese later carried on. Technical challenges and how they were mastered in analogue times and …
Reading Time: 3 minutesDue to the elegant ambience of the hull, limited freeboard is an issue aboard beautiful boats. You can hardly stand upright in the cabin. You can either change clothes when the sliding hatch is pushed forward. Or you have a boat with a cabin structure permitting to cook, brush your teeth, use the bathroom and shower. The 115 ft (ca. …
