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 …
Reading Time: 2 minutesNot long ago, an American contacted me regarding the purchase of a secondhand Swede 55. As a former 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 whether to inspect it at all or not. He booked advice to find an answer …
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. …
Reading Time: 4 minutesUntil this proudly remembered Friday, end of May 2019, one thing is clear aboard Gamle Swede: we will meet a Twelve-metre class only at the start of the race. Then this 22 metre upwind sailing machine, powered by 240 square metres, is gone. No reasonable sailor will take that pack with dull presumption, so we prepare with due realism in …
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 …
