Reading Time: 3 minutes→ Artikel auf Deutsch Sailing Swede 55 for decades, I developed ideas to refine the joy. In short, it would be mostly the same boat better: a new build with a higher ballast ratio, launched with the planned or even less displacement. This would bring Swede 55 back to its origins: as outlined in the article on Swede 55 Forerunners. …
Reading Time: 3 minutes→ Artikel auf Deutsch Since the early 20th century, the Square Metre Boat is admired for its beauty, speed, and joy to sail. Inspired by the elegance of the Skärgårdskryssare, it was time for a good-looking and well sailing one-design suiting better to the requirements of a family in the early seventies. So Swede 55 was conceived in 1974-75 by …
Reading Time: 6 minutes→ Artikel auf Deutsch The Square Metre Boat cruising variant Swede 55 is delighting sailors all around the globe. Although series production ended in 1979, with Gamle Swede as hull number 27 launched by Fisksätra Varv, 18 more boats followed. One of them, technically and in terms of sailing the most interesting, is Cheyenne. Göran Lindgren got his dream boat …
Reading Time: 6 minutes→ Artikel auf Deutsch Why the rudder should have a different shape of the keel fin. Which shape was chosen in advanced boat building in the 1970s? What is recommended today? What helps to avoid the stalling effect? How you determine the ideal profile for your boat. Following the first article on suitable bushings for the rudder bearing and the …
Reading Time: 5 minutes→ Artikel auf Deutsch Whatever moves on a boat wears out and eventually needs to be repaired. Even the rudder blade. After stopping the noise at my Swede 55 with suitable bushings as described here, I noticed that it was still rattling. The question was why. So I dismantled it in the fall and loaded it onto the luggage rack …
Reading Time: 6 minutes→ Artikel auf Deutsch Everything that moves on a boat eventually wears and needs to be taken care of. The story of old and persistently replaced rudder bearing bushings until a suitable solution was found. One of the issues that bothered me for some time aboard Gamle Swede was the rudder, specifically the guide of the rudder shaft in the …
Reading Time: 5 minutes→ Artikel auf Deutsch In the 1970s, admirers of the beautiful Johan Anker-designed keelboat Dragon, the classy 30 Square Metre Boat, the Swiss Lacustre or the Folkboat had a problem. A wooden boat needs a lot of attention, time, and skilled craftsmanship. And it is expensive to build new. So the future of these fine boats was uncertain. The solution …
Reading Time: 6 minutes→ Artikel auf Deutsch An overlooked and notoriously underestimated topic is the weight of the boat. How heavy and thus under-rigged is it? Will it sail in light winds at all? And how much extra load, provisions, and luggage can it handle? Five examples. Cement mixer or sailboat? Today, cruising boats are considered as floating weekend flats. Whatever we appreciate …
Reading Time: 8 minutes→ Artikel auf Deutsch Finally located in a former match factory in Västervik on the Swedish east coast from 1968 to 1979 and in Gränna near Lake Vättern, Fisksätra built motorboats and vessels for customs, the navy and nautical survey. Then, from the sixties onwards, sailboats, cosy double-enders and popular cabin cruisers. In the seventies, the S30 and Swede 55 …
Reading Time: 2 minutes→ Artikel auf Deutsch Are you still bobbing around or sailing already? Easygoing Square Metre Boats answer this question in their way. These beautiful light air windmills make something out of nearly nothing. About thirty boats, from classic 15 square metre boats to a modern cruising 55 are sailing the Slim & Tender Race (Schlank & Rank Regatta) off Fehmarn …
