HANHI
Model: Swan 40
Year: 1972
Design: #2025
Builder: Oy Nautor AB
Hanhi - 1972 Swan 40
Hanhi is a S&S Swan 40, Hull number 40, built in 1972. Her home harbour is in Helsinki, Finland (HSK, Lauttasaari).
Ugly Duckling
UGLY DUCKLING
Model: Sagitta 35
Year: 1972
Design: #2008
Builder: Bianca Yachts
© Sersys Inshore Challenge by Rick Tomlinson
Having been used as a charter boat and a live-aboard in recent years, the Sagitta 35 Ugly Duckling made a successful return to IRC racing in 2019 winning both the JOG Offshore Yacht Racing inshore series in class six and the IRC 1 class in the Hamble Classics Regatta. Along the way she also secured two line-honours victories in her two finishes in the JOG Offshore Series.
Purchased by Olly Bewes and George Beevor towards the end of the 2018 series, Ugly Duckling emerged from a winter’s work to win the traditional season opener, JOG Nab Tower Race in March and consolidated that with a second in the Cowes-Yarmouth race in May. Line honours followed in a gale strewn St Vaast Race and again in the Cowes-Alderney race a few weeks later. A fourth win of the season was secured in the Cowes-Weymouth race and a second in Cowes-Poole and a third in the JOG Sersys Inshore Challenge was enough to secure the title.
© The Nab Tower by John Green
In between times she took IRC 1 class in the Hamble Classics Regatta which was hosted by the RAF Yacht Club in early September.
“This first year has really exceeded our expectations” said co-owner George. “We knew that she had the potential to be a real weapon against modern boats in long distance racing but we did not think she would come good quite so quickly – I think the height of our ambition for the Nab Tower Race was the top six. It’s offshore where she really came into her own though, sailing downwind in fifty knots on the way to St Vaast she felt safe and stable and really looked after us. She is a remarkable boat”.
More information about JOG can be found at https://jog.org.uk/ and Hamble Classics https://rafyc.org.uk/hamble-classics-regatta/
Tjerk Hiddes
TJERK HIDDES
Model: Sagitta 35
Year: 1974
Design: #2008
Builder: Bianca Yachts
TJERK HIDDES- Sagitta 35
Tjerk Hiddes was located in Brittany until 2009. Then bought by Fenna Poletiek and Jan Schiereck and now located in the Netherlands.
Heliopolis
HELIOPOLIS
Model: Sagitta 35
Year: 1974
Design: #2008
Builder: Bianca Yachts
HELIOPOLIS- Sagitta 35
Heliopolis, originally named Søhesten, spent her life racing and cruising the Baltic and the Norwegian Sea. Tracks and fixes on the boat’s charts indicate that she cruised up to Magerøya. The boat was purchased by Shady Maurice, a British engineer and sailor, in the summer of 2024. She was rechristened Heliopolis after the city of the sun god Ra.As of winter 2024, Heliopolis is being refitted and upgraded in Holland; with the aim of preparing her for long offshore races and cruises; and ultimately to participate in the Fastnet 2027 race.
PAVLOVA II
PAVLOVA II
Model: Nautor’s Swan 43
Year: 1972
Design: #1973
Builder: Oy Nautor AB
PAVLOVA II - Swan 43/066 year 1972
PAVLOVA II a classic Swan 43 from 1972 was purchased in 2001 in Antigua in the West Indies. She has cruised the Caribbean extensively and competed in Antigua Race Week from 2002 until 2009 – winning her class in four seasons. At the end of the 2009 season she was shipped to Menorca and now resides in a marina in Mahon, cruising the summer months around the Balearics.
For a list of articles & race results featuring PAVLOVA II see below:
Pity the poor photographer! Antigua Race Week 2004 - © Tim Wright
30th April 2009 - 42nd Antigua Sailing Week proves a success
Hard on the wind in big seas. Antigua Race Week 2002 - © Tim Wright
30th April 2004 - Antigua Sailing Week
Keen concentration by the skipper. Antigua Race Week 2008 - © Tim Wright
24th April 2004 - Antigua Sailing Week
HUMBLE BEE
HUMBLE BEE
Model: Nautor’s Swan 43 / 061
Year: 1972
Design: #1973
Builder: Oy Nautor AB
HUMBLE BEE - Swan 43/061
Humble Bee is based in La Rochelle. Currently with her fourth owner who acquired her in Israel and returned to France.
She has just undergone a major refit, with the rigging, sails, electrical system, engine and accommodation all being refreshed. Next season, Humble Bee will compete in the Classique Yacht de la Rochelle regatta series.
Saloon
SUNCHASER
SUNCHASER
Model: Nautor’s Swan 43
Year: 1969
Design: #1973
Builder: Oy Nautor AB
SUNCHASER- Swan 43/020 year 1969
S&S Swan 43, Sunchaser is a world-famous traditional sailing yacht built by Nautor in Pietarsaari. She is hull no. 20 and finished in 1969 . In the 70's she belonged to the St Francis Yacht club, where she had competed successfully in the Big Boat series races and received an honorable mention and a commemorative plaque for the boat. Sunchaser is equipped for competition use and has main winches made of titanium on deck. The winches are connected together, so turns and sail adjustments can be made quickly. The crew on this boat has been 9-11. On the bow deck 2-3, in amidships 3, mainsail adjustment from the seat box, helmsman, navigator and skipper. The races in San Francisco Bay took place in a total wind of 20-25 knots, but sometimes reached 35 knots. Back then, the places and sailing skills could be tough.
Imports to Finland
The Sunchaser was acquired in 2009 from Coos Bay north of San Francisco. From there, she was transported by road to the east coast of the USA and from there by ship to Rauma and Parais for refurbishment.
Renovation
During the winter of 2010, the boat underwent a complete overhaul. The teak decks were completely renewed. The interior joinery, some cabinets and doors were completely renovated. Some of the Koto bulkhead veneers had been damaged and were replaced. The floors were badly worn, but Nautor had once made plywood from solid teak, so they were able to be sanded and finished like new.
Technique
She was updated to the extent necessary. The original baby blake head was completely overhauled and and black water system added in accordance with the new regulations. The chromed parts were recoated. The instrument panels were restored to their original appearance. The decommissioned Loran-C system and radio-guided equipment were replaced with a new GPS navigator system. The engine was in good condition and the last Perkings 4-108 engine had been run for only 470 h in 20 years only the exhaust muffler was replaced.
CARLY III
CARLY III
Model: Nautor’s Swan 43
Year: 1969
Design: #1973
Builder: Oy Nautor AB
CARLY III - Swan 43/018 year 1969
Carly III was originally branded as a PJ 43 for USA markets and started as a racing boat on the big lakes in USA. After a racing period, in the end of 1970’s she continued ocean racing and globetrotting from New Orleans. In the 1980’s she moved to Denmark and was for the first time refurbished in Walsted Baadeverf. Year 2000 she was brought to Finland by Fredrik Ekström. First she was refurbished and structurally reinforced and modified in Nautor Yxpila. Current owners have then continued refurbishing, updating, especially to the electronics and navigation systems.
Today, she is a very thoroughly, but carefully to original lay-out and contemporary style refurbished classic S&S offering unique, fast and powerful sailing performance and eye-catching, stunning looks. Beside of a beautiful interior, this unique yacht offers a very extensively reinforced hull and structures and custom made fittings. Other modifications include e.g. modified and deeper keel (1150 kg extra) and deeper rudder to match the new modified 20 meter Huisman 3-spreader rig and oversized deck gear and Perkins M65 engine and hydraulic gearbox for blue-water sailing in demanding areas. For one-man or family sailing she also has the strongest Jefa DD2 direct drive autopilot installed, controlled via Garmin autopilot system.
The current displacement is 13 tons, ballast being 6 tons and draught 2,45m. Latest LYS given is 1.29.
HARMONY
HARMONY
Model: S&S 34
Year: 1971
Design: #1959
Builder: Aquafibre Ltd.
HARMONY - S&S 34
This is Harmony an Sparkman & Stephens 34 from 1971, built by Aquafibre, she sails under the Belgian flag.
HIRO MARU
HIRO MARU
Model: S&S 49
Year: 1971
Design: #1939 Custom One Off
Builder: Palmer Johnston
HIRO MARU - S&S 49
This 1971 custom aluminum one-off ‘HIRO MARU’ is owned and raced by Life long Sailor and US Regional Secretary Hiroshi Nakajima.
In 2019 Hiro with his all amateur Corinthian crew sailed to an incredible victory in the Transatlantic Race taking first in class for the 3200Nm Race. Previously ‘SCARAMOUCHE’ she won her class in the 1977 Trans Pac Race under then owner Bob Alexander of Seattle, Washington, USA as well as winning her class and 2nd overall in the 1972 SORC (Southern Ocean Racing Conference) in the USA for then original owner Chuck Kirsch.
Winning major ocean races in both Pacific and Atlantic Oceans over a 47 year span. The only modernisation to the boat was a new carbon spar and racing sails last year by Hiro and a slightly deeper rudder under previous ownership. Otherwise the hull is still the original 1969 S&S design.
Find out about Hiro’s Transatlantic win here:
HIRO MARU - S&S 49
SVEA
SVEA
Model: IW 31
Year: 1972
Design: #1899
Builder: IW Varvet
IW 31 - SVEA
CANTELLA
CANTELLA
Model: IW 31
Year: 1969
Design: #1899
Builder: IW Varvet
IW 31 - CANTANA II
CANTELLA is an IW 31 - This attractive cruiser racer was built in 1969 by I.W Varvet Ab boatyard of Sweden. Approximately 350 boats were produced up until 1985 in three revisions.
IW 31 - Original Brochure
Design #1899 Sail Plan
AURULA
AURULA
Model: Traveller 9.5
Year: 1972
Design: #1899
Builder: South Hants Marine
SHE Traveller 9.5 - AURULA
AURULA is a SHE 9.5 Traveller built in 1972 by South Hants Engineering.
CIRCE
CIRCE
Model: Custom One Off
Year: 1967
Design: #1895
Builder: Wilenius boatyard
CIRCE - Round Gotland Race 2018
-S&S one-off design #1895
-Built 1967 at the Wilenius boatyard for Mr. Sven Gronblom as a RORC Rule One-tonner
-Mahogany on oak frames
-LOA 37'
CIRCE is similar in design to that of the successful SUNMAID & CLARIONET both RORC one tonner’s of the 1960’s
Sven Grönblom (left) & Rod Stephens (right)
Johanna Hendrika
Johanna Hendrika
Model: DEB 33
Year: 1971
Design: #1873
Builder: Tyler Boat Co. Ltd
Johanna Hendrika - DEB 33
The first owner named the boat Cheetah and sailed many races, often on the Solent. After six years she was sold to the Netherlands. The second owner, Mr. Hamer, sailed it on the IJsselmeer and Wadden Sea and also made regular trips along the English and French coast. Mr Hamer registered the Knepie II, as the yacht was then called, with Lloyds. In 2006 Manon Zwart bought the yacht and renamed it Bran, son of the Celtic god of the wind. I bought the yacht in 2022 and changed the name to Johanna Hendrika, my late wife. I sail a lot on the IJsselmeer and Wadden Sea, but my favorite sailing areas are the Scandinavian waters and the Baltic Sea.
ARCADIA III
ARCADIA III
Model: One Tonner
Year: 1969
Design: #1857
Builder: Félix Silvestro
FIREBRAND
FIREBRAND
Model: Custom Offshore Racer
Designed: 1964 - Launched; 1965
Design: #1780
Builder: Clare Lallow
HISTORY
FIREBRAND - Solent Racing 1965
Firebrand is a 1965 Admiral’s Cupper: designed by S&S for Dennis Miller and built of Honduran Mahogany over Elm Frames and Bronze Floors at Claire Lallow’s.
Firebrand, Quiver IV and Noryema IV won the cup that year. Firebrand then crossed the Atlantic to represent Britain in the 1966 Onion Patch; and sailed back again only to be selected a second time for the British Admiral’s Cup team in 1967.
Dennis retired to Bermuda, so Firebrand sailed across the Atlantic for a third time. Two years later Denis sold her: after that all we have is rumours of her racing on the Great Lakes.
“For I am Firebrand, handmaiden to the Sea God: built to plough furrows through the Salt Sea ‘til Ocean’s End”
RENEWAL
FIREBRAND - Cowes Start 2018 RTI
Until, in 1997, Ed Dubois discovered her languishing in the Florida Keys; brought her home and restored her. He owned her, loved her and raced her until his sad death in 2016, by which time she was again in need of some TLC.
Ramona-Ann bought her later that year; and we took her up to Matt Lingley at Aldeburgh Boat Yard for a new rig and her second restoration.
Firebrand has always been a stiff yacht, with 5 tonnes of lead in her keel: that's half her total weight. She immediately took to her new, taller rig
DEVELOPMENT
Firebrand originally had a keel-hung rudder - she was virtually impossible to steer downwind under Spinnaker in heavy weather: a common problem back in those days.
So in 1966 she changed to a “Constellation” style rudder, separated from the keel: the right place but an ineffective shape.
When he restored her, Ed Dubois did three key things:
• Upgraded Firebrand’s rudder to a semi-balanced spade: twice the depth. Finally you could steer downwind in a blow.
• Changed from wheel to tiller steering, which released a fair amount of cockpit space, gave her more “feel” and saved some weight.
• Sheathed her hull in glass + epoxy: she is stronger, stiffer and ever so much dryer now.
FIREBRAND - Evening Finish 2018 RTI
But by the time Ramona-Ann bought her, the rig was over 50 years old: we even had trouble getting insurance to sail her home from Cowes to Hamble.
SO NOW:
• The new taller mast is aluminium with rod rigging – that’s exactly what Firebrand had when she started life in 1965.
• Gone are the 150% Genoas, but we increased upwind sail area by adding 3.5 m to the mast and 1.5 m to the boom: the center of effort scarcely moved, but we gained a very welcome 20 m2 on the Spinnakers.
• When we started work we found no less than three cockpits stacked on top of each other: very modestly, we decided one was enough.
• We streamlined the deck layout with new gear throughout; including jammers to replace the mare’s nest of winches and cleats just aft of the mast, where the poor pit-man used to crouch at permanent risk of falling overboard.
Firebrand is a little lighter than when she was first launched: we have saved about 250Kg on the steering and rig - nothing has been added.
Down below she is essentially unchanged: we have some original plans, but they show multiple options. We do know she must have had room for the racing sails, plus room for the off-watch crew to sleep to windward – and that’s exactly how she is now.
REFERENCE
Firebrand finished the 2024 Round the Island Race, which is a massive tribute to just how seworthy these beautiful old yachts are. We even got her planing - not surfing, planing - for about 20 secs: I didn't think that was possible.
3rd in Division
17th in Class
47th Overall
FIREBRAND - Sailing Submarine
And the whole crew thoroughly enjoyed it…
“Design #1780 is a very typical R.O.R.C. racing yacht. A number of these boats were built by various builders.
This is right at the point in time when separate rudders were coming into fashion so the boats built to this design were from modified plans with a separate rudder. Other modifications were made to differentiate the boats, mostly with changes to the deckhouse geometry.”
FIREBRAND - Copyright Beken of Cowes
FIREBRAND
CLASSIC BOAT SEPTEMBER 2012
NIMUE
NIMUE
Model: S&S 45
Year: 1962
Design: #1732
Builder: American Marine, Kowloon, Hong Kong
NIMUE - Photographed in Mexico
Nimue is a 45 foot timber built S&S Yawl built in 1962 by American Marine, Kowloon, Hong Kong. She was launched 1963 with typical S&S construction detail; Everdur fastened, Honduras Mahogany double carvel planking on steam bent frames. Triple strapped, fully bronze floored. Glass over ply decks and coach roof. 45 LOA x 6' 9" x 11 beam.
I purchased her in 1975, lived aboard about half the years we owned her. We raised our two daughters from birth to about five aboard Nimue in the US and Mexico.
The name of the sail: The little girl's sail. Paper doll cut outs. (My two kids.) Colours: the Irish flag. My wife Lorna was from the Republic. US Documentation Number:
I joined the association the year of the Portsmouth AGM having missed only one AGM since. Presently I happily live aboard her in Richmond, California.
Jim Koss - Regional Secretary
Cecille
CECILLE
Model: Swan 36
Year: 1970
Design: #1710
Builder: Oy Nautor Ab
CECILLE, Swan 36
S/Y Cecille, Swan 36, hull number 078, delivered from Nautor on June 4th, 1970.
Cecille was originally built for an Irish sailor in Cork. After he passed away, his son sold it to two sailors from England in 2005. After moving to Birdham Pool, near Chichester, Cecille went through a thorough refit, including treating hull for osmosis, new teak deck, engine, rigging, winches, etc etc. In England Cecille was used for cruising and racing, participating also in a few RORC races and Swan regattas.
Plans from classicswan.org - https://www.classicswan.org/swan_36.php
Cecille was bought by her current owner in late 2017 and she was sailed from Portsmouth to NJK in Helsinki in May 2018.
RONDINE
RONDINE
Model: Swan 36, Hull No. 42
Year: 1968
Design: #1710-51
Builder: Nautor’s Swan
RONDINE - Swan 36/042
The Return of the Black Swan
In economics, a black swan is a metaphor for an extremely unlikely, hard-to-predict event with an outsized impact. On Sunday morning 31 May 2026, we woke up in the black Swan 36 at Hellsö, Kökar in the Finnish south-west archipelago, and for her this was the first time in Finland since she had left the Nautor yard in Pietarsaari, fifty-eight years earlier. Her name is RONDINE, and after half a century in Sweden, we feel she has finally come home.
We bought RONDINE, S&S Swan 36 hull number 042, with no builder’s plate, in Limhamn, near Malmö in southern Sweden, after a test sail in September 2025. We had been looking for a classic Sparkman & Stephens or Olle Enderlein designed boat, and RONDINE was the fifth Swan 36 we viewed. She was built in 1968, and like so many old boats she had quietly slipped between owners, sailing clubs, and even names, leaving just a fragile trail that took nine months of research to follow. What we discovered was a chain of different lives, all connected through one beautiful well-built sailing yacht.
The story begins with Gustaf Piehl (1922–2006), a Stockholm brewing magnate, distinguished member of Kungliga Svenska Segel Sällskapet KSSS, 12-times Gotland Runt racer, and later the first non-royal Grand Master of the Swedish Freemasons since 1774. Piehl named all his boats SAGITTA — Latin for “arrow” — a nod to his family’s name and brewery emblem. The 1969 KSSS yearbook, located in the Åbo Akademi maritime history archives, confirmed Piehl’s Swan 36 SAGITTA had carried sail number OR S 48, the very number cast on a small bronze plate fixed to RONDINE’s forward dorade box. Piehl raced her in Gotland Runt in 1968 and 1970, and in 1972 he moved to a Swan 40.
In 1971 the black Swan passed to Olle Renvall (1925–2004), an Alfa Romeo racing driver in Eskilstuna. Olle was the 1960 Swedish ice racing champion but the Swan was for Lake Mälaren racing in the summer. According to Olle’s old crewmate Leif Hedman, Olle named the boat RONDINE — short for “Renvalls ONDINE” — a homage to the celebrated high-tech offshore racing sailboats named ONDINE by Sumner "Huey" Long, rather than the Italian word for the bird swallow, however poetic that coincidence remains. Olle’s 1970s sailing trophies — and some entertaining stories of overboard racing protesters and strictly rationed whisky for the crew — are still living on board today.
In 1995 RONDINE was motored to Göteborg through the Göta Kanal. The new owners Henrik (1946–2013) and Kerstin Wingård enjoyed cruising in the Göteborg archipelago, and kept RONDINE at the mooring buoy at their summer house. The next owner from 2004 was Olof Tiselius in Stockholm, a sailing instructor and European and World Championship level sailor from Djursholms Segelklubb. Olof enjoyed RONDINE, and installed a new engine, but soon wanted a larger S&S yacht, and currently he sails the S&S 52 yawl GEROFIA.
After a DNF in Gotland Runt, Olof passed RONDINE to Sten Berg (1943–2026) in Limhamn, in 2009. Sten would own and sail her for the next sixteen years. Sten was, by every account we gathered, “a very special man, in many ways”: an engineer, a dreamer, and perhaps ultimately RONDINE’s most devoted custodian. He fitted a new Selden mast to the original Proctor measurements, commissioned a broad new sail inventory, installed new engine and winches, raced in Malmö’s Saltholm Runt, and twice in Denmark’s Sjælland Rundt, finishing third on one occasion. He made two solo attempts for a pilgrimage sail north to RONDINE’s birthplace in Pietarsaari, turning back at Öland when the passage proved too demanding alone. He set up RONDINE for an Atlantic crossing, and began another journey through the European canals to the Mediterranean. Sadly, we signed the purchase agreement last autumn but never got to meet Sten — he passed away this January.
That makes our own arrival, the closing of the half-a-century loop. We travelled again to Limhamn in May, spent a long busy weekend with help from a local electrician and Ulf Björk, Sten’s longtime sailmaker, and set off for Finland on May 19. Thirteen sailing days, one lay day, and 586 nautical miles later, with no incidents — we arrived at her new home mooring in the Turku archipelago.
RONDINE is in honest working condition rather than a showroom centrepiece, which suits us fine. Sten kept her well, and what she needs now is the slower, more affectionate kind of TLC — new teak where the old has softened, making her sandwich deck solid again, refreshing cushions in the original blue, gas system rebuild, interior woodwork, repainting her black hull and the hull stripe. Some of this is more urgent, some less so. Our previous boat was a wooden one so the upcoming woodwork does not frighten us.
We have applied RONDINE to the Finnish National Heritage Agency’s classic boat registry, and along the way we’ve been lucky enough to draw on an international network of helpful people, their knowledge and their networks — Robert Holm at Nautor, Simon Turner at Berthon, Robert Louhimies at Åbo Akademi, Ulf Björk of Sydsegel, Kerstin Wingård in Göteborg and Olof Tiselius in Stockholm, Sebastian Cedercreutz at Nyländska Jaktklubben, sailor Daniel Serrander in Eskilstuna, classic boat authority Jani Vahto in Finland, and several others — all willing to help piece together the life of a fifty-eight-year-old black Swan.
So — is the black Swan a black swan, in the metaphorical sense? We like to think so, in a way: an improbable boat, with a lively history, that nobody could quite have predicted would end up exactly here. RONDINE has come home to Finland for the first time since she left Pietarsaari in 1968. We intend to make sure she’s still sailing — a little more polished each season — for a long time yet.
Maarit Laanti & Harri Kiljander, Kemiö/Espoo, Finland, June 2026
