An opportunity to view a classic yacht in the middle of a total refit is a rare occasion. For
Santa Anna, it is more the case of a total rebuild. She was born on the draftboards of Norwegian yacht designer Jacob M. Iversen and she was built as an ocean racing yawl at Oscar Schelin's Kungsörs shipyard on Lake Mälaren in Sweden in 1942 for owners Sven Rygaard & Sture Rödén. With a Length On Deck of 15.80m, a beam of 3.20m, a draught of 2.37m and 88 square meters of canvas, she is the largest sailing yacht ever built at the yard. Later, her yawl rig was converted to a sloop's by naval architect Sven Abrahamsson. When she was taken into French shipyard Sud Croisière in Cap d'Agde for a refit three years ago, it was discovered that hardly nothing from the boat could be saved. To retain the original lines of the boat, three quarters of the steel frames were dismantled and replaced anew one piece at a time, with only a quarter of the original steel frames strong enough to be kept. After the steel frames were replaced, the acacia frames, acacia deckbeams, oak keelson and mahogany planking were replaced, each a piece at a time as well. With the shape integrity of the hull preserved thus, work could be carried on at a faster pace by the two carpenters hired for the job, and they still have to furnish the interiors, which were still completely bare when inspected early October. A new sloop rig to be designed by
Frank de Rivoyre will be carried out by the Gilbert Pasqui shipyard in Villefranche, which has a long list of
references for such work. I have included the designer's drafts, none of which served for the build for certain, but they are all the documents that are currently at our disposal to serve as inspiration for interior appointments, which will eventually be designed by
Olivier Racoupeau.
I had never heard of
Santa Anna before Saturday, now I am glad to show you the following clips. She is on schedule to be relaunched in time for the 2012 Régates Royales in Cannes.
Santa Anna at her launch in 1942 - photographs courtesy © Kungsörs Båtvarv
drafts for interior alternatives signed Jak M. Iversen - courtesy of the © Sjöhistoriska museet
draft for the original rig signed Jak M. Iversen - courtesy of the © Sjöhistoriska museet
drafts for sheer plan, half-breadth plan (with diagonals) and body plan signed Jak M. Iversen - courtesy of the © Sjöhistoriska museet
more blueprints available here
Santa Anna inside the Sud Croisière boatshed in Cap d'Agde
A long counter and minute transom
the two-level coachroof is now one flush piece and has been lowered whilst keeping with the original style
the cockpit coamings have been made rounder in an effort to improve ergonomics whilst keeping with the original style
A beautiful mahogany king plank running from aft to stern styles the boat.
the skeleton-bare interiors
ring frames have been added in place of deckhead beams to stiffen the chainplates
Santa Anna at her launch in 1942 - photographs courtesy © Kungsörs Båtvarv
1 comment:
Old post and not much activity. By coincidence I own a car bought new by obviously the same Sven Rygaard, a 1970 Citroen DS. /Magnus Henriksson, Sweden
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