Sail Number: 12/G1
Vessel Type: 12 mR (Third Rule)
Rasmussen “Inga” Specifications:
LOA: 70′6″ / 21.50m – LOD: 70′6″ / 21.50m – LWL: 45′11″ / 13.74m – Beam: 11′9″ / 3.62m – Draft: 8′11″ / 2.47m – Sail Area: 1,937 sq ft / 179.95 sq m – Design Number: 3242 – Designer: Henry Rasmussen – Built by: Abeking & Rasmussen – Original Owner: J.T. Essberger – Year Built: 1938 – Boat Location: Southampton (Great Britain) – Current Name: INGA – Current Owner: Alexander Böhning
Historical
Comments from www.skostsee.org/
In 1937 there was something approaching 12m fever in Germany. Walter Rau, owner of a whaling fleet and his friend John T Essberger, owner of a shipping company each ordered a 12m yacht from the famous shipyard of Abeking and Rasmussen in Lemwerder near Bremen. These yachts were to be named Anita and Inga. At the same time Henry Burmester was building another 12m, Ashanti, for himself in his own yard. In the early summer of 1938 both Abeking and Rasmussen yachts were launched just in time to compete in the Kieler Woche. Anita (yard no.3241) received sail no 12G2 and Inga (no.3242) her identical sister, the sail no 12G1. In addition to the two sisterships a 3.6m motorboat tender was delivered. As was usual in those early years neither yacht was fitted with an engine. Construction was Mahogany on forged steel frames. Decks were laid Oregon Pine. The masts were built of Spuce.
As Henry Rasmussen reported at the time: “Anita was launched shortly before the Kieler Woche, where she sailed against Inga and the English 12m Blue Marlin. The English boat went round the buoys like a dinghy but the two German 12s’ with their inexperienced crews were left at the buoys with their sails flapping” At the Kieler Woche in 1939 things were very different. The Sphinx, another 12m built by the A&R yard for Norddeutscher Regatta Verein ranked consistently first. Anita, Inga and Ashanti took turns at 2nd, 3rd and 4th. During the summer of 1939 the German 12s’ sailed a race series near Copenhagen. The coming of WWII stopped all sailing activities. Anita was laid up at A&R and had to wait for better times.
After the war Inga and Sphinx were renamed Westwind and Ostwind and sailed under the flag of the German Navy. 2006 they were sold to private owners. Ashanti burned up in a big fire in the Burmester shipyard. Anita was sailed only once in Kiel. By 1951 she had been re-rigged as a yawl and the interior modified for cruising, but still in the following years she was used on only very few journeys.
Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):
Owner: (1938-1947) – John T. Essberger, Hamburg
Owner: (1947-1948) – David Ryder-Turner
Owner: (1948-1958) – John T. Essberger
Owner: (1958-2006 ) – Kommandrur Marineschule Murwick, Flensburg – renamed: Westwind
Owner: (2006) – Alexander Böhning, London – renamed: Inga