Sail Number: 5
Type: Gaff Cutter
LOA: 50′ 0″ / 15.24m – LOD: 50′ 0″ / 15.24m – LWL: 26′ 5″ / 8.05m – Beam: 9′ 9″ / 2.97m – Draft: 6′ 6″ / 1.98m – Displacement: 3.6 tons – Year Launched: 1901 – Sail Area: 1,166 ft² / 108.4 m² – Designed by: Gunnar Mellgren – Original Owner: – Current Owner: Bo Eriksson and Per Hellgren – Built by: Gustav Plym – Hull Material: Wood – Former name(s): Britta – Website: https://www.ester1901.se/ – Location: Hyeres, France
Historical
Ester’s story – (Owners comments)
Ester was built during a period of intense innovation within yacht design and may be regarded as an exceptional boat due to the specificity of her purpose and consequent extreme design.
In 1901, Gunnar Mellgren was assigned the task of drawing a boat to race against Finland and defend the Tivoli cup. He created something both beautiful and unique. That year, the Finnish boating magazine Frisk Bris wrote that Ester was a very strange phenomenon and one of the most beautiful yachts created. She retained Sweden’s hold on the Tivoli Cup and went on to race very successfully throughout Sweden.
That summer, Ester earned herself a reputation for perfect shape and great ability. At one point, during a later season, she had won all twenty nine races she had entered. This formidable reputation travelled as far as Gothenburg where many boats were disinclined to engage in the futile race for the Röhss Cup, which Ester consequently won.
She also won SS Aeolus’ distance race, all the races in the Gothenburg Regatta, two races in Norway and the new Gothenburg Yacht Club triangle sailing. It has been said that when Ester registered to race, the result was sometimes declared before the start. For many years, she was the fastest boat of her size in Sweden.
In 1915, Ester disappeared from all registers and only re-appeared in 1933, worn out, renamed Brita and gifted to Örnsköldsvik SS (sailing organisation). Her last results are from the midsummer regatta at Ulvön in 1937 where she was the first to finish.
An autumn evening just outside Järvön, a fire broke out onboard Ester and she sank. The crew were able to save themselves in the dinghy but Ester was lost.
For more than seventy years, Ester lay alone beneath the waves she once conquered and on which she articulated brilliance. Later, onboard a search vessel in 2012, Per Hellgren, Bo Eriksson and Jan Olof Backman peered down through a screen at a distant shape on the muddy bottom.
The dream of rebuilding this iconic thoroughbred is materialising. Ester is beginning a new chapter sailing new waters with new owners and a new crew. She might even get a new broom.
Rebirth
The Amazing story of Ester: Gaff-Cutter Ester
Ester’s untimely and seemingly definitive end was attributed to a fire aboard, somewhere near the Baltic town of Örnsköldsvik. There she lay from around 1939 until 2012, when Per Hellgren, Bo Eriksson and Jan Olof Backman found her on the seabed.
The sunken vessel was clearly in a very fragile state. A custom fabricated cradle was lowered from a crane mounted on a catamaran and the strops tightened around the hull. She demanded utmost care in extraction from her resting place of 80 years.
Gently, she was pulled. The mud clung to her hull and sucked around her keel, holding her fast. 164 feet above, the crane continued to increase the tension that was spread along Ester’s 50 foot mahogany hull and yet, she did not move. With the scales reading 6 tonnes, air was ejected through the pipework surrounding her. This attempt to break the water seal was successful and Ester was free.
Approaching the surface, the sleek plan became a vague outline beneath the slight ripples on the water. Although the identity of the boat had been confirmed by the information brought back by the divers, with the emergence of the coachroof and deck from the darkness came responsibility. Bo and Per, having waited years for the recovery of this lost champion, decided to leave her floating just below the surface. When the poor weather of the next day had abated, they returned to complete the salvage.
Ester was carefully emptied of mud and debris before being lifted from the water. She was then escorted by road to her temporary residence where she is being restored.
In 2018 Ester is now fully reframed, she has a new centre-line, she has been entirely replanked and has new beam shelves. Her deck structure and related components are being installed whilst naval architect Juliane Hempel works on the rig and sail plan.
The restoration pays particular attention to originality and replaces like for like wherever possible. Some exceptions have been made where modern materials offer a significant advantage. An example of 21st century advantage would be the high grade stainless steel that has been used to replace the mild steel frames and hollow rivets. Modern glues have replaced period glues. The species of timber used are either the same or similar but more sustainable, such as the Sipo/Utile replacing the Honduran mahogany originally used.
Some changes were made to Ester’s structure over the years of racing. Many of these changes may be clearly seen today, however some are less obvious. The team has been working with Comité International de la Méditerranée to determine which aspects are original and should be replicated and which were not original and may therefore require further investigation or interpretation.
Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Notable Guest, and Reunion Information):
Owner: Örnsköldsvik SS (sailing organisation).
Owner: (current) – Bo Eriksson and Per Hellgren
esterfirstseatrials from Leif Wikberg on Vimeo.
![](https://classicsailboats.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/escapade-christening-3.gif "Mrs. Henry Fownes christening "Escapade"!")
