Sail Number: 95 S-8
Type: SK-95 (skärgårdskryssare)
Britt-Marie Specifications:
LOA: 69.78 / 21.27m – LWL: 47.90′ / 14.60m – Beam: 8.79′ / 2.68m – Draft: 9.84′ / 3.00m – Mast Height 78.74′ / 24.00m – Year Built: 1921 – Designer: Tore Holm – Builder: Lap Holm’s Yacht shipyard, Gamleby – Original Owner: Åkerlund, Erik – MMSI: 265699440 – Call Sign: SE2414 – Flag: Sweden (SE)
SK-95 Britt-Marie: Website
Vessel Locator: Marine Traffic
Tore Holm 1896-1977
Tore Holm was born in Gamleby on November 25, 1896 as the second son of the founder of Holms Yachtvarv, the legendary Knut Holm, who at this time works as a mate on the steamer “Tjust”. Tore is a calm and withdrawn boy who patiently works his way through the school, until in 1922 he stands as a completed civil engineer at KTH in Stockholm. His work alone deals with “Per Brahe’s” listing on Vättern. Already as a five-year-old, Tore and his older brother can join us in building the first fin-keel boat “Bris” in the outbuildings of the newly built villa on Garpedansberget. As is customary at this time, Dad Knut is a dominant and demanding father. The boys learn the sailing and the boat’s construction from the ground up.
Around 1915, Tore began to draw his own archipelago cruisers, but he was not allowed to sign the drawings but they were stamped “Knut Holms Yachtvarv”. That is why Tore first debuted in 1919 with the 55 sqm archipelago cruiser “Mayflower”. He breaks through 1920 with the excellent construction, 40 sqm “Sif”, with which Tore and his brother Yngve win Olympic gold the same year in Antwerp. The following year, Tore constructs the archipelago cruiser “Marga IV” (now “Pajazzo”), a construction that Yngve extends further and which resulted in “Britt-Marie”. These boats dominate the archipelago cruise throughout the twenty years and result in new rules being introduced. Tore is increasingly focusing on designing and sailing R yachts. In an attempt to launch the Holm boats internationally, Tore participates in the Genuaregattan in 1928 with the 6-laurels “Lilian” and “Västanfläkt”. Both boats win all part of the sailing and orders from all corners of the earth come to the shipyard in Gamleby, which results in Holms Yacht Shipyard being the most productive in Sweden.
SK95 S8 Britt-Marie:
The Swedish name Skärgårdskryssare means Shoal Cruiser, or phonetically translated Skerry Cruiser, referring to the protruding rocks off the coast of the Baltic Sea.
SK95 S8 Britt-Marie is an archipelago cruiser designed and constructed by Tore Holm in 1921. She was built to order from publisher Åkerlund. And is built by Lap Holm’s Yacht shipyard, Gamleby.
Sailing Yacht Marga – One of our favourite rivales! If you stand behind the two of them laying side by side, you can see the similarities but also lots of differences. Hard to believe they are built from the same construction drawings.
Her owners renovated with quite a different approach, favouring speed. This winter many hours of effort is put on the finish of the hull under the water line. They claim the reason is to beat Marga…
We have salied against Britt-Marie a couple of times now and it is very clear that she is the faster in light to moderate wind and Marga is faster in stronger winds. Unfortunately (?) our handicap system, the SRS rule, punish her high mast and deep keel so we always have our own “race in the race”.
Sail Finland – The best thing about sailing the Airisto Segelsällskap 150th anniversary regatta on-board the skerry cruiser Britt-Marie was that we overtook pretty much the whole Baltic Classic Masters fleet so lot’s of nice photo/video opportunities. Here is a small compilation of some of the boats we left behind