Als PDF herunterladen - Robbe & Berking

42
THANKS TO HIS FAmILY’S wEALTH, Anker could build
several yachts to his own design at his boatyard, and thanks to
his racing success, which followed quickly, the shipyard soon
became famous and successful. His own boats included Brand
II, which won the Kattegat Cup in 1906 and established his
name: the Kattegat Cup was a sort of »Scandinavian America’s
Cup« – a challenge between Denmark, Sweden and Norway,
and thus extremely important. Brand III, designed to the new
International Rule of 1906, was his first 8-metre and won the
Kattegat Cup in 1907. In 1908, he was helmsman of
the 8-metre Fram at the Olympics in England, where
he came fourth. His achieved his greatest Olympic success
four years later, in 1912 in Stockholm, where he
won gold for Norway in his 12-metre yacht Magda IX.
Having his own 12-metre was one of the personal dreams
that Anker could fulfil, first with Brand IV, which he brought
to Kiel Week in 1909. He sailed so well at this event that after
only four days he was well ahead in the overall rankings on
corrected time – even over the mighty Meteor owned by the
German Emperor, who was both impressed and probably quite
upset. »You’re going like a steamship,« Wilhelm II reportedly
told the Norwegian when they once briefly met ashore. And
yet Anker’s biggest international success was yet to come. In
1911 he sailed his third own 12-metre, Rollo, to Cowes and put
the strong British competition and the yachts of Fife and other
designers to shame. The President of the Royal Yacht Squadron,
above all a sportsman and a gentleman, said at the time,
»Now that’s what I call sport! You have built your own boat,
sailed it across the North Sea with your own crew and then
won almost every single first prize available.«
Anker was justifiably considered one of the best helmsmen
of his time. Through his family connections he had always
moved in the right circles, and he soon became the sailing mentor
of Crown Prince Olav. Before long, the two were soon true
friends, and this close connection to the royal family brought
him prestige and success in business. He was also held in high
esteem as a designer. They called him the »master of lines«
because he felt that the aesthetics of the lines was almost more
important than the speed of the yachts themselves. In another
age, it is inconceivable that he would have designed rule cheaters
with bumps and sharp edges – yachts that despite being
ugly would perhaps be successful on the race course.
It was to his advantage that the metre class formula,
which he loved so much, brought forth such elegant
yachts in his time. As the old saying goes, »What
looks good, sails good!«
Seen in this context, the Dragon, though of undeniable elegance,
was not really a typical Anker design. Originally, the
Dragon was heavy and rather under-sparred because it was meant
to be a safe boat for young people. The mast was about 40 inches
further aft than it is today, so in a strong breeze the boat had a
pronounced weather helm, and in a heavy squall it automatically
headed up into the wind. The total sail area of the main and jib
was 20 sq m (today the upwind area with main and genoa is 27.7
sq m with a spinnaker of 23.6 sq m), which is why in the beginning
the boat was sometimes called »the 20 square metre«.
It was at a luncheon with some of the most influential
captains of industry of his time when Anker made the first
sketches of the Dragon on a paper napkin. Over coffee, the
men, all owners of 6-, 8- or 12-metre yachts, complained that
there wasn’t a small and safe keelboat that their sons could sail
without them. It had to be an especially safe boat so that the
mothers wouldn’t worry too much. Anker sketched a few lines
on said napkin and asked if that was what they had in mind.
In the same year, 1928, the GKSS (Royal Gothenburg Sailing
Club) announced a design competition to find an affordable
one-design keelboat, fully in the spirit of the time as the
world economy was impacted by the end of the Golden 20s and
anything but prosperous. Whatever the case, Anker’s design
won, despite his firm conviction that one-design classes would
sooner hinder the development of the design of yachts than
stimulate them. Nevertheless, even the Dragon itself has
evolved over the years read more
Johan und seine zweite Frau Nini Roll Anker //
Johan and his second wife, Nini Roll Anker
Foto: Norwegian maritime museum / unknown photographer