Knud Reimers (May 20, 1906 – 1987) was one of the most important Scandinavian yacht designers of the 20th century.
Biography Knud Hjelmberg Reimers was born in Århus, Denmark and educated as a shipwright in Germany at Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft in the twenties, a yard building large sailing and motor yachts at the time. He worked as an apprentice at Abeking & Rasmussen in (Bremen-)Lemwerder under the supervision of Henry Rasmussen. His first employment was in Stockholm at the design studio of the famous naval architect Gustaf Estlander. When Estlander suddenly died at the age of 54 in 1930, the 25-year-old Reimers bought his design practice. He promptly sold six 22m² Skerry cruisers to the Detroit Yacht Club. He later drew plans for the great 75m² Skerry cruiser Bacchant (II) that furthered his reputation as a designer of fast cruisers and racers.
Reimers most celebrated construction is the Tumlare which was designed in the early 1930s (1933 from a majority of sources; No. 1, 'Aibe' was built the next year for Bengt Kinde), and became a popular class worldwide. Examples are to be found all round the Baltic, in the UK, North America and Australia. After owning the Tumlare Zara, Adlard Coles bought a 32' 'Large Tumlare' Cohoe, with which he won the RORC's Transatlantic Race from Newport, Rhode Island of 1950.
Reimers went on to design cruisers, offshore racers and numerous exclusive sailing and motor yachts. Reimers boats are available in numerous countries worldwide, and boats are occasionally still built to his designs. His drawing archives are at the Maritime Museum in Stockholm. Reimers also designed Motor yachts, e.g. Orwell Class, 25’, (Yachting World 1938) and Swedish Express, 50’, (Yachting World 1938).
Reimers was also a lecturer, and produced films of races like the Tall Ships Race, Bermuda Race, Fastnet Race and Atlantic Race. Knud Reimers argued that in offshore race sailing, the final test is to create boats that can travel at sea in any weather, and said (loosely translated): "The boat is the means to reach the treasure beyond the horizon".
List of Knud Reimers yacht designs
Reimers designed numerous yachts for the metre Rule and square Metre or Skerry cruiser rule classes; they are known variously by length in metres or (more often) feet, and also often by their square metre rating etc. which together with the re-use of several names may justify this table as an attempt towards clarifying the confusing variety of naming conventions.
Year Class or Boat Name LOA Ft Beam Ft Builders Name Number Built Notes 1933 Tumlare Various "At least 200" "Some 600" 20m2 1934 Scharenkreuzer 30SQM Various 1934 Hocco 28m2 on a Tumlare Hull for sailing on lake Geneva 1934 5½ S9 Blåsut Williams, Motala Nordisk Kryssare 5½ S9 Blåsut1934 -'Eolo' (afterly 'Maracaibo'), for the Argentinian yachtsman Mr. Sierburg. This boat was entirely built with 'Viraró' (a South American Wood) by 'Astillero Rio de La Plata' (Germán Frers) (dead link, 8 July 2016) Page in Swedish Maritime Museum, sjohistoriska.se Similar 5.5m Nordic Cruiser here 1936 Bacchant (II) (cf 1937 ‘Bacchante’ 42’6" given at ASQMA; cf also NMM in Cornwall);( "75m2" ) -original Bacchant was an Estlander 30m2 design, 1928 1937 Stortumlare ("Large Tumlare") aka Albatross (2.3m given at) – No. 11 built 1939 Numerous Examples on the web; 30m21937HavsornenHolms BatvarvSeems to have been designed jointly by Reimers and Tore Holm -Built in Holms' yard and often attributed solely to him 1939 Siska – Knud Reimers 40m2 boat modified for the Sydney-Hobart Race 1941 Onwards Scharenkreuzer S22 – 36’ given in 22m2 1948 Agneta Yawl 1940 Squall Yawl 1955 Udell one design Raymond Creekmore 11 in North America Note: a one design sub-class of the 22m2 class named after Clare Udell Chicago YC 1953 1955 C(h)ameleon Class Various '2 dozen built for 1956' cf forum on classicboat.co.uk 1960 :sv:Bacchant IV Vasteras Fiberplast ca. 100 Bacchant III a one design yawl 1964 Bijou e.g. I. Beck & Sohne, Bodensee classic 30 m2 built in southern Germany. cf Bijou II in N America 1964 sv:Fingal 27 28’ given in Fisksatra Varv ca. 200 Supplied in kit form and fitted out to a variety of interior designs 1972 S 30 cf also S30-93 (40’/12.3m in (???)) AB Fisksatra varv, Sweden; Crown Yacht, Sweden '305' according to -111, built between ‘30s and ‘90s, are listed at 30 sqm The project name was originally Gota 30 which was later changed to O 30 and finally to S 30. Types A30 and S30; Sometimes Swede 41/ S30: aka Skerry41 30m2/ 41ft Loa 1975 :sv:Swede 55 53’ Crown Yacht, Sweden 35 designed at request of some of Stockholms Royal Swedish Yacht Club members 55m2 aka SWEDE 52 (52' 6" loa) 1982 Jubilee S40 Tufa Marin. 9 designed to celebrate Remiers' 50th anniversary as a yacht designer, 4 boats in Germany and 5 in Sweden. 40m2 1986 SK 30/40 Jansson & Zarin 7 30m2/ 40 ft Loa 1993 (posth.) S30-93 (40’/12.3m in (???)) AB Fisksatra varv, Sweden; Crown Yacht, Sweden '305' according to -111, built between ‘30s and ‘90s, are listed at 1993 updated version of S30, with increased sail area by extending the boom and increasing the foretriangle: at this stage the original was termed 'S30 classic' -see also :sv:S 30
Further notes regarding designs Sensa is given as a 5m class; 6m designs are mentioned; a number of individual boats to Reimers' designs are listed on the Australian square metre association website, e.g. Wings 44’, 1938/ Joyous- plans 1958/ Lady in Red: similarly, Jibslist mentions the 41' Gota (original project name for the S30) and the 42'8" Scharenkreuzer 40S.
Further notes regarding specific boats Landfall / Flicka – in April 1937, Reimers ordered the first 4 Albatross to be built by Oscar Schelin, Kungsors Batvarv, Sweden. They were finished in March, 1938. #4 was named Landfall by the buyer and shipped to Texas.Oct. 1982, personal letter from Reimers As of February, 2017, this remarkable boat is 79 years old, has had 10 owners and four names; she is (2017) being restored as Flicka in Port Hadlock, Washington.
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