Who is Knud Reimers?
by Southern Woodenboat Sailing 20 Aug 2021 12:15 UTC
Tumlaren #1 AIBE 1934 © Southern Woodenboat Sailing
Most sailors know Knud Reimers' Tumlaren sailed in Australia since 1937. But it's just one boat in a huge folio of successful designs over six decades. Here's a look at Reimers and his boats.
There was a terrific response from the Tumlaren community to the Southern Wooden Boat Sailing interview last week - YVONNE, A SMALL SYNDICATE HANDS ON RESTORATION, SWS 12th August. Martin Olsen in Denmark kindly put us in touch with Teodor Reimers, the grandson of Knud Reimers. Barbara Joyce, Selim Nurminen's daughter, added a few personal notes to the story and 80 years young instagramer Joan Doiron, sent signals from Vancouver Island. Joan is the daughter of Al Rae, the champion Tumlaren sailor in the 1940's and 50's at the Queen City YC in Toronto.
Knud H Reimers
Knud Hjelmberg Reimers was born in Arhus, Denmark and educated as a shipwright in Germany. He started at Krupp Germaniawerft building large sailing and motor yachts then was apprenticed to Abeking and Rasmussen near Bremen. In the 1920's his first studio job was in Stockholm with the Finnish architect and yacht designer GUSTAF ESTLANDER at SWS 5th March 2020. Estlander was well established as a designer of fast and radical 20 and 30 square metre Scharenkreuser (Skerry Cruisers). In 1930 aged 25, Reimers took over the studio when Estlander died suddenly.
The office of Knud H Reimers, Naval Architect & Yacht Broker was under way. To anchor the finances, he was able to quickly sell six 22m skerry cruisers to the Detroit YC. The important Reimers yachts like the Tumlaren and Bacchant, were designed in this first decade. His open and inventive approach would constantly rework and refine these earlier successes throughout a career of 60 years. This ensured his yachts were competitive and contemporary as rules, materials and client requirements changed. Many of these yachts are still sailing in Australia.
Scharenkreuser
The 1925 Swedish Metre Rule fixed class sail area but allowed length, beam & displacement to be customised. This encouraged invention for speed and stability. Yachts with exaggerated aft overhangs and shorter double-enders (Spidsgatter) could be classed as 20, 30, 50, 60 or 70sq metre designs. A large overhang and long waterline produced speed, while tall narrow (high aspect) rigs picked up the steady breeze above the Scandinavian islands and rock outcrops. The designs, mostly with low freeboard also had to be stable in the open Baltic Sea. A typical Reimers 22sq design would be a pencil of 36 -40' LOA, a 6-7' beam and light 1.75ton displacement. The design fundamentals of the Skerry Cruiser are embedded in most Reimers yachts. The Skerrys are still sailed on European lakes and around the Scandinavian archipelagos.
5 and 6m YACHTS
Steady orders for skerry's and the very competitive International 5 and 6m classes underpinned the Reimers studio in the 1930's. These were popular yachts in Europe before the war merging into the 5.5m Olympic class at Helsinki in 1952. Reimers produced many versions with split racing cockpits or cruising cabs.
Tumlaren
By 1933, Reimers was designing boats that made his name. The 20sq, 27ft Tumlare(n) was a success from the beginning. Licenses for this unique double-ended cruiser were sold to establish fleets in England, on the lakes at Chicago, Detroit & Toronto and the St Kilda Yacht Club in Melbourne in 1937.
"Stories abound of Tumlaren fighting through conditions that sent many other boats running for shelter". Rather than repeat grand claims for this beautifully balanced boat, we recommend a terrific article in the Classic Yacht Association of Australia magazine from 1998, Tumlaren - A Classic Class by Damien Purcell.
Tumlaren Hocco
Reimers was happy to make adaptions to the Tumlaren. In 1934 sailors from Lake Geneva asked for an increased sail area suited to the lighter conditions of inland sailing. A Tumlaren carries 220sq ft of sail while the Swiss variation named Hocco, added another 80sq ft. Reimers increased the geneo overlap then extended the boom and mainsail foot by 58cm. The mast and mainsail luff heights were unchanged. The Hocco photo below shows bumkin dental work to hold the backstay beyond the leech.
The tradition of custom refinement and experiment was embedded in the office from Reimers experience with metre boat design. Similarly in the late 1940's and after resistance from the one-design Tumlaren Association Trustees, the Australian fleet stripped the original cruiser fit-out to make a day-sailor. Reimers no doubt would have supported that idea as "fit for purpose" on Port Phillip Bay.
Stor Tumlaren
By 1935 Reimers was drawing the larger Stor Tumlaren aka Albatross (LOA 32' and 7' beam) compared to the Tumlare (LOA 27', 3" & 6', 3" beam). The extra dimensions made her a very comfortable family cruiser. When raced by a Tumlaren master like Melbourne's Doug Jenkin and family, they load up with a yankee jib and street the field. There are several nice examples of Stor Tumlaren in Australia like Jenkin's Bluejacket in Williamstown and Skagerrak on Lake Macquarie NSW.
A modified Stor was made famous by K. Adlard Coles' COHOE #339 in the 1950 Transatlantic race. COHOE was shipped to Bermuda with two other British yachts SAMUEL PEPYS and MOKOIA with plans to sail the Bermuda race to the trans-Atlantic start in Newport. They all survived an extra-tropical cyclone with swells from two directions. Then from Newport it was wild downwind running in front of Atlantic storms. SAMUEL PEPYS took line honours and COHOE the handicap race. Coles started with publishing sailing magazines and expanded into nautical books. The race is recounted in Coles' 1967 book "Heavy Weather Sailing".
Photos of COHOE clearly show a pointy bow extension (like a prosthetic nose) added for the race and removed later according to Rob Evans of Celeste (see below). The purpose, perhaps for rating, will no doubt be revealed.
Tumlartwo and Tumlaren 84
A great design invites re-invention. Reimers re-worked the Tumlaren for 50 years. In 1962 he was drawing TumlarTwo a "300sq ft modern double ender". In 1984, he was reworking the original 27' Tumlaren as a fibeglass boat. A few inches added here and there alter the sheerline to create a more contemporary but still beautiful boat. This was never delivered as Reimers died in 1987.
Bacchant and Fidelis
Reimers designed the 75sq Bacchant (LOA 64' and 12' beam) in 1936. She was built at August Plym's Kummelnas shipyard near Stockholm for Eric Lundgren. From 1976 Bacchant spent 37 years on Lake Michigan at the Milwaukee YC and was recently returned to Sweden. This is an important template design that Reimers continued to refine, producing race winning yachts like Fidelis some 30 years later.
Fidelis (LOA 61' and 10' beam) is a Bacchant built in Auckland in 1964 with triple skin kauri and a chopped stern. From the launch, she was a success winning the Auckland to Suva race and the 1966 Sydney Hobart in four days, 8hrs, 39min, a record time that stood for nine years. Her nearest rival BALANDRA was 70Nm and 17 hours astern. Fidelis is moored at Shell Cove and can still be seen racing on Sydney harbour.
Siska
The first of five Siskas owned and skipped by Rolly Tasker was a Reimers boat. Tasker won the silver medal in the 12m2 Sharpie at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and was Flying Dutchman world champion in 1958. Siska is 40sq (LOA 50' 6" and 8' 6" beam) built in Sydney in 1939 and launched as HIAWATHA. Tasker modified the boat in 1966 and raced her successfully offshore. Like Fidelis, these 1930's Reimers designs were lightweight, long and easily driven requiring less sail area to go faster than boats being designed in the 1960's. Siska became the template for Reimers' very successful SwedeSail 55 designed in 1975.
Agneta
Agneta is an 82' yawl built by Plym's in Sweden in 1948 with varnished mahogany over oak frames. The wealthy hands-on FIAT owner, Gianni Agnelli could have owned any boat but chose to sail this Knud Reimers beauty for 25 years from 1954. She's the length of three Tumlaren and named after Reimers daughter. Reimers devotees will recognise the simple drawing and classic sheer line. "Vai Avvocato con velocita e stile".
Plym
Plym is a beautiful Reimers 58' skerry cruiser also built by Plym's Shipyard in 1945. Until recently, she was sailing in classic events on Sydney Harbour while kept uncovered on a swing mooring near Darling Point. Reports had been suggesting she's not in the superb condition shown here in the 2017 sale photos. However, SWS noted Plym's entry in the cancelled 2021 Hamilton Island Race Week in Queensland, scheduled for end August. This suggests a new owner has refurbished the yacht.
Celeste
There's another beautiful and fast Reimers yacht at Sydney Amateurs SC called Celeste. The owner, PC Rob Evans has written a few notes (p.27 - 29) in a recent SASC Newsletter "The End of the Affair". After a brief conversation with SWS this week, Rob reported his interest to sell can only be re-ignited by a very good price. After a few health issues he's "come good" so skipper and boat are faster than ever. Celeste was launched in 1953. She looks Stor-ish but slightly bigger (LOA 32', 8" and 6', 8" beam) and is the result of long discussions between Reimers and the original Adelaide owner/builder Alan Jordan. She's a double-ender with an inboard tiller/rudder set-up and an extended cab similar to COHOE and other well documented 30sq Reimers boats. Jordan used Queensland white beech on nickel alloy Monel frames to avoid corrosion. This follows Reimers' original specification for the Tumlaren with steel ribs. When developing plans for Celeste, Reimers could draw on 30 years of skerry and spidsgatter experience. Rob Evans restored Celeste's fractional rig and is able to sail very comfortably offshore in any weather using only light helm and two crew.
Note: The only Australian Tumlaren built with steel frames is #318 ZEPHYR (Zefir) launched in Adelaide in 1953. During the 1990's rebuild the ribs were replaced with spotted gum.
Motorkryssare
Motor cruisers were a staple output of the Reimers office. These boats are still prized in Scandinavia and have a following like Halvorsen in Sydney. The naval architecture practice was busy in the 1930's with orders for racing, cruising and motor yachts but by 1939 things had changed even in neutral Sweden. Like many naval architects and shipyards, both Reimers and Halvorsen, turned their hands to designing auxiliary and military patrol boats to government commissions.
1930's Sketches
Reimers imaginary sketches from the 1930's demonstrate a fine drafting hand. The first shows a stylishly slanted wind-cheater and upholstered coaming with a single pencil line to set the bow reflection. The second shows real boat speed from a relaxed and rakish skipper helming with finger-tips.
This article has been republished by permission from southernwoodenboatsailing.com.