In this publication3 photos
My reasons for choosing the Great Dane had been fairly superficial: an old Danish yacht, a long keel, four tonnes of displacement and plenty of lead down below. Suitable for longer passages. That was it.
I wanted to learn more about the boat and what she could do. The more I read, the more interesting my own choice became.
A boat whose time had passed
The Great Dane appeared in Denmark in the mid-1960s. Behind her were Klaus Baess, an Olympic sailor involved in building and exporting boats, and Aage Utzon, who had spent decades designing Danish spidsgatter. He was also the father of Jørn Utzon, the architect of the Sydney Opera House.
They brought their experience of traditional northern boats to fibreglass, still a fashionable new material at the time. The result was 8.5 metres long, with a beam of 2.5 metres, a draught of 1.4 metres and a displacement of four tonnes, including 1.8 tonnes of ballast. A long keel, and a static waterline of just 6.5 metres.
In 1969, the Great Dane won the 25–30 ft class at the Yachting World One-of-a-Kind Rally. The boats were judged on their suitability for cruising, not just speed.
That caught my interest. Here was a boat that had won a comparison of cruising yachts, yet only about 250 were ever built. Why did production stop?
It turned out that in 1980, Klaus Baess decided the Great Dane 28’s time had passed. The production moulds were burnt. I read that detail twice. You can debate whether a boat is outdated, but her creator had put a fairly decisive end to the argument.
Decades later, the very things he had decided to leave behind were what drew me to her.
Among familiar Swedish boats
I find Swedish boats easier to get my head around, so I started with those and then added the British Contessa 32. The similarly sized Albin Vega is much lighter, at just 2.3 tonnes. The Hallberg-Rassy Monsun 31, Marieholm 32E and Contessa 32 are all slightly heavier, at 4.2 tonnes each.
This was where the displacement-to-length ratio, D/L, came in handy: a way to compare boats’ weight in relation to their waterline length. The Albin Vega is around 186, the Monsun 31 around 277, and both the Contessa 32 and my previous boat, the 3.2-tonne Ohlson 29, around 300. The Marieholm 32E comes in at 314, the Storfidra 25 at about 345, and the Great Dane at 391.
That is roughly a third more than Rassvet and the Contessa, and 40% more than the Monsun. Even among these familiar heavyweights, the Dane turned out to carry a lot of weight for her waterline length.
Her ballast ratio sits between the Monsun’s and the Contessa’s: 47% of displacement, against 45% and 48%. In tonnes, that is 1.8 against 1.9 and 2 respectively. In other words, my 28-footer carries almost as much ballast as those 31- and 32-foot yachts.
The price of the trade-off
That high D/L helps explain why I expect less speed in light winds: the sails have to move a lot of weight on a short waterline. After a tack, regaining the speed we’ve lost will take more patience too.
With eight knots of wind, I could get five knots out of Rassvet. For Aurora, I mentally pencilled in twelve knots of wind for the same five knots of boat speed. That is my working guess before getting to know her.
The difference will be even more apparent in the marina. A long keel, more momentum and less freedom to turn in a confined space. I doubt I’ll be doing the pirouettes between pontoons that I was used to on the Ohlson 29.
What I hope to gain
With that same mass, I expect to lose less speed on each crest when heading into waves. The motion comfort ratio, MCR, also favours the Dane: about 34, against 27 for the Monsun and 26 for the Marieholm 32E. Here, the higher figure suggests less abrupt motion. That is exactly what I want on a long passage: to be less worn out by the constant movement.
For short summer outings, that trade-off may still need justifying. For the North Sea and the Atlantic, it makes sense to me. From the Great Dane, I’m hoping for comfort in uncomfortable conditions.
With those thoughts in mind, after selling Rassvet, I bought a FlixBus ticket to Copenhagen and set off to see my new boat.
I wanted to understand the new boat properly. Selling Rassvet had taught me to document a yacht’s maintenance history and specifications in detail. So for Aurora, I put together a separate website in three languages, with more detail about my particular boat.
#notes
I wanted to learn more about the boat and what she could do. The more I read, the more interesting my own choice became.
A boat whose time had passed
The Great Dane appeared in Denmark in the mid-1960s. Behind her were Klaus Baess, an Olympic sailor involved in building and exporting boats, and Aage Utzon, who had spent decades designing Danish spidsgatter. He was also the father of Jørn Utzon, the architect of the Sydney Opera House.
They brought their experience of traditional northern boats to fibreglass, still a fashionable new material at the time. The result was 8.5 metres long, with a beam of 2.5 metres, a draught of 1.4 metres and a displacement of four tonnes, including 1.8 tonnes of ballast. A long keel, and a static waterline of just 6.5 metres.
In 1969, the Great Dane won the 25–30 ft class at the Yachting World One-of-a-Kind Rally. The boats were judged on their suitability for cruising, not just speed.
That caught my interest. Here was a boat that had won a comparison of cruising yachts, yet only about 250 were ever built. Why did production stop?
It turned out that in 1980, Klaus Baess decided the Great Dane 28’s time had passed. The production moulds were burnt. I read that detail twice. You can debate whether a boat is outdated, but her creator had put a fairly decisive end to the argument.
Decades later, the very things he had decided to leave behind were what drew me to her.
Among familiar Swedish boats
I find Swedish boats easier to get my head around, so I started with those and then added the British Contessa 32. The similarly sized Albin Vega is much lighter, at just 2.3 tonnes. The Hallberg-Rassy Monsun 31, Marieholm 32E and Contessa 32 are all slightly heavier, at 4.2 tonnes each.
This was where the displacement-to-length ratio, D/L, came in handy: a way to compare boats’ weight in relation to their waterline length. The Albin Vega is around 186, the Monsun 31 around 277, and both the Contessa 32 and my previous boat, the 3.2-tonne Ohlson 29, around 300. The Marieholm 32E comes in at 314, the Storfidra 25 at about 345, and the Great Dane at 391.
That is roughly a third more than Rassvet and the Contessa, and 40% more than the Monsun. Even among these familiar heavyweights, the Dane turned out to carry a lot of weight for her waterline length.
Her ballast ratio sits between the Monsun’s and the Contessa’s: 47% of displacement, against 45% and 48%. In tonnes, that is 1.8 against 1.9 and 2 respectively. In other words, my 28-footer carries almost as much ballast as those 31- and 32-foot yachts.
The price of the trade-off
That high D/L helps explain why I expect less speed in light winds: the sails have to move a lot of weight on a short waterline. After a tack, regaining the speed we’ve lost will take more patience too.
With eight knots of wind, I could get five knots out of Rassvet. For Aurora, I mentally pencilled in twelve knots of wind for the same five knots of boat speed. That is my working guess before getting to know her.
The difference will be even more apparent in the marina. A long keel, more momentum and less freedom to turn in a confined space. I doubt I’ll be doing the pirouettes between pontoons that I was used to on the Ohlson 29.
What I hope to gain
With that same mass, I expect to lose less speed on each crest when heading into waves. The motion comfort ratio, MCR, also favours the Dane: about 34, against 27 for the Monsun and 26 for the Marieholm 32E. Here, the higher figure suggests less abrupt motion. That is exactly what I want on a long passage: to be less worn out by the constant movement.
For short summer outings, that trade-off may still need justifying. For the North Sea and the Atlantic, it makes sense to me. From the Great Dane, I’m hoping for comfort in uncomfortable conditions.
With those thoughts in mind, after selling Rassvet, I bought a FlixBus ticket to Copenhagen and set off to see my new boat.
I wanted to understand the new boat properly. Selling Rassvet had taught me to document a yacht’s maintenance history and specifications in detail. So for Aurora, I put together a separate website in three languages, with more detail about my particular boat.
#notes
Original and discussionOpen post in Telegram ↗
