SWEDISH ROSE

At her launch in 1894, Bel’Rose changed Swedish sailing forever. Now, her owner of 44 years has had her rebuilt, in strictly traditional style

- SUSANNE RAVANI

In late 19th and early 20th century Sweden, many sailing clubs had an annual lottery boat. It was a way to bring money to the club through ticket sales, while at the same time helping local boatbuilders by commissioning them. The finished boats were often exhibited in a central town square. They would draw the crowds there and on the water too, when racing started each summer. Albert Andersson designed many of these lottery boats, but Bel’Rose, said to be inspired by the lines of Nat Herreshoff’s celebrated Gloriana, and built in Gothenburg in 1894, was different. She marked the end of an era.

Today the clipper-bowed Bel’Rose, one of the most beautiful boats in Sweden, is sailing again. After nearly two years of restoration she is born anew, 126 years old and without any of today’s common materials like plywood, epoxy or laminated timbers.

In the small village of Mölle in southern Sweden, Bel’Rose is a yacht of legend. Many villagers and visitors have stood on the pier over the years, watching Henrik Bager sail her alone on the Öresund, the sea that separates Sweden from Denmark, with the dramatic mountain of Kullaberg in the background. An exotic picture, as if from another time! Bel’Rose has overcome a lot in her life, and it has been a long time since she was so close to her original self.

“This has been one of the largest projects I have undertaken in my life,” said owner Henrik Bager. “Today I almost find the fact that Bel’Rose is back in the sea uninteresting. The most important thing is that we have succeeded in this together and that everything has been done by the rules, with the right kind of wood and in the right way. That’s what’s unique.”