Doing the Swedish Twist

Rock-hopping in a wooden Twister through an elaborate maze of anchorages.

- Sandi Burch

When we saw an advert for a ‘28ft teak sloop, similar to a Twister’, our attention was grabbed because we knew the designer of the Twister to be none other than Kim Holman. The boat’s history turned out to be not quite so straightforward, although we have never for a second regretted going to see her in a chilly Tyneside boatyard in October 2000.

The yacht was home-built, by amateur builder Wilfred McDonald, of South Shields, Tyneside. Not only was Wilfred skilled and fastidious, but he was also bold enough to tweak Mr Holman’s design a little. He constructed the boat in his back garden, beginning in 1963 and finishing 20 years later!

The hull is teak strips on laminated oak frames, the deadwood is iroko, the superstructure includes iroko, afromosia and marine ply, with laid teak deck and cockpit seats.

Wilfred named the boat Suda II, launched her in May 1983 and sailed locally at weekends for several years. It was after his death that we bought the boat, from his son, in October 2000. We renamed her Benita.

Wilfred’s son told us his father had made his own drawings, basing them on the Twister design and possibly also taking some inspiration from the Honeybee.

We are pretty sure the construction is unique, however she is so like a Twister that we have always considered her to be one, and the Twister Class Association doesn’t seem to disagree. As they say: “If it looks like a Twister and it sails like a Twister…”

For three years now we have kept Benita on the east coast of Sweden. There are thousands of islands and skerries scattered along this coast, forming a wonderful cruising ground, albeit one with some very ‘interesting’ navigation.