About Refanut

The Boat

Refanut is a Sparkman & Stephens design (#1104) built at Neglingevarvet outside Stockholm in 1955. She was commissioned as a fast off-shore racer with good upwind capabilities. She was the fourth Refanut owned by banker Jacob Wallenberg. The first Refanut was an 8mR and was followed by two 10mR and finally the current Refanut.

The original specification called for the following dimensions:

Length over all ..... 19.15 meter (63ft)
length waterline ... 13.48 m (44ft)
beam .................... 3.88 m (13ft)
draft ..................... 2.72 m (9ft)
displacement ........ 25,900 kg (25.9 metric tons)
sail area ................ 175 sq.m. (1884 sq. ft)

In reality Refanut ended up quite a bit heavier. The current ORC certificate lists her at:

LOA .... 19.17m
LWL .... 12.69m
B ........ 3.91
D ........ 2.92m
Disp ... 29.44 ton

The Name

From Hvenhistorier: "Skeppet Refanut": 

En gång kom här ett skepp in i Öresund som var så stort att det inte kunde gå genom Drogden. Då lade det back och lossa på barlasten. Därav blev Hven på ena sidan och Saltholm på den andra. Skeppet var så stort att när gastarna gick upp i masterna för att rigga, som ungdomar, kom de ner igen som gamla gubbar... 

Translated from Swedish: 

"The Ship Refanut": Once upon a time a ship entered "Öresund" that was so big that it couldn't pass through "Drogden". Then they put it in reversed and dumped the ballast. From that was created Hven on one side and Saltholm on the other. The ship was so big that the crew went up in the masts to rig as youngsters and came back down again as old men...

Brief History

From her completion in 1955 until 1975 she was sailed and raced by Jacob Wallenberg in and around the Baltic. The main racing event each year was Gotland Runt (the Round Gotland Race). In between she was cruised extensively with Jacob and Refanut making frequent visits to Finland, Denmark and Norway.

Peder Wallenberg took over Refanut from his father in the mid 70's. After a few successful entries in Gotland Runt he took Refanut first to the Mediterranean and then across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. During the 80's and 90's she alternated between the Baltic and the Med with a few race appearances here and there. 

Her current owners (five of Peder's sons) have been racing her in the Baltic since 2005 with excursions to England for the Fastnet Race in 2015 and 2021.