Boats, especially those carrying sails, are far from being seen as purely practical things: When it comes to a buying decision for or against a particular yacht, her beauty, her design, are much, much more important than you would think. It sounds logical: Sailing yachts have no practical value at all, they are purely there for our pleasure. But is it really that easy? In this article we´ll delve deeper into the significance of beauty in relation to sailing yachts.
When Europe´s largest and most-read sailing magazine calls, you don´t refuse. It´s a clear thing! That happened to me a few weeks ago, when editor-in-chief Fridtjof Gunkel of Yacht magazine appeared on the display of my phone. We know each other, surely, but we have seldom overlap. He asked if I would write an article for one upcoming edition. An article about Peter Norlin.
And of course, I agreed. I felt a bit humbled, kind of seen as the go-to person here in Germany when it comes to this Swedish yacht design legend. It´s always a good occasion, kind of an honor, to contribute to Yacht. Apart from Motor Boat & Yachting, established in 1904, the Yacht, which has also been launched in the same year, celebrated its 120iest birthday lately and is not only the oldest yachting magazine in the world, but clearly the most-read.
Why Peter Norlin, though?
Peter died after battling cancer in 2013, which can be called “recent”, not so long ago. This is astonishing for me every time I think about it, since his golden era, the time when he and his designs were dominating both European and World Championships on the race tracks as well as sales figures in the mass-produced cruising boat market was in the Eighties and early Nineties. It´s a pity and very sad that he´s gone, for sure. Also astonishing is the fact that his name, Peter Norlin, still seems to be unbeknownst to so many people.
I welcomed Yacht´s initiative to honor his name with that article, even more so after they assigned to job to me to write an article covering no less than four text-pages, amounting to six full pages including pictures. This underlines the importance the editorial staff acknowledges in Peter Norlin. Since I invested a lot of time in reading about him, especially about his work on the Omega 42, I already had quite a range of knowledge. But for the article, I´d need to do much more research, as clearly the Omega 42 is just one tiny fraction of the wide range of Norlin´s work. And so I started.
Is beauty correlating with performance?
There indeed is a very complete biography available, called “Rena Linjer, Ren Segling”, meaning “Cleal lines, neat sailing”. I have it as hard copy at home. The problem is that this comprehensive work is only available in Swedish, so reading it via Google translator on a smartphone-display is a pain in the ass, I can tell you. Nevertheless, a kind of “adventure”. I hope that author Bengt Jörnstedt one day will hand it over to a talented translater and publish it in English as well. I am sure there´s a lot of people outside Sweden eager to have it. Anyway, when reading this book I learned a lot about how Peter initially joined the sailing world (of course as a kid), how he fell in love with sailing and how – despite finishing his studies and being a professional engineer – he decided to become a sailmaker. And sail even more.
It must have been his innermost character of being a man who admires “clan lines” in yachts and his training as an engineer, which was responsible for this very, very special combination of a sense for beauty and it´s flawless function, which later became the signature of Norlin. Like no other yacht designer – or let´s say, unlike a very few – Peter Norlin upheld so strictly, so determined, so unshiftable the desire to make his boats beautiful first and foremost. As he stated: “If it should sail nicely, it has to be looking good!” But is beauty really an indicator for sailing performance?
Appealing to inherent design principles
Clearly not! Look at modern scow bow-racing yachts, like the Pogo 40 S4, latest Imoca-designs or experimental one-offs in the Mini 650-class. I am not sure what you think, but these boats are objectively far from being “beautiful”! They look “interesting” or “compelling”, but I doubt, normal people would put half models of these up their walls in the living room or a hang a nice painting into their offices. Sure, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, always, but I really don´t think that the last generation America´s Cupper could be deemed “beautiful”.
But those boat-designs are on the forefront of sailing performance, breaking speed records each year, dominating races and making headlines. Of course, beauty and performance are not correlated. But Norlin, and some others, masterfully combined their strive for domination on the racing-course with their inherent desire to bring up something nice and timeless on the drawing board.
Even the small Scampi 30, Norlin´s big bang with which he appeared on the scene, shocking the then-professional yachting world, is considered “beautiful” in her own sense now. Nobody would disagree, that a Sweden Yachts 42, also a Norlin-design, was a non-performer.
Gifted: The “engineered intuitiveness” of Peter Norlin
I would rather call it like this, really. I don´t know Norlin nor was it possible for me to speak to his last wife, Asa Norlin, or his son, which would be so very much interesting. But from what my research says, I assume that somehow this man was able to naturally combine his inherent gift of being a talented designer with “an eye for clean, beautiful lines” with his later acquired profound knowledge about naval architecture, hull-shapes, the influence and importance of a balanced rigging and the role of the keel and rudders.
Quite a bit it reminded me of another yacht designer I admire, Martin Menzner, the man behind the Berckemeyer aluminum yachts. Martin is naval architect and industrial designer by study and a very successful racing skipper. He knows how “beauty” works and what it needs to make a boat lightweight and fast sailing. Same as Norlin, Menzner´s yachts have a unique style, signature lines, unmistakably. Yet there´s also a certain range in styles, from his impressive aluminum yachts to the elegant, flowing shapes of the LA28 or the Woy 26. Martin Menzner is not the only one, but again: Those designers are a rare breed, indeed. Why? Maybe because in today´s world, the briefing of the boating industry, the “market”, for the most part dictates how a boat should be like. I guess the margin for individual self-fulfillment for a designer narrows down ever so slightly.
Lasting impact on yacht design
Admiring Peter Norlin´s yachts, be it the Omega 42, the awesome Sweden Yachts or his “workhorses”, the Albin Express – built in staggering 1.400 units! – the Albin Stratus or Nova still today maybe is for some people (like me) an expression of “escape”. An escape from the overly digitalized world, the uniform conformity of high-volume yachts dedicated to fit a booming charter-market. A pledge for the simple joy of pure sailing, an ease of mind, the freedom on the water. No app. No electric or electronic gadgetery. No hassle. The cool thing, though, is that Norlin´s heritage still lives on, even in present day´s modern yachts: Luffe, Faurby or Linjett clearly have sections of their DNA influenced by Norlin.
In the end, I close my copy of the current Yacht issue with my six pages and put it to the other magazines: I smile and I am happy, because apart from Yacht, the English Seahorse Magazine, the Swiss Marinas.ch Magazine and German Segeln had already published their articles of appreciation and admiration for Peter Norlin and his lasting impact on yacht design. I put it away and much more realize how much of a happy and lucky guy I am, with my new build Omega 42 – his own most beloved yacht design – nearing completion soon! And how cool it would be if maybe the next sailor would join in to have his Norlin dream yacht built as well!
Thanks, Yacht, for having me.
You may also read the following articles, closely connected:
Peter Norlin´s biography, read for you.
Internationally recognized: Our Omega 42 project makes headlines
Cover beauty – the Omega 42 in the big sea trial
