knarr class sailboat

Over 50 Years Of Friendship And International One Design Racing

It’s not just a boat, it’s a lifestyle!

2024 Ballena Bay Regatta Information Aug 10-11

Latest news and media, spring fest recap.

The Knarr fleet kicks off 2024 the season with a weekend of highly competitive racing on San Francisco’ city front. 

Why Buy a Knarr

Interested in buying a Knarr? Learn why the Knarr fleet is continually one of the best on the San Francisco Bay. 

About The Knarr Class

The Knarr, an originally wooden boat designed by Erling Kristofersen and built by Einer Iversen in occupied Norway in 1943. After the war, the Knarr, named after a Viking cargo craft began production of this dragon inspired sailing vessel. The lines of the Knarr are classic and graceful. Most of the boats on the San Francisco Bay were shipped in containers from Norway and Denmark in the early 1960’s. Over the years other Knarr owners have ordered and shipped them from Norway and Denmark where they were produced. 

In the late 1960’s, Knud Wibroe, a Danish transplant and the unquestioned godfather of the San Francisco Bay Knarr Class, organized the first International Knarr Championship held in San Francisco. Since then, the International event that rotates between San Francisco, Oslo, Copenhagen and Bergen has been “the spice in the sauce” that Sailing World writer Kimball Livingston Says in many of his Articles like this one Knarrs, Legends of the Bay .  He writes of the IKC Without it, this would be just another 30-foot one-design class that might or might not be surviving—much less thriving—in the three countries where it thrives in the way of a flower that grows in only a few meadows on only a few mountains, at a certain elevation, where a delicate balance of moisture provides just enough days of summer sun. With an international, multigenerational cult of followers. He also says of the IKC, Name another class with a 52-year tradition of a championship regatta that rotates annually among three countries; where visiting sailors are hosted in private homes; where boats are provided from a local fleet; where pros pop in, but nobody gets paid; and the parties are as competitive as the sailing—you better believe it.

The San Francisco Bay Knarr Association has been around since the late 1960’s, it has always been voluntarily run by avid boat owners who love the fleet because we race -A LOT. While a few Knarr owners just cruise their Knarrs, most are avid racers. Our racing schedule usually consists of approximately 34 races per season on the weekends and about 12 Wednesday night races for a normal season with over 45 one-design races! That’s a lot of racing. The competition is fierce but almost anyone can win a race in this fleet. Some of the best sailors on the Bay have shown up and raced on Knarrs, including John Kostecki and Paul Cayard who was quoted saying that “it took him 15 years to win a Wednesday night race.”

Why buy a knarr? Well you can read my blog post here. Aside from great racing, we are all great friends. While on the water competition may be top-notch, we are also great friends off the water. The IKC’s provide a great forum for developing international friendships that last a lifetime. Friendship and camaraderie is really what sets the Knarr fleet apart from all the other one design classes but don’t take my word for it. Here is Kimball Livingston again with what I think sums up the camaraderie of the Knarr fleet better than anything I can say. Word has it that if you bottled the secret sauce of the Knarr, every class would buy some. We are a welcoming fleet and would love to have you join us, sometimes we have boats available for sale listed here .

– Risley Sams, 2023 San Francisco Bay Knarr Association Secretary and owner of US 47 built in 1951

Copyright 2023 – SFBay Knarr Association

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Knarrs, Legends of the Bay

• By Kimball Livingston
• Updated: January 21, 2020

Word has it that if you bottled the secret sauce of the Knarr, every class would buy some. But there are things that can’t be bottled, can’t be bought. Sailors always tell you, “It’s about the people.” Knarr sailors say it too—except, there’s more: all of it against the odds, much of it unique, with a kernel of anti-Nazi intrigue in the origin story. It’s a pretty boat, and it’s all about the people.

Knarr sailors have their own cheer, their own regalia, their own “circuit” that is unlike any other. The design is seven decades old. The bragging-rights regatta is the International Knarr Championship, born on San Francisco Bay in 1969—and, did we ­mention, against the odds?

Name another class with a 52-year ­tradition of a championship regatta that rotates annually among three countries; where visiting sailors are hosted in private homes; where boats are provided from a local fleet, but none of the locals sail their own boats; where pros pop in, but nobody gets paid; and the parties are as competitive as the sailing—you better believe it.

The IKC is the spice in the sauce. Without it, this would be just another 30-foot one-design class that might or might not be surviving—much less thriving—in the three countries where it thrives in the way of a flower that grows in only a few meadows on only a few mountains, at a certain elevation, where a delicate balance of moisture provides just enough days of summer sun. With an international, multigenerational cult of followers.

To the best of my knowledge, there are no blood rituals, but rituals? Oh, baby. In the early 1960s, Knud Wibroe was developing some unlikely ideas. Of course, there’s a story.

Wibroe is a Dane transplanted to San Francisco Bay, and in these circles, “Knud” is a one-word name on par with Elvis. He never lost touch with his roots, and he spent time back in Denmark, even keeping a Knarr there for racing.

However, our story begins years earlier, when Wibroe took up racing lapstrake-hulled Folkboats on San Francisco Bay. And helped build the fleet to 70 boats. And launched summertime Wednesday-evening races “that became the backbone of our racing,” he says. “When the Knarr appeared, we added starts for the Knarr. I knew the boat. I had seen Knarrs in Denmark, and they look the way a boat ought to look. On San Francisco Bay, because they’re underrigged, they’re a good fit.”

Wibroe soon was sailing a Knarr. However, he had the only Danish‑built hull on the bay. The rest came from Norway; when he won too many races, there was talk that it was something about the boat. “So I said, ‘Let’s switch boats,’” Wibroe says. “We didn’t know it, but that was the beginning.”

Shift scenes now to Denmark, where Wibroe spent a month each summer and preached the virtues of coming to San Francisco Bay to race—but won no converts. “I told them we had 42 Knarrs,” he says. “They thought I was talking Texas numbers.”

So it went, but by-and-by, the calendar came up 1966. Wibroe was the only US skipper on the line for the 100th-anniversary regatta of the Royal Danish Yacht Club, helming a new boat set up by Paul Elvström with a new main: “Paul and I grew up together, so he did that; and he told me, ‘You’re going to win because I tuned the boat.’ Paul was that way.”

Three firsts and a couple of second-place finishes later, Wibroe was in fact the winner.

The way he remembers it: “That boosted my credibility. We had rented a house, and we gave dinner parties and urged our European friends to reciprocate by attending the centennial regattas of the San Francisco Yacht Club. That would be 1969.”

A new boat every day, by draw, was the center of the promise. And the locals would have to qualify by placing at the top of their entire season; all skippers of loaner boats would be required to offer their newest sails—and remember, no local would sail his own boat.

Wibroe recalls: “No one would be handed a clunker, and we’d buy new jibs for the fleet—and every person who came would be put up in a private home. San Francisco is on the other side of the world, OK. But all you need is a round-trip ticket. We’ll take care of ­everything else. That was the pitch.”

And they came.

“I never imagined this would grow into what we have today,” he says, “but that first year set us up. We gave theatricals. We made music. We gave them a psychedelic show because those were the times. Our wives wore hot pants because those really were the times. The Europeans had never seen anything like it. They loved it.”

That is, to this day, the over-the-top template for an International Knarr Championship as it rotates among San Francisco Bay, Hellerup in the Danish suburbs north of Copenhagen and, in Norway, between Bergen and Oslo. If you qualify from your local fleet, you will be met at the airport and whisked away to pampering among people you know—and perhaps have known for a long time—with celebrations daily and sailboat racing as the best-imaginable excuse.

Johan Hvide, a second-generation Knarr sailor and 10-time Norwegian champion, says that arriving at an IKC is “like coming home.” At moderate cost, this is Corinthian yachting at its finest; and yes, “yachting” is the right word, even though the back-of-mind thought as designer Erling Kristofersen began drawing up his Dragon-inspired lines was far from obvious. Under the shadow of World War II, one key to the design brief was the ability to sail away, perhaps as far as England, to escape the Nazis. However, by the time Einer Iversen set about building a boat, the seas were too closely guarded for any hope of escape.

RELATED: Back on the Bay

During the Nazi occupation of Norway, all seagoing yachts were confiscated, their lead keels fated for the Wehrmacht. But the urge to build prevailed, and hull No. 1 emerged plank by plank in a shack in the woods on the shore of the Oslo Fjord. It was built over an inside mold, a “last,” which in the long run would prove amenable to limited-series wood production. Materials were hard to come by, but Iversen as a builder was innovative, persistent, willing to settle for an iron keel and willing to source hardware from an ironmonger who was dealing with Germany—which might have been how the foreign overlords got wind of the project.

However that came about, the occupiers quickly served notice that they would take possession upon its completion. Iversen soldiered on anyway, and eventually completed and launched ON 1. Upon returning from sea trials, a profoundly embarrassed Iversen reported to the authorities that the prototype he had produced was ridden with problems and “unworthy of the master race.” He ­promised to have a seaworthy boat ready by summer ’45.

Berlin fell the following spring.

Given the name of Knarr after a Viking cargo craft—in the Oslo Fjord, they pronounce the “K”—the new boat was presented to the public that fall. Some found the freeboard high and the sheer excessive, but in the stressed postwar environment, the price tag was attractive.

Orders came in. Hull No. 4 is still sailing in 2020.

The 51st IKC came to San Francisco Bay this past fall, landing this time on the 150th anniversary of the San Francisco YC, the oldest yacht club on the West Coast and harbored on the north shore of the bay, opposite the city. Most Knarr racing on the bay these days is staged out of either that club or its 1927 splinter residing on the city front, St. Francis YC, where the Wednesday-night racing tradition continues. Among names you know, Paul Cayard qualifies as what we’ll call an occasional regular. He reports, “It took me 15 years to win a Wednesday-night race.”

The two clubs on opposite shores share DNA and members in common, including the Perkins brothers—Chris, Jon and Phillips—who have their own place in the Knarr story. Between them, Chris and Jon have each won four IKCs, at home or in Europe. Phil is a regular crew, and for the past 10 years, the brothers have teamed up for Wednesday-night races aboard No. 125, which has history in the Perkins family. The boat was built, plank on frame, in 1965, the year Jon was born, and it later became, he says, “the first boat my parents sailed on when they were trying to figure out what to do with us as junior sailors.”

The boat was owned at the time by Grant Settlemier, who would eventually become one of 16 Knarr-owning commodores of St. Francis YC. Soon 125 was providing early sailing experience for the growing Perkins boys.

“We put a lot of hours on that boat,” Jon recalls. As an adult, he bought a late-­edition glass Knarr but spent years “courting” a later owner of 125 until she relented and sold him the boat. The restoration that ensued “was something I probably wouldn’t do again,” he says, “but now I wouldn’t let go of this boat for anything.”

The Knarr class survived by ­introducing fiberglass hulls calibrated for overall weight and weight distribution to match the traditional fleet, with the first glass hulls appearing in 1973. The experiment was a success. There’s not much to choose from between the ­materials, though a rule of thumb suggests that glass boats have minor advantages in wind speeds of less than 15 knots. However, in the case of his wood 125, Jon says, “between 5 and 12 knots, I’ll take my boat over any in the fleet.” Another way to put that is: You can’t buy your way to a championship, and the rest of it will keep people talking at the bar for as long as there are bars and Knarrs.

In 2006, in Hellerup, Denmark’s Soren Pehrsson became the first second-generation IKC champion. He had won 25 years before as crew, pulling strings for his father, Alf, and saw no reason to leave the fleet. He won again in 2013. Of the Perkins brothers, he observes: “It’s not that you can’t beat them. It’s just that they are so terrifyingly good race after race.”

Pehrsson did not compete in the 2019 IKC, when Lars Gottfredsen, of Denmark, became the first five-time champion, rounding out his ambition to win in San Francisco after three wins in Norway and one in Denmark. Jon Perkins was third. Chris was fourth.

And with that, we sink deep into the sauce of the Knarr class, into this tight group of people who have their own thing going.

It is a fact that most of the world’s sailors could not care less who wins the IKC when it moves to Bergen, Norway, this year. It is equally true that Knarr-class sailors could not care less that the world does not care. In a perfect world, we play games with our friends, and this might be as close to perfect as it comes.

Chris Perkins, like his brothers, had the chops to go pro but didn’t. Over the years he focused on J/105s, for example, and treated the Knarr as a second fleet until recently, when family life made demands. His glass boat, he says, “is easy on my time. It takes a few hours of maintenance every year, and you can do that at the ­beginning, the end, or the middle of the season.”

As for a formula for success on the racecourse: “The boat is heavy and not technical. If you lose momentum, it takes a long time to get going, so the pressure is on the helmsman and trimmer to develop a precise feel together and to balance the boat just so. In the past few years, the Knarr has become one of the most competitive classes going. I’m kind of shocked that we’re still doing this, but the Wednesday nights keep me anchored in the class and, honestly, the racing gets better and better.”

There’s that word: anchored. No one ever really leaves the Knarr class. Even if they sell the boats, they show up for the parties, and most just keep on keeping on.

Terry Anderlini is another Knarr-owning St. Francis YC ­commodore, and his history parallels the IKC’s. He arrived in the fleet in 1969 while the inaugural regatta was ramping up. He came in with an offer to buy No. 102, which at one time belonged to Wibroe. That led to a call from the man himself, who was darned well going to give this new guy the third degree before he would bless the sale.

With Wibroe’s blessing in hand, Anderlini was allowed to buy 102; but in his newbie role, he declared that the proposed boat-sharing format for the IKC “was crazy; would never work” and worse, it would be “embarrassing to watch your own boat beat you.”

He now admits he was wrong on the first count. On the other, not so much. ν

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Much more to the regatta than racing

Published by st francis yacht club  | august, 2024 .

The most competitive Norwegian and Danish Knarr sailors will soon arrive at St. Francis Yacht Club to join the local San Francisco fleet for the 54th edition of the International Knarr Championships (IKC) on September 1-7 in San Francisco, CA. Much more than just a sailing event, the IKC places a premium on two elements: rock solid friendships and world-class one design racing in a classic boat.

The inaugural IKC was held in San Francisco in 1969, initiated by Danish-American sailor Knud Wibroe who introduced the Knarr to the Bay. The ethos of the Knarr class are based in tradition and camaraderie bound together by a Corinthian desire to play hard and have as much fun as humanly possible both on and off the water. The 30-foot Knarr was first built in Norway in 1946 and still attracts competitive sailors today.

“The class is all about friendship between three countries and that makes it different to conventional competitive sailing,” said John Buestad of the San Francisco Knarr fleet. “The same good guys compete at IKC every year from the three countries and it turns out to be pretty special.

“Given that the boats are old and slow you wouldn’t think it would be that competitive, but it always has been—and certainly is now in our local fleet with Olympians Russ Silvestri and Randy Hecht.

“Don Jesberg, who is an accomplished Etchells sailor and won the season championship last year, is racing with Ethan Doyle. Then there are the Perkins brothers who won the IKC in Norway last year. We have World and National Champions in this fleet. You have not just good sailors but great sailors coming in for the IKC.” The IKC rotates annually between Denmark, Norway, and the United States, and is unique in that competitors draw for the boat that they will sail on any given race day. International competitors are always hosted by home fleet members, and it is entirely expected that sailors fully participate in singing and theatrical performance when appropriate.

As Buestad notes, the San Francisco home fleet is stacked with talent, both seasoned and newcomer, drawn to the Knarr because of the skill required to sail the boat. As an older, heavier design, its race prowess may not be obvious to the 20- or 30-year-old inclined toward fast modern boats but therein lies the Knarr allure.

“The Knarr is a lot slower but that means the fleet goes almost the same speed, so it becomes all tactical,” Buestad said. “You have to have a great driver, but you really need a great tactician to figure out the current and tide, otherwise you can be the fastest sailor in the world and you won’t do well. It takes a while to learn to drive a Knarr, and the starts are critical. To finish in the top five, you must have a decent start.”

In recent years, the class has become an attractive proposition for younger competitors from other classes, who see some of the top sailors on San Francisco Bay racing Knarrs. They want to compete against the best sailors, but they soon figure out it’s not so easy sailing a Knarr, says Terry Anderlini, a Knarr owner since 1968.

“The funny thing is that it might look real simple to these hot shots who sit there and say, ‘Main and jib and old guys are sailing these boats, I am sure we can jump in there and win some races.’ Then they get their lunch handed to them! It’s just not that easy.”

Chris Perkins is doing his part to bring younger players into the Knarr family. In this IKC, he will be racing with his two sons, 23-year-old Charlie and 21-year-old Johnny, and against his brother, Jon, who is the defending IKC champion.

Chris Perkins was indoctrinated into the Knarr as a teen and has won the IKC four times, mostly on his home turf on San Francisco Bay, though he broke a Danish winning streak that ran from 1981 to 1991 by winning his first IKC in Denmark in 1992.

“Having my two sons sail with me in the fleet is a great time. They absolutely love it and we’ll have fun mixing up the team with all Perkins!”

He adds, “When you win a race in this fleet, everyone around you is really excited and supportive as they know what it takes—you have to sail really well and you have to get a little lucky. Your boat draw has to be good, as you don’t want to draw any slow boats. So, if you win, your competition is the first to congratulate you and buy you drinks — very different than winning in other fleets where the runners-up aren’t so happy.”

Mark Dahm, the 2024 IKC Chair, said that fun is built into the program, “It’s ten races over seven days so keeping up with the racing is one thing, but keeping up with the social schedule is another. It’s almost more demanding in preparation than the racing. It takes a lot of effort by a handful of people, but the festivities are on track to be epic, like the Thursday night Country-Western party featuring Mitch Polzak and the Royal Deuces.”

Twenty-five teams will be heading for the start line in front of St. Francis Yacht Club for the first race on September 1, with racing held daily to determine the overall champion.

Details:  https://www.theclubspot.com/regatta/T4afdxXYf5

Source: StFYC

St. Francis Yacht Club – History of the Knarr Class

St. Francis Yacht Club – Speaker: Terry Anderlini, StFYC Staff Commodore; Knarr Owner since 1968; 7x Season Champion

In 1943, Norwegian Erling Kristoffersen designed the first Knarr. In 1946, the first Knarrs were delivered to Norway. Initially, the boats were made of mahogany and Norwegian fir. In 1960, Knud Wibroe brought the first Knarr to SF Bay. In 1968, Terry Anderlini bought a Knarr and has been hooked ever since. In 1969 our neighbor SFYC, hosted the very first International Knarr Championships and the IKC was born. In 1973, the first fiberglass Knarrs were built. In all, 13 StFYC Commodores and Board Chairmen have owned or co-owned a Knarr, including Terry Anderlini, George Sayre, Peter Culley, Dewey Hines, Steve Taft, Grant Settlemier, Sean Svendsen, Karl Limbach, Tom Quigg, Jim Cascino, Theresa Brandner, Robin Driscoll and Ken Glidewell.

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The International Knarr Association

The purpose of the International Knarr Association (IKA) is to standardize the sailing rules of the Knarr One Design class across the countries where she is raced. These countries are Norway, Denmark, Germany and the United States. The IKA has been a project in the works for over a decade and helps bring the fleet up to more ISAF One Design racing standards. While several countries still have slight differences in their boats, the fleets have more in common than they do not. 

The joint effort that has created the IKA will undoubtedly help assure the continued success and longevity of this distinct international one design fleet.

In 2024 the International Knarr Championship (IKC) returns to San Francisco! The home fleet will host the best Knarr sailors from Norway and Denmark at St. Francis Yacht Club, for six days of racing and festivities.  For up to date info, go to stfyc.com and search under Sailing>regattas

2024 Knarr – International Class Rules – text

2024 – IKC Deed Of Trust

2024 – IKA Articles of Association

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2024 IKA Extraordinary Admiral’s Meeting Minutes

2023 Meeting Minutes

2022 Meeting Minutes

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2018 Meeting Minutes

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San Francisco Bay Knarr Association

The Knarr Lifestyle, On and Off the Water

• Post author: Kara
• Post category: Lifestyle / Sailing
• Reading time: 26 mins read

The International Knarr Championships returns to the San Francisco Bay.

Every three years San Francisco hosts a most unique regatta featuring world class racing and the sailing lifestyle in equal measure: The St. Francis Yacht Club played host once again to the International Knarr Championship (IKC) September 2 – 10, 2016.

The IKC rotates between the three countries where these beautiful 30-foot Bermuda-rigged, long-keeled wooden boats flourish: Norway, Demark and the U.S.A., specifically San Francisco Bay. The Knarr was designed in Norway in 1943 and the international fleet now boasts hundreds of members who race traditional wooden and modern fiberglass versions of this classic yacht. The 25 best teams in the world are selected to compete in the IKC each year.

However, being the best at sailing your own boat isn’t enough for the Knarr class. During the IKC, teams are randomly assigned a new boat each day to increase the challenge.

Finding the boat’s personality

“No one can buy themselves an advantage. When you come to the IKC you don’t know what boat you are going to sail,” said sailor Johan G. Hvide who travelled from Bergan, Norway, to compete.

The 2016 International Knarr Championship Fleets sailing on San Francisco Bay. Photo: Chris Ray/crayivp.com.

San Francisco as backdrop for the International Knarr Championship Fleet. Photo: Chris Ray/crayivp.com.

Fighting upwind… Photo: Chris Ray/crayivp.com.

“The focus is on sailing the particular boat you have today. You’ve got about an hour to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the boat and how you are going to use your tactical skills to make this boat perform to the best possible outcome,” Hvide said.  “The key is to know your sailing, your crew and the boat. Each boat is unique, they all have peculiarities, but they sail remarkably equal if you treat them well.”

“You have to find the boat’s personality,” said Morten Heldal Haugerrud also of Norway. Morten fell under the Knarr spell in 1973 with his first purchase. “The boats are beautiful, whenever I sail I get complements, but it’s so much more. There is a very good milieu, a very good camaraderie. It’s inclusive and very welcoming. We come together as Knarrists, but are friends on and off the water. It’s like a big family.”

Both Johan and Morton are longtime Knarr sailors and past IKC champions.

The lifestyle

The class reminds us that the Knarr is “not just a boat, it’s a lifestyle” on posters, souvenirs, race materials and on their website. The IKC lived up to this credence with a series of off-the-water events highlighting just why this class is so much more than the boat they sail.

Scenes from the Glenmorangie Scotch tasting, one of the many social IKC social events: Photo: Meredith Laitos/St. Francis Yacht Club.

Nine après-sail events, including a post-race wine tasting by Cultivar Wine, Glenmorangie Scotch and Fort Point Craft Beer Party and the Martin Ray Winery Awards Dinner capped the on-the-water action.

Opening remarks, clockwise left to right: Staff Commodore Terry Anderlini, Danish-American Chamber of Commerce of Northern California President Morten Soerensen, Consul Royal Norwegian Consulate General in San Francisco Sindre Stemshaug Bornstein and IKC Chairman Mark Dahm. Photo: Meredith Laitos/St. Francis Yacht Club.

A trumpeter plays the Norwegian national anthem for the IKC Opening Ceremony. Photo: Meredith Laitos/St. Francis Yacht Club.

“Sons of a Beach,” a choir of Knarr sailors, sing the U.S. national anthem. Photo: Meredith Laitos/St. Francis Yacht Club.

The opening ceremony was a tri-national event. Morten Soerensen, president of the Danish-American Chamber of Commerce gave the opening address as the Danish national anthem played and the Danish flag was raised. Sindre Stemshaug, Norwegian Consul General in San Francisco, followed with remarks as a trumpeter played the Norwegian national anthem and the their flag was raised. “Sons of a Beach,” a choir of Knarr sailors, sang the U.S. national anthem as the American flag was raised. The opening ceremony concluded with a celebratory toast of Taittinger Champagne , sponsor of the IKC Opening Ceremony.

The IKC Taittinger Champagn Opening Ceremony. Photo: Meredith Laitos/St. Francis Yacht Club.

Spirits were high as family and friends socialized with the seven teams from Denmark, six teams from Norway and 12 American teams. It was a perfect opportunity to learn about these passionate sailors and the lifestyle they enjoy.

San Francisco Knarr Fleet Admiral David Wiard pouring Michael Ratiani some Tito’s Handmade Vodka during the party at the Matthew Turner Tall Ship. Photo: Kara Hugglestone/Sail Couture.

IKC Mid-Week Dinner Dance: Philip Claypool entertains, three nations bouquets, hospitality volunteer Melissa Mooney greets guests. Photo: Kara Hugglestone/Sail Couture.

The drink of the evening, Tito’s Vodka “Knarr-tini”… Photo: Kara Hugglestone/Sail Couture.

Tuesday offered a special offsite excursion to the Tito’s Handmade Vodka Mid–Week Dinner Party at the Matthew Turner Tall Ship in Sausalito. Racers, family and friends enjoyed music by Philip Claypool as they sipped the regatta’s signature drink, the Tito’s Vodka “Knarr-tini.” It was a most fitting location for a classic fleet; the Matthew Turner is the first tall ship to be built in San Francisco in 100 years.

“It’s a lifestyle in that birds of a feather flock together. Meaning we tend to enjoy the same things whether it be golf, skiing or cars. We’re renaissance men and women who appreciate many things including a beautiful old boat,” said IKC chairman Mark Dahm.

“I’ve done high-performance sailing, but what drew me to the class was the people. That, and I saw a future for me in that it’s affordable to campaign. It takes only four people to sail and is 30 feet long. It also comes with a culture built in. It’s really fun in that regard,” he said.

Mark has been racing his Knarr for 14 years, but it’s not unusual for people to have been racing Knarrs for much longer. Knud Wibroe, founder of the San Francisco fleet and the IKC, will turn 90 this year. He’s been sailing Knarrs for 82 years, 50 of them on San Francisco Bay.

Mr. and Mrs. Knud Wibroe. Knud is the founder of the IKC and the San Francisco fleet. Photo: Kara Hugglestone/Sail Couture.

“No one ever leaves the fleet. Even if they sell their boat, they come back in some way. It’s not about buying a boat, it’s buying a lifestyle, one that involves the whole family. We are the envy of other sailors for our organization and the camaraderie among sailors,” said Knud.

“It’s your friends, your moments, the special times that when you are 98 you will look back on and treasure,” said Manon Settlemier Baze, a Knarr sailor since the age of two.

Knarrs on display

San Francisco’s renowned windy racing conditions did not disappoint during the six days of intense competition.

Chris Perkins, a local favorite, took the early lead and maintained it throughout the regatta—no easy task given the level of competition and lengths the class takes to level the playing field. New jibs were purchased and all the shrouds were taped in addition to the daily boat switching.

Chris won the regatta by 18 points over his brother Jon. He attributes his decisive victory to the terrific season they’d had leading up to the championship and to his crew, which included his brother Phil Perkins, Peter Clark, Hans Baldauf and his son Charlie.

Chris Perkins, International Knarr Champion and his crew: Phil Perkins, Peter Clark, Hans Baldauf. Photo: Chris Ray/crayivp.com.

“Going into the series we were confident we could be in the top two boats and that we could shave together a good series,” said Chris. “We were always racing for first, second or third, which is just an amazing experience.”

Chris grew up with Knarrs. As a youngster, he was invited to crew on Grant Settlemier’s Knarr and was hooked. “It was always one of those things in the back of my mind, someday I’m going back to them.” After racing many different one-design classes, in the early 1990s he bought a Knarr with a friend and hasn’t looked back.

Rounding the mark. Photo: Chris Ray/crayivp.com.

Down wind sailing. Photo: Photo: Chris Ray/crayivp.com.

Tight racing at the IKC. Photo: Chris Ray/crayivp.com.

While sailing Knarrs may not be on the highest level of sailboat racing available, Chris says the Knarr fleet is one of the strongest on the Bay, especially for people who love racing. Currently, there are 42 Knarrs based in San Francisco, of which up to 30 are actively raced.

“It’s a great fleet of local sailors,” he said. Next year the IKC will be held in Oslo, Norway. The top five teams from San Francisco will qualify, as well as Chris as the defending champion.

The club’s fleet

The Knarr is one of the most active fleets at the St. Francis Yacht Club and recognized by many as the “fleet of the club.” No fewer than 20 staff commodores have raced Knarrs, and 10 of the 12 U.S. Knarrs raced in the regatta are owned by StFYC members.

After next year’s event in Norway and then Denmark, the IKC will return to San Francisco in 2019.

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The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet.

Norse Knarr

Specifications ( Skuldelev 1 ): Length: 52 feet Beam: 15 feet 9 inches Height (keel to gunwale): 6 feet 11 inches Draft: 3 feet Displacement: 20 tons Number of oars: Four Crew: Six to eight men Sail area: 970 square feet Speed: 5–13 knots (depending on wind)

From their first devastating raid on Lindisfarne, England, in 793 Norse Vikings established a seaborne empire with their sleek langskip (longships), whose gracefully curved wooden plank hulls were stout enough to cross oceans yet shallow enough in draft to negotiate inlets and rivers. By the 9th century the establishment of Norse kingdoms, overcrowding and blood feuds drove growing numbers of Norsemen “west over sea” to settle in the Faroes, Shetlands, Orkneys, Hebrides, Iceland, Greenland and, briefly, Vinland (coastal North America). To tackle the challenges of such long voyages and carry the cargo necessary for survival and commerce, the Vikings developed a utilitarian version of their proven vessels—the knarr , or coastal trading ship.

Beamier and with more freeboard than its martial cousin, the knarr relied more on its sail than the two to four oars it carried to aid in maneuvering. A Viking captain skilled at reading the sun, stars or even natural phenomena—birds, marine life or the variegated waters of various currents—was capable of navigating a knarr across the North Atlantic to the New World. One amenity conspicuously absent on the knarr , and Viking ships in general, was shelter. Exposed to the elements, crew and passengers alike had to bundle up and bear it.

As part of a raiding fleet the knarr carried the extra necessities as well as the booty, standing offshore while the longships ventured upriver. At places too stoutly defended to plunder, the knarr crews came to trade or sell what they had aboard. In either capacity the knarr was the homely workhorse to the thoroughbred langskip . The example shown is a reconstruction of Skuldelev 1 , a circa 1030 Norwegian knarr discovered in Denmark’s Roskilde Fjord in 1924 and on display at Roskilde’s Viking Ship Museum The timbers of a knarr recovered from the harbor of Hedeby/Haithabu, Germany, indicate an even larger vessel, displacing some 60 tons. MH

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Published on August 26th, 2024 | by Editor

Much more to the regatta than racing

Published on August 26th, 2024 by Editor -->

The most competitive Norwegian and Danish Knarr sailors will soon arrive at St. Francis Yacht Club to join the local San Francisco fleet for the 54th edition of the International Knarr Championships (IKC) on September 1-7 in San Francisco, CA. Much more than just a sailing event, the IKC places a premium on two elements: rock solid friendships and world-class one design racing in a classic boat.

The inaugural IKC was held in San Francisco in 1969, initiated by Danish-American sailor Knud Wibroe who introduced the Knarr to the Bay. The ethos of the Knarr class are based in tradition and camaraderie bound together by a Corinthian desire to play hard and have as much fun as humanly possible both on and off the water. The 30-foot Knarr was first built in Norway in 1946 and still attracts competitive sailors today.

“The class is all about friendship between three countries and that makes it different to conventional competitive sailing,” said John Buestad of the San Francisco Knarr fleet. “The same good guys compete at IKC every year from the three countries and it turns out to be pretty special.

“Given that the boats are old and slow you wouldn’t think it would be that competitive, but it always has been—and certainly is now in our local fleet with Olympians Russ Silvestri and Randy Hecht.

“Don Jesberg, who is an accomplished Etchells sailor and won the season championship last year, is racing with Ethan Doyle. Then there are the Perkins brothers who won the IKC in Norway last year. We have World and National Champions in this fleet. You have not just good sailors but great sailors coming in for the IKC.” The IKC rotates annually between Denmark, Norway, and the United States, and is unique in that competitors draw for the boat that they will sail on any given race day. International competitors are always hosted by home fleet members, and it is entirely expected that sailors fully participate in singing and theatrical performance when appropriate.

As Buestad notes, the San Francisco home fleet is stacked with talent, both seasoned and newcomer, drawn to the Knarr because of the skill required to sail the boat. As an older, heavier design, its race prowess may not be obvious to the 20- or 30-year-old inclined toward fast modern boats but therein lies the Knarr allure.

“The Knarr is a lot slower but that means the fleet goes almost the same speed, so it becomes all tactical,” Buestad said. “You have to have a great driver, but you really need a great tactician to figure out the current and tide, otherwise you can be the fastest sailor in the world and you won’t do well. It takes a while to learn to drive a Knarr, and the starts are critical. To finish in the top five, you must have a decent start.”

In recent years, the class has become an attractive proposition for younger competitors from other classes, who see some of the top sailors on San Francisco Bay racing Knarrs. They want to compete against the best sailors, but they soon figure out it’s not so easy sailing a Knarr, says Terry Anderlini, a Knarr owner since 1968.

“The funny thing is that it might look real simple to these hot shots who sit there and say, ‘Main and jib and old guys are sailing these boats, I am sure we can jump in there and win some races.’ Then they get their lunch handed to them! It’s just not that easy.”

Chris Perkins is doing his part to bring younger players into the Knarr family. In this IKC, he will be racing with his two sons, 23-year-old Charlie and 21-year-old Johnny, and against his brother, Jon, who is the defending IKC champion.

Chris Perkins was indoctrinated into the Knarr as a teen and has won the IKC four times, mostly on his home turf on San Francisco Bay, though he broke a Danish winning streak that ran from 1981 to 1991 by winning his first IKC in Denmark in 1992.

“Having my two sons sail with me in the fleet is a great time. They absolutely love it and we’ll have fun mixing up the team with all Perkins!”

He adds, “When you win a race in this fleet, everyone around you is really excited and supportive as they know what it takes—you have to sail really well and you have to get a little lucky. Your boat draw has to be good, as you don’t want to draw any slow boats. So, if you win, your competition is the first to congratulate you and buy you drinks — very different than winning in other fleets where the runners-up aren’t so happy.”

Mark Dahm, the 2024 IKC Chair, said that fun is built into the program, “It’s ten races over seven days so keeping up with the racing is one thing, but keeping up with the social schedule is another. It’s almost more demanding in preparation than the racing. It takes a lot of effort by a handful of people, but the festivities are on track to be epic, like the Thursday night Country-Western party featuring Mitch Polzak and the Royal Deuces.”

Twenty-five teams will be heading for the start line in front of St. Francis Yacht Club for the first race on September 1, with racing held daily to determine the overall champion.

Details: https://www.theclubspot.com/regatta/T4afdxXYf5

Source: StFYC

Tags: International Knarr Championship , Knarr

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Today Ottar sails with a sail made of flax, but originally the sail was made of wool. The manufacture of the 90 m2 woollen sail for Ottar was a project in itself during which assistance was received from textile researchers in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, England and Scotland. A great deal of the practical work in recreating the sail was carried out at the special exhibition organised by the Viking Ship Museum, "Sails", in 1999. The wool came from as many as 200 "Spelsauer" sheep - descendents of Norwegian wild sheep. Each one of these rather small sheep yielded about 500 g of usable wool. This had to be spun very tautly and woven incredibly densely to achieve a woollen material which was suitably windproof and durable. To make sure the sail repelled water and that it was even more wind-proof, the finished-woven sail was treated with raw ochre and a mixture of horse mane fat and, water in the ratio of 1:10. The mixture was boiled, cooled down and then rubbed into the sail using glass stones. It is interesting to note that it was the ochre that made the sail tight - and yellow - not the fat. After the sail had been in use for a certain time beef suet was kneaded into the front side to make the surface smooth. The rigging ropework is also made of authentic materials. The standing rigging that braces the mast is of hemp while the running rigging for the sail is made from horse hair. As an experiment, a little linden bast rope has been used for the centre sheets ("prierne") and for the robands that fasten the sail to the yard using reef knots ("råbåndsknob").

When Ottar and its crew are fully "run in", the ship will be used mainly for sea trials over longer distances in order to research the speed and seaworthiness of the ocean-going trader in practice.

The principle propulsion force of the "knarr" is provided by a square sail of 90 m2, but for manoeuvring in harbour and in calm weather it can be rowed with four long oars. The cargo-carrying capacity is 35 cubicmetres, or about 20 tons.

Information about Ottar

Dockyard: The Viking Ship Museum Boatbuilder: Ture M. Møller, Tom Nicolajsen, Thomas Finderup, Birger Andersen, Søren Nielsen, Hanus Jensen, Pernille Voss, Rasmus Budde Jensen Owner: The Viking Ship Museum Year of construction: 2000

Length: 15.80 meter (52 feet) Width: 4.80 meter (16 feet) Depth/draft: 1.20 meter (4 feet) Weight: 6.10 tons Total sail area: 90 m2 Displacement: 26 tons Number of oars: 4 Crew: 6-15 men Estimated maximum speed, sail: 10 knots Estimated maximum speed, oars: 1.5 knots 

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KNARR CLASS

• Crafted largely of wood, the sleek and classic  Knarr  sailboat is distinguished by its deep iron keel and Bermuda rig. 
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