Svea

Oil on Panel 8.5x15inches

Svea’s story began in 1937, when Swedish yacht designer and Olympic sailor Tore Holm, working with boatbuilder Gustaf Plym, drew plans for a J Class yacht intended for a Swedish America’s Cup challenge. The project remained unrealised, and the outbreak of the Second World War ended hopes of bringing her to the starting line. Her drawings lay forgotten for decades until they were rediscovered by Dutch yachting historian John Lammerts van Bueren. (jclassyachts.com⁠)

The surviving plans provided the foundation for a remarkable revival. Hoek Design developed the original design for modern construction and racing, preserving her elegant proportions while incorporating contemporary technology. Completed by Vitters Shipyard in the Netherlands, Svea was launched in January 2017—eighty years after Holm and Plym first conceived her. At approximately 143 feet overall, she became the longest yacht in the modern J Class fleet. (jclassyachts.com⁠, hoekdesign.com⁠)

Sailing under the number JS1, Svea made her racing debut in Bermuda during the 2017 America’s Cup celebrations. Following further development, she won the J Class competition at the 2018 St Barths Bucket. In 2022, two Swedish yachtsmen acquired her and brought her under the Swedish flag. Victories at the Superyacht Cup Palma and the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup that year demonstrated her racing potential. (jclassyachts.com⁠)

Svea occupies a distinctive place in J Class history: she is the first realisation of a previously unbuilt design. Her association with the Royal Swedish Yacht Club, KSSS, fulfils an ambition recorded on her original drawings—a Swedish J Class yacht brought to life across the generations. (ksss.se⁠)