Estlander - Sails and scandi structures

The man, GUSTAF ESTLANDER

This is the second article in Charlie Salter’s series highlighting the  relationship between architects and wooden  boats. Charlie is the custodian of the Tumlaren  SIROCCO so there is a very personal connection here!

Gustaf Estlander was a successful Finnish architect, yacht designer and sportsman in the early 20th centuary.

At 18 Estlander sailed from Finland to Sweden in a canoe and at 22 was European speed skating champion. He graduated as an architect in 1898 from Helsinki Polytechnic Institute and started his own practice in 1903 designing many (now heritage listed) art nouveau apartment buildings in Helsinki while continuing to sail and design racing yachts. Estlander competed in the 1912 Olympic regatta in Sweden, gaining 4th place in his Fife-designed 8m2 yacht ORN.

By 1914 the architect started working full-time as a yacht designer known for light radical square meter boats. His international breakthrough came in 1917 when helming his unbeatable 22m2 Skerry cruiser COLIBRI. These 22 and 30m2 skerry cruisers were so successful on Germany’s inland lakes that Estlander started winning commissions across Europe and as far away as Cuba and Singapore. He operated a boatyard near Berlin in the 1920’s building his own 150m2 Skerry cruiser SINGOALLA, that could carry 14 knots racing from Kiel to Travemünde on the Baltic Sea. He moved to Sweden opening a studio in Stockholm to gain citizenship and be eligible to design the Swedish entry for the important 6m Scandinavian Gold Cup. 

Gustaf Estlander died in 1930 aged 54, at the height of his career. A young employee in his Stockholm studio, Knud Reimers took over and continued Estlander’s legacy, designing fast skerry cruisers and much loved spidsgatter (double enders) like the Tumlaren still sailed today in Australia.

Photo credits; Swedish Maritime Museum https://www.sjohistoriska.se 
Instagram #gustafestlander

//

EDITOR // Charlie Salter