Ester

Ester, the racing yacht from the last century, sunk in the late 1930s and which, after 77 years at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, was salvaged, renovated, raced for a summer on the Riviera and is now on display at Allt för sjön.

The long, beautiful mahogany hull was built from the start for one thing only.
To be first across the finish line. As such, Ester has no comfort to offer, just a couple of spartan cockpits. In the low hull there is simply no room for any amenities.
The Ester is 15.38 meters long, 3.08 meters wide and has a draft of 2 meters.
The weight is 3.8 tons and the sail area is about 100 square meters. She was designed by Gunnar Mellgren and built at August Plym’s shipyard in Stockholm in 1901 with the express aim of winning the Tivoli Cup, the most prestigious sailing race of the time where Finnish and Swedish boats met.
One season she won all 29 races she entered. Her last race was the Midsummer Regatta at Ulvön in 1937. She then went to the bottom – in 1938 or 1939 – at Järvön outside Örnsköldsvik.
The yacht was found in 2012 at a depth of 52 meters after extensive detective work by Bo Eriksson and Per Hellgren. This was followed by years of restoration, research and construction to restore it to its original condition and set sail for a new century.

In 2019, Ester participated in regattas in Monaco, Cannes and Saint-Tropez and also won the award for best renovation during the exclusive Classic Week in Monaco, where Bo Eriksson received the award from Prince Albert’s hand.

Ester is on display at stand A02:40