JOHAN ANKER
MASTER OF THE LINES

By CHRISTOPHER ENNALS

An extensive biography about the famous Norwegian yacht designer, Johan Anker (1871-1940) has recently been published in Norwegian. Previously only a lengthy article in English about his career had appeared in the November 1997 issue of CLASSIC LINES. The two authors of this book, Elin Kragset Vold and Ole Engen, classic yacht owners living down in Larvik, where the equally famous Colin Archer built his sturdy pilot vessels, have really delved deeply into the Norwegian sources. As a result we get the full picture about his aristocratic family background, his formative years, his studies in yacht construction at the Technical High School in Berlin, and the reasons why he broke away from the family tradition in his early thirties to join Christian Jensen at his boatyard in Vollen. From there the two partners, between the years 1906 and 1915, produced a number of famous yachts, such as BRAND 2 and 4, ROLLO, MAGDA 9 and SYMRA, which won against all comers. Anker did the designing, Jensen was in charge of the building, but also wished to be credited with his designing prowess. As a result they split up, but Anker continued with the yard and the designation "Anker and Jensen" was kept for the yachts right up to the end.

 
At the helm, Johan Anker was an amazingly successful sailor. He won countless regattas and with Crown Prince Olav the gold medal in the 1928 Olympics in the six metre class. He and his second wife, the authoress Nini Roll Anker, were great friends with the Norwegian royal family. When Norway was occupied in the spring of 1940, Anker tried to persuade the King and Crown Prince to remain up in the North of Norway, but the course of events inexorably drove the royal personages into exile in Britain. Anker died in October 1940, spending the last summer at his beloved home "Lillehaugen".


The book tells the story, decade by decade, of his eventful life. In addition, the authors have the ability to explain how the metre classes and other types of yacht which he designed gradually developed. They present magnificent photographs and line drawings to illustrate this development.Johan Anker had strong opinions about yacht design and this is also dealt with. Finally, there is an extra bonus: a complete list in chronological order of the yacht numbers, type of yacht and first names wherever known, of the Anker and Jensen yachts built at Vollen or elsewhere down the coast. This, for some extraordinary reason, has never been made available to the public before, because the list was in private hands. The authors should be congratulated for bringing this list out into the open. What is now needed, of course, is for this book to be translated into English, a rather formidable task. Let us hope the translation rights are bought by some enterprising publishing house in Europe.

Details about where to obtain the book: to Anne Ostgaard

The publisher is CAPPELEN, Postboks 350 Sentrum, N 0101 Oslo - www.cappelen.no