In KL No. 9, Cecil Chr. Stephansen gave us a fascinating account (in Norwegian) about his sailing experiences as crew member on board MONSUN II, culminating in races down at Hankø during the 1933 Royal Norwegian Yacht Club (KNS) jubilee. ECYU readers who do not understand Norwegian will even so be able to make out from the last part of his article the owners and yachts taking part in the various classes. I now present the list of competitors; they represent the "who’s who" of the international sailing fraternity in 1933.

In spite of the Wall Street crash and its repercussions worldwide, yachting in northern Europe seemed to flourish. The Swedish Royal Yacht Club in Stockholm (KSSS) had managed to stage a huge event in Sandhamn in 1930 for its hundredth jubilee, including the 5th Europe Week. Likewise, KNS made a great effort for its 50th. But as compared to Europe Week 1914, financial contributions from KNS members and other possible sponsors were hard to collect – money was tight owing to the depression. Nevertheless, there was strong interest amongst the neighbouring sailing nations to come up to Hankø, the percentage of foreign boats in the overall competition being almost the same as in 1914. This time, Germany kept a low profile as compared to England and France. Just as Sam. Eyde was the ideal man to organize the earlier event, so did the election of Crown-Prince Olav as Commodore of KNS for 1933 prove to be a wise choice, with Johan Anker once more filling the Vice-Commodore position. In 1914 Anker had been helmsman on SYMRA, this time he wished to show off his new construction, VEMA III, under the gaze of Georg Unger-Vetlesen.

Crown-Prince Olav would celebrate his 30th birthday on July 2nd, and the whole Royal Family was committed to making the jubilee event a success - it was quite a responsibility which had been thrust on young Olav. King Haakon, Queen Maud and Crown-Princess Martha attended all the ceremonies in Oslo. Luckily we have a film record of the jubilee, now on video and shown at our ECYU gathering in February 1997. It shows the King and Queen arriving at the University Aula and proudly being greeted by Olav, the host. There is further rare footage of Queen Maud when the Royal party is transported by barge to Dronningen, the clubhouse. A healthy looking Johan Anker is walking with a slight limp; he suffered from rheumatism in his hips during the 1930s, which caused him great pain towards the end, but it hardly affected his sailing results. The picture above can be seen live, then. The young crown-prince couple also invited 400 KNS members, local dignitaries and foreign guests to their new residence at Skaugum, outside Oslo in the county of Asker, and not far from Anker's boatyard. The old Skaugum building, presented to them as a wedding present, had burnt down a couple of years earlier, so it was a good opportunity to invite KNS to see the new residence.

In the next two pages, Norwegian readers can enjoy an extract from the flamboyant account of Kr. Anker Olsen, who devotes nearly 30 pages of his 500 page book to the 1933 jubilee. Perhaps with tongue in cheek, he makes out that the main street of the Norwegian capital was seething with KNS members in appropriate uniform! I have chosen to give you his remarks about the 12 metre class, old (boats built under the First International Rule of 1906 and Scandinavian Rule of the First World War years) and new (revised rules of 1919 and 1933). KTK members are, of course, interested to know which boats in our club were taking part. DANSEUSE ex MAUD 3 ex BEDUIN and ERNA SIGNE (just now being restored) were among the "old" 12 metres (and both had been in Europe Week 1914 too). VEMA 3, our club's flagship, was the new 12 metre arousing much interest. In the 8 metre class, ANITRA, the Olympic boat of 1936 now in our club after many years in Denmark, had been exported when new from Anker & Jensen to Spain in 1930, but was now back to represent Norway. You can also see that FENRIS took part; we welcome her into the club this year after her restoration in Sweden. The Hesselberg family also owns VICTORIA ex UNA 4, while PUS the 52 kvm is further down in Kristiansand. As regards results, it is noteworthy that VINETA ex FIGARO 2, now a wreck in northwest France, on the third day had a better time than FLICA who was no. 1 in the championship ("new" 12 metre) class.

At the end of an exhaustive and exhausting series of events, the jubilee had resulted in a worrying deficit for KNS, which brought about some criticism at the winter AGM. It was therefore decided to hold a fund-raising bazaar at Dronningen the following May (the first ever – and last?- in KNS history). This was a great success, and once again the Royal Family obliged with their support, so the deficit was wiped out.

In conclusion, one can say that KNS had shown its organizational and sporting strength for the second time. Europe Week 1914 and the Jubilee of 1933 will stand for ever as the highwater marks of KNS' glorious history. Indeed, the club was congratulated soon afterwards by the Scandinavian Yacht Federation for staging such a highly successful jubilee.

Can we hope that KTK, in collaboration with KNS, can bring off a similar success when we stage «EUROPE WEEK 2000», which will also have races in Oslofjord and Hankø?