HAVSORNEN
Havsörnen was originally known as Citona, built in
1937 in mahogany on oak by Tore Holm’s own boatyard
in Gamleby, on Sweden’s southeastern coast. Even in an
area packed with skilled boatyards, the project attracted
attention. It was an expensive build, so much so that a
successful man like Holger Nilsson was happy to share
the cost with his friend Sven Salén.
Once she was on the water, Holm, Nilsson and Salén
were delighted and as part of the shared-cost agreement,
Nilsson lent her to Salén to race in the first Gotland Runt
(Round Gotland) a few weeks later in July. When Salén
turned up on the start line, however, the reception was
less than complimentary. “You can’t turn up in a rotten
egg like that!” one observer remarked. The press was
equally unkind. Citona’s 11ft 9in (3.7m) beam and high
freeboard was unnatural compared to the region’s sleek,
low skerry cruisers of the time. She was immediately
dubbed the ‘rotten egg’, so ugly that she’d barely sail, let
alone complete the Gotland Runt.
Press cuttings of the time tell what happened next:
“Salén leder Gotland Runt – hektisk kamp med
amerikanen!” Salén leads the Round Gotland – fierce
struggle with Americans! Holm’s ‘ugly’ design
demolished the fleet, winning the bermudan class, the
race’s King’s Cup and the Herlin Cup.
Salén redubbed her his ‘sea eagle’, or Havsörnen in
Swedish, and immediately ordered a Sea Eagle II, similar
but 13ft (4m) longer, which today is known as Ivanhoe,
based in Saint-Tropez. Ivanhoe isn’t the only sister ship.
On a sea trial before the Gotland Runt, an American
named Samuel Crocker loved the boat so much that he
too commissioned a similar design from Holm, this one
only 2ft (60cm) longer. Gladja was launched the same
year, 1937, and went to New York, possibly to the New
York Yacht Club. Her whereabouts or existence today is
unknown. It was all good work for Holm. His profit on
Citona alone was 1,837 Krona, equivalent to around
three years’ wages for an average worker.Above: Holm’s
plans, dated 1936.
Right clockwise
from top: an
immaculate
interior; leather
covers for the
monogrammed
blocks; just in
case... ; she
retains her ‘sea
eagle’ title;
binnacle; Harken
Radial Bronze
self-tailers;
skipper Sylvain
peeks his head
out of the mast
fitting during the
winter refitMeanwhile the press attention following the Gotland
Runt meant that Citona was never to be thought of as
anything but Havsörnen again. Salén raced her many
more times to great success and she became known as
Salén’s yacht, a misunderstanding that persists today.
Meanwhile her true owner Nilsson cruised her happily in
the Stockholm area, but died in 1940 after just three
years of ownership. His son Sten ‘Pelle’ Holgersson was
also a keen sailor and briefly gave her back the name of
Citona, but sold her in 1943.
She remained in the Swedish archipelago, never too
far from Stockholm, until 1999. She became Mira II
from 1943-1951, then Siesta for 17 years, then Phiesta,
and then Havsörnen again from 1973. In the early 1990s
her midships section suffered fire damage, after which
some planking and much of the interior was replaced by
Swedish boatbuilder Thomas Larsson.
She cruised as much as she raced and was a well-
known yacht, hosting the then Crown Prince, now King
Carl Gustav XVI, in the early 1970s (when she was
Phiesta). He did two Gotland Runt races with owner
Anders Philipson.
In 1999 a Dutch owner, Charles Langereis, took her
to Saint-Tropez, where a lot of work was done in 2000,
partly in readiness for the 2001 America’s Cup Jubilee.
There sadly she snapped her mast, but over those years
she showed her pace in many Med races and in the
Caribbean, where she sailed in 2007/08.
It was while she was lying ashore in Saint-Tropez that
she first caught the eye of Philippe Fabre. When she came
up for sale, he asked his broker to pounce. The Fabres
took her to Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez 2016 and then it
was back to Port Grimaud, near the Fabres’ home, for
work to begin.
The work had progressed well over the winter and the
team had reached the final stages by June, but a great
sadness was in store. After a long battle with cancer,
Philippe died on 18 June in Switzerland.