Any company staying in business for a century is remarkable. More remarkably, Abeking & Rasmussen just celebrated its 117th anniversary and counts many deliveries still cruising the world’s oceans. One of those deliveries with decades of voyaging under her hull returned to the yard in time for the occasion. The story of the sailing yacht Jagare is as interesting as that of the yard.
Abeking & Rasmussen got its start in 1907. Georg Abeking, a mechanical engineer from northern Germany, teamed up with Henry Rasmussen, a boatbuilder originally from Denmark. They established their own boatyard building sailing yachts in Lemwerder, Germany, on the Weser River. With Rasmussen further as the designer, it started to grow. In fact, in 1925, with the completion of its 12th project, Abeking & Rasmussen earned accolades in the United States.
Over the next several decades, more sailing yachts plus motoryachts (including SWATH superyachts for adventurous owners) and military vessels emerged. Construction evolved, too, from all wood to aluminum in the 1960s, and steel and aluminum after that. Similarly, the traditional sailing yachts of the past progressed into larger and larger projects. The same location where Abeking & Rasmussen got its early-20th-century start was the birthplace for the sailing yacht Jagare in 1981. Also known as hull number 6378, she’s noteworthy for not only still cruising, but completing multiple circumnavigations—all for the same family.
At 120 feet (36.5 meters), the yacht Jagare certainly stood out as one of the largest private yachts of her era. With a volume of 221 gross tons, she was designed by the naval architect Willem De Vries Lentsch Jr. Inside, meanwhile, Peter Sijm designed accommodations for a party of nine, plus six among the captain and crew. It was an elegant look in keeping with tastes at the time.
Her original owner was a family man who visited the shipyard during construction, taking his children to see progress as well. One of those children, a daughter, was just 12 years old when the all-aluminum sailing superyacht was in build. Poignantly, she received the yacht from her father and is keeping the family tradition of travel aboard alive and well. To date, the yacht Jagare has completed eight circumnavigations and been to places only a small percentage of private vessels go. For example, she recently visited the Arctic and Antarctic, before spending the summer in Northern Europe.
Certainly, regular refits and maintenance over the years have allowed such ambitious trips. So has a fuel capacity of 6,899 gallons (26,117 liters) for repositioning at up to 12 knots. Jagare arrived at Abeking & Rasmussen for a winter work list, perfectly timed for the yard’s significant anniversary. No doubt the 26-foot-beam (8.08-meter-beam) boat will be embarking on more adventures for years to come when spring arrives.
Abeking & Rasmussen abeking.com
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