
Sailing and Motor Yachts in Mahogany and Teak

Building the Anitra

Serial-production

The yachts ordered by the New York Yacht Club were rapidly built in serial-production in only five months. The Anitra was completed in May 1928. The fact that this was even possible, speaks for a very well organised company and numerous suppliers.At that time, the exotic woods for such a large number of yachts could not be kept in stock.
An American designer, a German shipyard, international suppliers and customers in the USA: globalisation in the yacht industry of the 1920s.

Yard number 2366

In the yard number register of Abeking & Rasmussen, the Anitra was documented with the yard number 2366.

Source: an edited scan of the reproduced yard book of A & R.

The six yachts were called:

"Waiandance"
"Isolde"
"Tycoon"
"Iris"
"Anitra"
"Onawa"

Only two of these are still in existence: the restored "Onawa" and the "Anitra" described here.

Regatta yachts

At the request of the owner, all six of the 12-metre R-Yachts were built exclusively as regatta yachts for comparison sailings in the New York Yacht Club. For this reason, they were all fitted out with the same, and at that time modern, Bermuda-rig. Five of the yachts were fitted out with an identical sail from sail manufacturer Ratsey. Only one of them was fitted out with a sail from the German sail manufacturer Mählitz.

Composite building

The 12-m R-Yacht Anitra is a composite construction built in 1928. This means that part of the static bond joints were made of metal. Every second frame throughout the entire length of the yacht, including the floor plates, is made of galvanised steel.

Wood

The original planks from 1928 were made from Swietenia mahogany - Honduran mahogany from the Meliaceen family. This "original mahogany wood" can be found on the east coast of South America, in Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Peru and Venezuela. Before and after the Second World War, nearly all yachts were built using American mahogany. It was extremely popular due to its excellent handling qualities, its weather durability and stamina, as well as its beautiful red colour.

Test yachts

Burgess built the hulls of the six yachts identically. However, he experimented when it came to the rig of each yacht, purposely building each one differently. This was particularly evident with regard to the area of the genoa triangle in relation to the mainsail triangle.
Thus the Anitra, for example, received a relatively small headsail area, but a considerably larger mainsail cloth in comparison to the other five yachts.
The goal here was to carry out practical tests for the optimal rig proportions during regatta sailing, in what were otherwise identical yachts.

American standard = German Luxury

At the beginning of 1928, the then editor of the magazine "Die Yacht" wrote the following about these six 12-m R-Yachts:
"These boots have a very spacious interior as well. Separate owner´s cabin, two washrooms, a large salon with Pullman beds and navigation table, a very roomy pantry with the traditional large American refrigerator."