News

The American Hallberg-Rassy 43 "Smidge" won both her class and overall in a regatta in the Bahamas.

The regatta is the 28th Annual George Town Cruising Regatta in Georgetown, Exumas, The Bahamas and consists of over a week of many activities in this adult summer camp type community. Activities include volleyball, sand sculpture competition, beach golf, bridge tournaments, talent shows, etc. Two events are sailboat racing - one around Stocking Island and one in Elizabeth Harbour. The HR 43 "Smidge" entered both races and ended up winning her class and overall in both races. Smidge also won overall monohull for the regatta. Congratulations to a good result!

Hallberg-Rassy introduces the electric furling ensign. It is the flag staff that has been motorized, controlled from the cockpit for ease of handling. "That fits perfectly into our push-button concept for handling big yachts with minimum crew" says Magnus Rassy. This new option is available for all new Hallberg-Rassy models from 31 - 62 ft. Orders, however, may only be placed on April 1st every year.

Once again Europe's largest sailing magazine, Yacht from Germany, made a large research among 3 902 out of its 180 000 readers. A lot of questions were asked and one of them was: "Which boat builder makes the yacht of your dreams?" The answer was very clear: No other make even comes close to Hallberg-Rassy. And, furthermore, Hallberg-Rassy actually increased its leading position from last year. Hallberg-Rassy is the yacht most people dream about.

Hallberg-Rassy prepares for the future and invests not only in a new head office but also in a new lamination workshop at its plant at Hallberg-Rassy Marinplast in Kungshamn, Sweden. When the older workshops were built, the largest yacht they had to accommodate was a thirty-five footer. The new workshop will totally be 35 x 30 m and that means it will have space for the simultaneous building of two large yachts, which corresponds a lot better with both the current and the future product mix. The new workshop already takes shape and is scheduled be ready for business in August 2008. To see photos of the construction please go here.

Starting March 3rd 2008, Mr John-Jin Kim of Geoje Marina Co. has been appointed Hallberg-Rassy dealer for Korea. Mr Kim is already an enthusiastic Hallberg-Rassy sailor and sails his HR frequently between South Korea and Japan. The sales office is located in Geoje-City, on the south coast of South Korea.

Hallberg-Rassy's new head office takes shape.To see photos of the construction please go here.

14 June 2008 there will be held a Hallberg-Rassy regatta in Neustadt, Germany. All Hallberg-Rassy sailors are invited to take part. For information, please contact our Neustadt office, Hallberg-Rassy Deutschland GmbH, info[a]hallberg-rassy.de

Hallberg-Rassy has invested in a further CNC controlled machine, primarily for use in woodwork. Unlike the two already existing three-axes machines, the new one is a five-axis model which enables us to work more efficiently with fewer changes and adjustment to the tools used. The new machine is also able to mill three-dimensional items such as shower basins and hardtop roofs, which is not possible with the three axis machine.

 To see more photos of the Rendezvous, please go here.

Hallberg-Rassy will expand and build a new head office. The new head office will be located directly on the water, at the side of the Hallberg-Rassy marina. This new building gives more room for the production when the current head office is moved. This space will be used to allow more space to our varnishing department. The new office is scheduled to be ready in the fall of 2008. To see photos of the construction and more renderings please go here.

Early September there was a traditional Hallberg-Rassy meeting held at Hankø Yacht Club, Norway. 28 Hallberg-Rassy yachts gathered and had a good time together. There was also a race sailed, but what counted was not being the first to finish. No handicap system was used, no time keeping. Instead other priorities were important to win prizes: for example the prize for Happiest Crew, won by the smallest and oldest Hallberg-Rassy in the fleet: a Hallberg-Rassy 26. The largest and newest boat that participated was a Hallberg-Rassy 54. To see a picture gallery with 75 images, please go here

Bfa life rafts are subject to a safety recall - please see manufacturers web site for details, please go here

In the September issue of Sail magazine from the USA, the Hallberg-Rassy 54 is listed among the Best Boats 2008. To vote for your favourite, please go here

Hallberg-Rassy constantly improve the boats. One good example is the Hallberg-Rassy 37. For new orders, there are a lot of improvements:

• Triple spreader rig

• Engine: Volvo Penta D2-55 / 130 S. Higher power and larger alternator: 115 A

• More elegant entrance ladder with curved steps and curved side panels

• More elegant ceiling handholds with softer lines

• New design for the carpet, with something of the beautiful teak / holly floor visible
• A mixer will be installed on the hot water calorifier, giving both more safety and improved comfort
• The steering pedestal is moved forward a little, creating more space for the helmsman
• Battery capacity upgraded from 225 Ah to 235 Ah

Mr Tom Dieck, Editor in chief for the German boating catalogue “Bootsmarkt“ says the following regarding the Hallberg-Rassy 342:

Hallberg-Rassy 342 number 100 is now under construction. This is a remarkable achievement in just one and a half year. No other new model has ever made it so quickly to number 100 as the HR 342.

Early March Hallberg-Rassy delivered no less than ten Hallberg-Rassy 342 to one buyer.

The buyer is BKYC, British Kiel Yacht Club, who is a private club based in Kiel, Germany. The UK military is chartering the boats for adventurous sailing training. There are normally people from the UK Army sailing the boats, but also from the UK Navy and the UK Air Force or private people with connection to the UK Military. 5 to 7 men and women are onboard each yacht on a trip that usually takes around 5 days, goes to Denmark and covers 150 nautical miles.

The yachts are used extensively from early March until the end of November. Each boat is sailed about 7000 nautical miles per year, which corresponds to roughly seven years of sailing for an ordinary sailor.

The club changes boats about every three years and this is the third time the order goes to Hallberg-Rassy. No other boatbuilder has received so many orders from BKYC. BKYC has previously had a fleet of twelve Hallberg-Rassy 29 and another fleet of twelve Hallberg-Rassy 31.

The BKYC people are very enthusiastic about their new fleet of Hallberg-Rassy 342s. For BKYC it is important to have boats that are built to last and coops with tough conditions. Resale value is also a very important factor, as well as spare parts supply and value for money.

Sunday 14 January 2007 hurricane "Per" stroke Ellös, the village where Hallberg-Rassy is located. Wind forces up to 80 knots / 39 meters per second are reported. No serious damages on yachts, yard or people are known in Ellös, but still the whole Monday 15 January there were no telephones nor email working.

Christmas and New Year in Sweden has rarely had so little snow as in 2006. But one Swedish Hallberg-Rassy 62 had a guaranteed white Christmas and New Year: Arne Mårtensson's "Yaghan" arrived in Antarctica on December 23 and celebrated Christmas and New Year in Antarctica. "The yacht has behaved extremely well in all kinds of waters" Arne Mårtensson reports in an email to the yard. To visit Yaghan's home page with a frequently updated blog, please see www.yaghan.com

The Swedish Victory Challenge are building a new boat for the 32^nd America’s Cup, which starts June 2007. Victory Challenge share the same designers as Hallberg-Rassy; Frers. The new boat will get sail number SWE-96 and is constructed in a female mould in Gothenburg, Sweden. For more info, visit www.victorychallenge.com 

In the September issue of Sail magazine from the USA, the Hallberg-Rassy 342 is listed among the Best Boats 2007.

In Europe's largest sailing magazine, Yacht from Germany, there has been a thorough test between eight 31-32 footers. The results are presented in issues 13 and 14 / 2006. The result: Test winner overall is the Hallberg-Rassy 31 Mk II. A lot of points were evaluated by the magazine: sailing performance, sails, handling under engine, construction, finish, interior,  technical installations, value for money and so on. The magazine says that they were amazed over the good sailing performance. Only the two racing boats in the comparison were faster.  The HR 31 Mk II was ranked number one when it came to build quality, use of the interior space, detail solutions, storage use and comfort. The magazine says that the HR 31 Mk II is ahead of the others because "she offers the most complete and most practical overall concept. She is a distinguished understatement; it is more in her than you might expect."