Her existence could have ended ten years ago at the bottom of Pitt Lake near Vancouver in Canada - but the longest 12-metre R yacht ever built was saved. After years of restoration, the "Jenetta" was launched again last Saturday, 25 May, in Flensburg.
Rescue from the depths
Around 20,000 hours of work went into the project at the Robbe & Berking shipyard, which specialises in classic yachts. Shipyard boss Oliver Berking had the wreck of the 1939-built "Jenetta" lifted from the bottom of Pitt Lake and, in a sensational operation, shipped the keel and parts of the bow and stern sections in a container to Flensburg, where the parts were to be reassembled into a sailing whole. But only the ballast keel could be saved.
The restoration of the "Jenetta" was in fact a faithful reproduction of the historic yacht, which will continue to sail under its previous name for a Northern European owners' association.
A yacht with history
The 21.78 metre long ship was designed by Scottish yacht designer Alfred Mylne in 1939 and was rescued not at the last minute, but virtually at the last minute. After the yacht was sold to Canada in the 1980s, it eked out a sad existence there. Half-hearted attempts at restoration with rusting iron profiles and chipboard did the rest, and finally "Jenetta" sank lonely on the morning of Christmas Day 2008 at her berth on Pitt Lake. She was finally lost beyond repair when an improper salvage attempt completely destroyed the hull.
Forty years earlier, everything had started so splendidly. The British sugar king Sir William Burton commissioned the twelve-person boat from old master Alfred Mylne, of course to shine on the regatta course. And it succeeded straight away. The gentleman sailor has a great deal of regatta experience - "Jenetta" is already his fourth 12 mR yacht - and Mylne is considered the creator of the fastest boats in the metre class at the time, whose formula he played a key role in shaping.
Mylne himself died in 1951, and in his honour the owners decided to dress "Jenetta" in a "kilt" for the first summer. She would not receive her final livery until after the season.
