Ten prettiest sailing yachts ever. Number six: Princess Svanevit

Svanevit racing in the Raymarine 2 Star race in 2024. Photo by Malcolm Hanes

Anyone following this Top Ten list countdown, or anyone elses's 'prettiest boats' list might be wondering a few things. When is the inevitable big Fife coming? And is there going to be a Metre yacht at some point? Surely these always make an appearance on such lists, along with the Tumlare, that big one by L Francis Herreshoff that people go doollaly over and a few other usual suspects. While this isn't the usual list, I have ticked the Fife box (number seven – UandI), and here's a Metre boat. It had to be Princess Svanevit. You could say I'm biased, as part-owner (I think I own about a centimetre of the mast in the form of a certificate!) but really she's here to represent the class as a whole. Some will hold that the 8s, or even the 6s, are the prettiest boats, as the proportions work better to fill the area viewable by the human eye. There is some truth in this. Smaller boats, by and large, are more visually appealing in the sense that you can see the entire boat at closer quarters, taking in more detail, but the 12s are the metre class, representing the sport's greatest trophy, the America's Cup, longer than any other class, from 1958 to 1987. Today, the 12-M fleet is probably unique in the world for its size (is there any other class that can boast so many yachts at this length?) and for the vigour of the restoration movement behind it. This came to a peak at the America's Cup in Barcelona last year, where 13 of the world's 12s gathered to celebrate the history of the race. It was an amazing spectacle watching them racing so tightly in heavy conditions. Sadly, Svanevit was not there, but it says something about how captivating she is, that I've chosen a 12 I've never seen in the flesh, over all those I did see up close. From 1918 to the 1980s, the class changed quite a bit: the 12s of the America's Cup era were built in everything from wood to aluminium to GRP, and they are notable for their long, retrousse sterns, now quite likeable as they slowly slide into 'classic' status.

But there's no comparison to the pre-war 12s like Princess Svanevit, the longest 12-M ever built, by the famous Plym yard in 1930, to a design by Gustaf Estlander and Tore Holm, bywords for sleek design. She's Sweden's treasure, recently restored, and with the most amazing interior, by artist Ewald Dahlskog, ever put into a sailing yacht. She looks pretty good from the outside too.

Details from Svanevit's interior, on show at the Liljevalchs art gallery in Stockholm in 2022. Photo by Malcolm Hanes