Moana is a 10mR yacht and was built in 1914 at the shipyard of Anker & Jensen in Asker, Norway. The designer was the famous Johan Anker (1871-1940). Her current name Moana was given to her in 1937 and it is with that name she is known within the classic boat society of Stockholm. The name Moana is maori and is supposed to mean “the green colour which the ocean have”.

A Mr A. Weil from Le Havre, France ordered Moana. During his ownership period the name of the yacht was Fantasia (the name is stilled carved into the stern). The boat was registered in Lloyd’s Register of Yachts (1914) and an interesting detail from Lloyds’s register is that Fantasia had her own flag called “Rose de noel” which means the Christmas rose. Mr Weil owned Fantasia between 1914 and 1919. In 1919 she was sold to Mr T.L. Schiöler from Copenhagen, Denmark, but it is not clear how long time he owned the boat. Between 1926 and 1927 she was owned by Mr Jörgen Winther from Roskilde and during this period Norske Veritas classified Fantasia.

In 1929 the restaurant keeper Sofus Petersen bought Moana from Denmark to Gothenburg. He registered Moana in the royal sailing club of Gothenburg, GKSS (Göteborgs Kungliga SegelSällskap). Mr Petersen arranged so that Moana was painted in a specific green colour called Fantasia green and was manufactured by Dorch Becksin. The work to develop a new colour was not as easy as today and demanded a lot of work by the manufactory.

During conversations with Petersen’s son, Bengt, a lot of things regarding this period have become known. For example, that when his father was sailing the boat he had paid crew and one of the hands was Fingal. The crew, among them Fingal, lived in the fore where there where two berths and a paraffin stove with two burners. The saloon and the two berths astern locked almost like today (2001).  Fore of the saloon, where the galley is positioned today, the captains cabin was on the starboard side and the toilet with the washbasin was on the port side. According to Bengt, his father also had a picture of Fantasia from around 1915 where she was gaff rigged. The photographer was said to be the famous Beken of Cowes.

The restaurant keeper Petersen owned Moana for ten years and 1937 she was sold to the engineer Gustav Detthof from Stockholm. Mr Detthof renamed the yacht to Moana and during 1939-1940 Moana was rebuilt to her current look at the boot yard “Ramsövarvet” outside Waxholm, Sweden. The main idea with the reconstruction was to increase the stiffness of the yacht and to make her more comfortable during cruising. The increased stiffness was achieved by increased draft and more led in the keel. In order to improve the comfort, a doghouse replaced the aft entrance and the galley was moved aft so that standing height was obtained. Before the rebuilding Moana was used for racing but thereafter she has been mainly used for cruising.

The engineer Detthof sold Moana 1946 and then Moana changed hands a lot of times. Until the middle of the 50’s she is hard to trace. Probably she was owned by a Mr Tore Willes in the end of the 40’s or in the beginning of the 50’s. It is said that around 1955 the then owners decided to sail to America. They were devoted drinkers and according to that the yacht was loaded. Following the departure in December a heavy snowstorm dismasted Moana and the journey come to a sorry end in Visby, Gotland. The plans to take Moana to America had to be given up (luckily). The yacht was sold in its present condition including the well-filled liquor store. After major problems with the custom, the new owners could enjoy it for several years.

In the beginning of the 60’s Moana is owned by a syndicate headed by a Swedish American named Christofferson. Eventually he became the sole owner and in 1964 he sold Moana to a new syndicate where Åke Cyrus was one of the members. Åke Cyrus is then part owner of the yacht in different combinations until 1982 and this is the longest owner period in Moana’s history so far. Åke bought Moana when his Beduin II, which was Sweden’s first 12 mR, was completely destroyed by fire. He then sailed the yacht together with his family for 18 years. Thereafter she was sold to a new syndicate where Ulf Stockhaus and Lotta Modin, two of the boat’s present owners, was part. The other members in the syndicate were Håkan Sellerholm (1986) and Jan Lillieborg.

Moana was on land between 1984 and 1989 and a major restoration was made. Mainly the hull was restored and a lot of parts (for example 88 ribs and 120 meters of planks) were replaced by new ones. Finally the hull was epoxy coated below the water line. In 1991 Mona is fitted with the rig of the 10 mR Irina. Jan Lillieborg and Håkan Sellerholm sell their parts in Moana and Hans-Olof Dahlberg together with Eva Karlsson-Dahlberg becomes part owners in 1996. During the winter 96/97 the motor installation is started and it is finished in the spring of 1999.

Josefin Ahlqvist and Anders Lindberg become part owners of Moana in the autumn of 2001, which means that the syndicate now has six members. A new main sail (around 92 sqm) is ordered from North Sails in November 2001. The old main sail was from the end of the 70’s and was originally used by the 12 mR Sverige during her preparation for the Americas Cup Challenge. Hopefully Moana will be faster and easier to handle this summer with the new main sail.