Omega 42 – the legend lives on …
The story of how the Omega 42 was brought back to life could not sound more incredible: A few years ago, three friends – all sailors, one of whom owns a small shipyard in Waren an der Müritz – are sitting together at a barbecue in the harbor. In a beery mood, they ponder what they would do if money were no object. Which ship should be resurrected? Which yacht deserves to be brought back to life? Which icon of yacht building would people long for? Omega 42 – the unanimous opinion!
“What the E-Type or the famous gullwing roadsters of the Mercedes-Benz SL series are to automobile connoisseurs, a yacht from the 1980s is to sailors.”
Lars Reisberg
A place of longing and a destination – Omega 42
At that time, Swedish boat design dominated the regatta courses of Europe. Owning a boat from Scandinavian production was the dream of many water sports enthusiasts. Even today, the Omega 42 is still widely regarded as a dream yacht. A place of longing and a goal: to sail an Omega 42 once in a lifetime, let alone own one …
The traces lead to southern Sweden
The gentlemen from the barbecue get serious. At least two of them are. What begins as a party mood develops into a project. A Danish owner of a classic Omega 42 built over 40 years ago helps to find the original lamination molds. They are lying in the woods behind a shipyard in southern Sweden. Should you? Can you really? Rebuild this iconic boat from scratch using modern materials and production methods? An enthusiastic investor has already been found: Construction number 1 secured. The molds – exposed to the harsh forces of nature outdoors for decades – have to be painstakingly renewed before the hull and deck can be made from them again. Construction plans? There are no more.
Reverse engineering
Heiner Francke, head of the Waren shipyard
Officially, 160 Omega 42s were built
Peter Norlin, the designer of this yacht, died in 2012. Extensive research, both within the family circle and at the various production yards that built the Omega 42 over the course of 20 years, has yielded very little material. Heiner Francke, head of the Waren shipyard, who wants to resurrect the Omega 42, has to completely “reverse engineer” the boat. After all, 160 boats were officially built. Many are still sailing. There is a respected fan club in Sweden, a bubbling source of information, templates and measurements. However, many boats have been extensively rebuilt over time, adapted to ever-changing preferences and technologies. An original, pure Omega 42 hardly exists any more.
Technical data: Omega 42 replica
Length
Draught
Displacement
Upwind sail area
Price from
Length
42 ft / 12.80 m
Draught
1.67 m
Displacement
7.0 t
Upwind sail area
73 sqm
Price from
€ 510,000 for a masterpiece of the art of sailing
Norlin’s masterpiece
Peter Norlin designed the extremely slim and chic Omega 42 for himself in the early 1970s: The boat should win regattas. Then as now, race victories were a figurehead, reputation and sales promotion for sailing boats. His new yacht should outperform all others: A very high mast will catch the wind that sweeps across Stockholm’s archipelago, keeping her sailable even in light winds. An extremely short keel should make it possible to sail close to the rocks: Shortcut and lead in regattas. The length-to-width ratio of this new design is more reminiscent of a clipper or a needle. The Omega 42 becomes Norlin’s masterpiece. She is not only beautiful to look at – she sails incredibly fast! At the very first boat show, almost 40 customers sign a build order. The boat immediately becomes a legend. In the close infights of the big and small regattas, this fast-sailing ship immediately gains a very special nimbus.
“Anyone who wants to build a yacht and sell it commercially these days needs CE certification.”
Heiner Francke
Boat builder of the Omega 42
Fighting the demons on the Müritz
Heiner Francke in Waren an der Müritz is battling other demons. Anyone who wants to build and sell a yacht commercially these days needs CE certification. Which is a good thing: modern sailing yachts have to meet high construction standards. The shipyard in Waren is constantly battling with new requirements, which are handled by a Copenhagen-based CE agency. As there are no longer any design or construction documents, the hours slip by. Even the smallest details have to be redesigned, recalculated, repeatedly demonstrated and tested, custom-made. The construction drags on: The mast has to be completely redeveloped, the classic single-saling rigs had a tendency to break. State-of-the-art battery systems, navigation electronics, safe gas installation. The list is almost endless.
Ship christening in Krummin on Usedom
In 2020, the time has come: ship christening in Krummin on Usedom! The “Windfänger”, official construction number #401, enters the water. An emotional moment. Over 40 years have passed since the last Omega 42 built in Sweden first touched the salt water of the Baltic Sea. Exciting lines, beautiful from every perspective. A mast that seems to scrape against the clouds: the boat draws attention to itself. And just like back then in the Swedish archipelago, the Omega 42 begins to shake up the regatta scene.
It can be controlled with two fingers.
Peter Norlin, designer of the Omega 42
Intuition and natural talent
Norlin has succeeded in drawing a yacht that is wonderfully balanced. Even though today’s modern boats are designed with CAD and AI on the computer, it was experience, intuition and certainly a lot of natural talent that enabled Peter Norlin to design a boat that delivers high performance on all wind courses and in any weather. She goes through the waves like a hot knife through butter: graceful, unflinching. It can be steered with two fingers, child’s play in the truest sense of the word. And that even with real pressure on the rudder.
Omega 42 – Norlin’s masterpiece
Wherever the Windfänger docks today, there are always people on the jetty. The fascinating thing about it, says owner Stefan Gossing, is that it’s not just the old hands, the connoisseurs, who get their fill of the exciting lines of this icon. There are many young people on board, enthusiastic sailors in their twenties and even teenagers. They often know neither Norlin nor the legend of the Omega 42, but they seem to be intuitively attracted by the boat’s lines and see that something very special has moored here.
“As with fine automobiles, there are many classics,
but only a handful of true icons.”
Stefan Gossing
Owner of the Omega 42
Stefan Gossing is a man with a sense of true form – for classics that not only please, but also touch. His guiding principle sums it up: “As with fine automobiles, there are many classics, but only a handful of true icons.” This is exactly how he talks about his boat: the Omega 42 “Windcatcher”, whose elegant lines and character captivate even people who don’t know the story behind it.
With this mixture of passion, attention to detail and respect for the special, Stefan Gossing stands for an attitude: quality is recognizable – and genuine icons even more so.
The legacy of the Omega 42
What began in a group of men having a barbecue in the evening is developing into an ongoing business at the shipyard in Waren an der Müritz. You can imagine how enthusiastically the sailing scene reacts to this if you imagine what would happen if the E-Type or the SL Gullwing were to be relaunched. Of course, a brand-new Omega 42 with a starting price of 510,000 euros is no bargain: Custom-made, one-off construction by hand, carried out by competent master boatbuilders, naturally has its price. However, anything other than first-class build quality would be unthinkable given the Omega 42’s heritage.
Alpha animal and sailing legend
Construction number #402 is being completed and will float in spring 2026. Her name? Alpha, like the beginning, or like the alpha animal. Alpha and Omega, that fits. It describes the millennia-old concept of a perpetual cycle. And thus lives on in this wonderful story of the resurrection of an iconic sailing legend.
