111 years of excellence in yacht and ship building
The Robbe & Berking Yachting Heritage Centre dedicates the until now largest exhibition of Abeking & Rasmussen (until October 15) to the history of this yard that is a legend not only for generations of yachtsmen.
The history of Abeking & Rasmussen begins with the longing for the sea – and with Henry Rasmussen, called Jimmy by his many friends the world over, who is born in 1877 in Denmark. The talented son of a family of boat-builders is a keen yachtsman and turns his passion into a profession when he opens up the boatyard Abeking & Rasmussen on October 1st in 1907, in Lemwerder near Bremen.
Even today – 111 years and several generations later – the name stands for elegant high-class yachts like only very few others in the world. It all began at a time when it was still quite normal to build boats one at a time by hand and, mostly, from wood. At A&R, these were sailing dinghies of the Pirate-Class or Olympiajollen, Metre-Class Yachts, Skerry Cruisers, Seefahrtkreuzer and Schooners. Later, the yachts grew bigger and bigger and were also made from steel and, still later, also Aluminium. Then the time of the industrial production boats in plastic came. Boats that were lovingly built by hand became an endangered species, rarities. This, they have remained until today. But not at Abeking & Rasmussen! Even 111 years after the yard was founded, only individual, one-off ships and yachts are built there. Today, these are special purpose ships like pilot vessels, life-boats or naval vessels as well as, time and time again, noteworthy and spectacular Megayachts.
