Open Yard, Ellös: three days among a hundred boats

Sep 2

2 min read

In August we travelled to Ellös on the Swedish west coast for Open Yard, the event Hallberg-Rassy hosts in its own backyard and the largest gathering of its kind in Scandinavia. The whole Orusti boatbuilding cluster turns out for it, which means well over a hundred yachts in the water and ashore, and their builders standing right next to them.

We went with a couple who are choosing their first boat. That is the part worth explaining, because it is the difference between browsing listings online and actually knowing what you want.

Their own summary afterwards was simple: nothing replaces sitting inside a boat. You step below, you look at where the galley is, you try the chart table, you see how the cockpit feels when four people are in it. Within an hour you have learned more about your own preferences than a winter of reading brochures will ever tell you. Some boats you rule out in thirty seconds. Others surprise you.

The other thing an event like this gives you is people. Not salespeople, but owners who have sailed these boats for years and will tell you honestly what they would change. For anyone buying their first yacht, those conversations are worth the trip on their own.

For our part, one oft the highlights was meeting Gabriel Heyman and hearing the thinking behind the Heyman yachts. Gabriel, thank you for the time and the conversation. What you have created is genuinely original, and it is good to see those boats being built.

Credit where it is due: Hallberg-Rassy deserves it for running an event like this year after year, opening the yard and letting the whole cluster share the stage rather than keeping the spotlight. It is good for the industry and genuinely useful for anyone thinking about their next boat.

If you are considering a purchase in the next year or two, a trip like this belongs early in the process, not late. We are happy to come along.