With more than 6,000 kilometres of navigable waterways crisscrossing Holland, a third of which sits below sea level, it’s hardly surprising that the Dutch have elevated the act of designing and building river boats to something of an art form. Among the nation’s leading exponents is Linssen Yachts, whose highly respected brand name graces the 70 or so meticulously fashioned boats constructed by the firm every year. Founded by Jac Linssen in 1949, initially to salvage barges scuttled in Dutch canals by retreating German forces at the end of World War II, the business progressed into producing 9-16m steel-hulled vessels of its own design, built entirely in-house.
In 1976, Jac’s son Jos designed a boat named the St which was destined to form the basis of the Classic Sturdy range offered until the mid-1990s. At that point it was superseded by what became known as the ‘.9-series’, due to designations such as 29.9, 33.9 and 40.9. Available in lengths of 32, 36 and 40 feet, around 400 Classic Sturdys were built in total. Of these, the majority were aft
