A Finn, various Danes, some German troops, another Dane, two Greeks, some French people, an American, an Englishman, a Spaniard, and some Italians. This is the story of a yacht – originally Ragna IV, then Sabina and Aloa Ohe, now Orianda – which was created by, and has been owned, used, briefly abused but mostly looked after by, a truly international assortment of people.
Designed by Oscar W Dahlstrom and built by the Carl Andersen shipyard in Faaborg, Denmark, the bermudan staysail schooner Ragna IV was launched in 1937. Dahlstrom was born in Finland and originally trained as a teacher before moving to Denmark and starting work as a buildings architect. But he then taught himself naval architecture and designed his first boat, a 22 Square Metre, in 1916 at the age of 40, and subsequently produced eight 6-Metre designs in the 1920s. It is almost certain that Ragna IV was the biggest boat he ever designed.
It has been reported that first owner was the Duke of Oresund, whereas it was actually the not dissimilarly named Ole Sundø, vice commodore of Kjobenhavns Amator-Sejlklub of which the King of Denmark was patron. Sundø didn’t get much chance to use his new boat before she was seized by Nazi forces for use as a troop carrier after they invaded Denmark in 1940. Four years later she was found abandoned in a
