Yachts

FANDANGO

FIRST YEARS
Fandango was owned by Holger Sumelius over thirty years. The yacht participated regattas only the first three years. In the sixties Sumelius sold the boat to his daughter-in-law Johan Avellan. During those times Fandango was rebuild to a cruiser and it was attached with a dockhouse and big side windows.
Heimo Iivonen bought Fandango in 1984. In summer 1984 the new and old 6 mR-owner sailed the yacht from Emäsalo to Helsinki. During the journey Fandango started to leak heavily, sails were changed to smaller ones to avoid bigger heeling, but yacht managed to reach Suomenlinna safely without problems. After few days Heimo and his son Veli-Matti lifted Fandango on the SuPs-boatyard in Suomenlinna. Leaking mahogany plank joints were repaired with waterproof twocomponent adhesive and plastic tape, after tapes being dried, they were painted with antifouling.

RENOVATION HISTORY
Boats every broken frame was repaired during winter 1984. In 1985 yachts white painting were completely being burned away. The hull was totally impregnated and varnished. The wooden mast broke during the Regatta of Helsinki 1987. In summer 1988 Fandango raced in regattas again, but with an aluminium mast and boom.
The deck layout was repaired during winter 1988-1989 on the Viapori dockyard in Suomenlinna. Old plastic deckmaterial was replaced with birch vaneer, teak and mahogany planks. All the work was done and financed mostly by the owners.

BEST RACE RESULTS
6 mR-Class Championship, second, 1996, Merenkävijät, Helsinki
Merenkävijät 75 Year Jubilee Regatta Part 2, winner, 1997, Merenkävijät, Helsinki
Viaporin Tuoppi Wooden Sailboat Regatta many silver and bronce places, but the gold will be ours in one of these days...

CREW 2004
The crew will be almost the same as in earlier years. Esko Kilpi, Ismo Pakarinen, Kari Lehtonen, Jyri Hakuri, Jouni Vartiainen, Olli Kilpi and Velkka Iivonen. Also some visiting sailors are joining our yacht in the coming summer.

AIMS & GOALS
The skipper and the crew will give Fandango more speed in various regattas during next summer.Also trying to keep the boat in good condition and have some nice time with other six metre sailors.

RECENT YEARS
Fandango is nowadays owned by Veli-Matti. Competition and all the needed equipment is financed by different sponsors.
The boat has been docked in Suomenlinna since 1983. There will be some little repair work done in wooden hull during the winter time. The hull is in quite good condition but someday the bigger renovation to deadwood and lower planks has to be done.
WB sails will also be used in next summers regattas.