7 April 2022
Lars
Strom from Finland has been involved with the production of all Swans
since the very early years of the prestigious Nautor yard in the
70s. He knew all details of all the hundreds of boats manufactured
in Pietarsaari yard in Finland, to be sent to selected owners all
over the world, and he kept track of them and their adventures also
in the ownership changes and modifications spanning 50 years.
He worked in close contact with all designers, first Rod and Olin
Stephens, then Ron Holland, German Frers, and also others involved
in custom designs or very small productions.
The picture portraits Lars with Olin Stephens when working on the
refit of the very first boat built by the yard many years earlier,
the 36-001 Tarantella.
After Ferragamo’s takeover of the company, and the adoption of a new
International management at Nautor, Lars retired from the active
work in the yard he managed for decades, but was able until the end
to keep up to date his full knowledge and database of the yard
production, thanks to his “internal” connections with people he used
to coordinate as the production manager, and unquestioned
“professor”.
He was instrumental in setting up the Nautor Swan Rule, also called
NSR, and based on CHS, that has been used for decades at the Swan
Cup, before 2016 when after the successful experiment of 2015 with
the S&S there was a shift to ORC.
Lars has been extremely helpful in setting up the data to create the
initial fleet of S&S Swans back then, when he was given the VPP
program, and quickly got up to speed to modify OFF files, and
general data based on the knowledge he had about all changes
performed on individual boats even after they were delivered by the
yard, and changed hands through different owners.
The S&S Swans Association’s was founded by Matteo Salamon in 2000,
and Lars established with him a long lasting relationship and
friendship, and managed to get all the knowledge he could from
“professor Lars” to write a book on the old Swans, and set up the
website classicswan.org, grown through the years and including
details on old fittings and hardware with suggestions on the common
issues and best solutions that is well known and appreciated by many
Swan Owners, and could not be there without Lars’s help.
”I’ll miss him, we had a nearly daily contact over the last 22
years, he was a friend, with a unique wisdom and knowledge, and all
this at complimentary disposition of everyone asking.
Nobody will be able to replace such a Great Man” Matteo said.
His knowledge unfortunately will no longer be available, but all
those who had the chance to exchange informations with him had their
share that will be hopefully be merged, and kept with care.
Fair Winds Professor Lars
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