A Few Words About MAGNUS RASSY

by Magnus Kullberg, Berthon Scandinavia

^ Magnus Rassy on a Hallberg-Rassy 69 | Photo credit Lars-Åke Reden

The Hallberg-Rassy Shipyard in Ellös on the Island of Orust, is renowned across the planet for their handsome, capable cruising yachts which are skilfully built and immaculately finished. They are the benchmark to which others aspire.

Berthon’s office in Henån on Orust is but a short drive away, and Magnus Rassy has been a neighbour for years. I have been selling pre-owned Hallberg-Rassys for longer than I care to remember, and it is not hard to love the yachts for their intelligent design and sweet sea manners.

^ Magnus Rassy on a Hallberg-Rassy 69 | Photo credit Lars-Åke Reden

Last winter, Magnus invited me to sail aboard the new Hallberg-Rassy 69’ in minus 8 degrees – and what a special day that was – the new flagship of the Rassy range, she was fast, comfortable and easy to handle. Magnus is known as the CEO of this family owned and run yard, a great businessman and an integral part of the yachting industry. However, as with most people there is so much more to Magnus than being the CEO. He is also a great yachtsman, salesman and technically extremely competent. More than that he is mad about yachts, and importantly for me, he is my friend.

Alongside the corporate Magnus, are a few stories about him that I thought to share with you to provide an insight into why he is such an innovator and steers the Hallberg-Rassy ship so successfully through the choppy waters of the international marine market.

Magnus was always fascinated by the Hallberg-Rassy shipyard, by the age of 10 he was fuelling boats up, sweeping the shop floor, collating invoices and generally living the yard. A yellow Optimist first got him afloat, although she was slow, heavy and she also leaked. Christoph his father built him a new steed out of plywood – a big improvement!

^ Circa 1972 | The yellow Optimist dinghy in the garden, Magnus standing up behind his younger brother, Tomas

From Optimist to Laser – paid for by selling candy at local markets and Christmas magazines, whilst dreaming of something larger – and fast! He sailed to Hankø in Norway, aboard his parents’ Hallberg-Rassy 49, when the Half Ton Cup was on. Eyes wide he spied FRAM VIII anchored close by – the Norwegian King’s raceboat and resolved to build a half tonner for himself.

Mustering his resources, it quickly became clear that a half tonner was beyond his means, no matter – quarter tonner she would be. Commissioning a design was out of the question but luckily he found an article in the Norwegian magazine Seilas written by Eivind Amble, designer of FRAM that had sketches sufficient for young Magnus to estimate proportions of length to beam and the percentage distribution longitudinally on the deck-line and waterline. Christoph was full of encouragement and practical help in building the boat. Magnus lofted his first yacht and built her of Divinycell, polyester, Aramat, Kevlar and Glass Fibre matt.

^ RASSKER 26ft / 7m

A difficult learning process followed and in the summer of 1984 RASSKER – Rask means swift in Norwegian – was launched. She flew and easily won the Lysekil Race, later being disqualified for a misunderstanding over her rating. She was fast and a client who sailed her, then bought her from Magnus. Sailor, designer, draftsman and salesman!

The proceeds of sales and more hard work to save up and then RASSKER MAGNUM at 35 feet was born, again built by Magnus. She looked a lot like a Hallberg- Rassy but she was designed for performance as well as offshore sailing, and beneath the blue stripe and nonthreatening lines she was ferociously quick, surprising everyone when she came sixth out of a fleet of 1,000 yachts in the Tjörn Runt in 1988. Soon Magnus’ second yacht had also found a new home.

^ Open Yard / Öppet Varv | Photo credit Lassi Hellman

During his early years, Magnus was of course boat mad, but he didn’t spend his early career in Ellös. He got a degree in Economics, worked as a trainee on Lake Constance for the Hallberg-Rassy dealer there and then did his military service as a telegraph operator in the Navy. Then it was back to Ellös as a temporary salesman, programmer of the new CNC milling machine at Hallberg-Rassy, and in the evenings and weekends he was a door-to-door salesman for Electrolux vacuum cleaners! Truly the university of life!

The Hallberg-Rassy 34 from Germán Frers was also his brainchild to fill the gap between the 312 and 36. Magnus liked the idea of a series yacht for himself for the safety of residual value, and because he had a lot of new ideas about cruising and what a modern Hallberg-Rassy could be. The first yachts had a very large cockpit which took away from the interior volume but once this was changed she became a staple for the yard with four hundred and eighty four 34s built over 16 years.

^ Open Yard / Öppet Varv | Photo credit James Tomlinson

Magnus gets marketing. Hallberg-Rassy as a business is informative, friendly and technical. It explains its offering. He started with a website and social media in the 1990s understanding its potential and has built fantastic relationships with the yachting press making it easy for them to be informed about the yard and the yachts. Hallberg-Rassy are known for their sharp brochures and great imagery.

Many of you will have been to the Open Boat Yard held every August. A great event when the yard is open for all to see the yachts and the facility. Magnus’ idea of course, and he also decided to invite suppliers and competitors (at Berthon we participate every year). His grasp of its potential means that today it’s the largest boat show in western Sweden.

When Christoph Rassy celebrated his 70th birthday in the 2000s he had run Hallberg-Rassy for three decades and 250 people worked in the business. In family businesses it is normal for the next generation to simply step up. However, Tomas, Magnus’ brother had decided on a different career path and Magnus was only in his early thirties. Having decided that an older more experienced head was needed at the top, a couple of attempts were made to fill the role with executives from Volvo Cars and also Skanska. The recruitments were not a success as neither had the empathy or passion required to run a business like Hallberg-Rassy.

So, if you think that Magnus’ appointment was a shoo in, it most definitely was not, but finally aged 36, he took over from Christoph who then had the foresight to go bluewater sailing for 2 years, leaving his successor to fashion his own style of management. On his return to Orust, Christoph found that the yard was still there, and still producing great yachts and so the handing of the baton to the new generation was complete.

^ Hallberg-Rassy 34

So the next time you see a Rassy with her distinctive blue hull line and good looks, remember that she came from a yard run by a yacht mad marketeer, who loves building yachts and who learnt the business the hard way from selling vacuum cleaners to lofting a quarter tonner. Also, that the inspiration for this all started with a leaky yellow Optimist in Ellös harbour.

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