Lillevi
Lillevi was designed by Zake Westin and built at the Turku Boatyard (Åbo Båtvarf) in Finland in 1938.
Friends of Zake Westin decided to have a Six Metre built as a surprise birthday present for him. One of the friends, Erik Ahlström, was chosen to commission the yacht for himself, to disguise the plan. Not knowing about the plan, Zake Westin designed and built his own birthday present. To be able to choose the very best materials for the boat, almost three times as much wood as was needed was imported.
Unfortunately, Zake Westin passed away on the 1st February 1938, at the age of 51, before the completion of the yacht. Zake’s brother Bruno finished the build and the boat was named Lillevi, after Zake’s daughter. Lillevi was one of the very first boats with a furling jib, a rarity at the time. She was also one of the very first Finnish yachts with Dacron sails. Many people think that Zake Westin’s yachts were the most beautiful of all Finnish designed Six Metres and Lillevi has been considered by many to be the most beautiful of his designs.
After the Westin family, Lillevi was owned from 1939 to 1965 by Hemming Elfving, who raced her actively with good results, especially in lighter winds. Lillevi was bought to Sweden in 1965 by Folke Sjödin and in 1967 she changed sail number from L48 to S68.
Lillevi took part in the 1975 World Cup in Sandhamn, finishing in 14th place.
She was subsequently bought and refurbished by Oliver Berking, who founded the series of Robbe & Berking Regattas based in Flensberg in Germany. She was re-numbered GER68 and finished 4th in the 2005 Classic World Cup at Sandhamn and won the Robbe & Berking 6mR Sterling Cup. She finished sixth at the 2006 Europeans.
With Andreas Haubold at the helm, Lillevi took part in the 2013 World Championships in Flensberg and again finished sixth at the 2015 World Championships in La Trinité Sur Mer, France.
With thanks to Fiona Brown and Tim Street for information contributing to this profile.
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