Lars Halvorsen Sons Pty. Ltd.

Lars Halvorsen Sons Pty. Ltd. was an Australian pleasure craft and boat building company, described as "one of the most famous [names] in Australian marine engineering".[1]

Early history

Halvorsen Boats traces its roots to 1887 when Halvor Anderson, a farmer, launched his first wooden craft near Arendal in the south of Norway. His son Lars followed in his father's footsteps and became a boat builder. After Lars lost his fortune in the sinking of an uninsured sailing ship Nidelv on its maiden voyage, Lars moved from Norway to Cape Town, South Africa in 1922 to start over. Lars built a successful business repairing lifeboats damaged on the voyage to Cape Town, but with five sons, realized there would not be enough business there to support them all.

History

Lars and his eldest son Harold settled in Sydney in 1924, and the rest of the family arrived in 1925. From 1925 through 1980 the family enterprise built over 1500 craft, making the 'Halvorsen' name an Australian byword for quality and style."[2]

During World War II, the Halvorsens built more than 250 boats for the American, Netherlands, and Australian armed forces employing a staff of 350 tradesmen at a shipyard in Ryde, New South Wales.[2] During World War II, 178 air-sea rescue Halvorsen craft defended Sydney Harbour and Australia.[1] Halvorsen also built 11 110 foot "Fairmile B" cruisers for the war effort. These saw active service in the north of Australia and in New Guinea area. When Lars died in 1936, his eldest son Harold took over as managing director of the newly formed company, Lars Halvorsen Sons, Pty. Ltd. and continued as designer for most of the wartime vessels as well as commercial and pleasure boats. In recognition of his contribution to the war effort Harold was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 2000,[3] while previously Carl Halvorsen had been made a Knight First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit by King Harald in 1991.[2]

After World War II the company acquired a lease at Bobbin Head located north of Sydney in the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. The family built a fleet of approximately two hundred hire boats. The hire boat operation was the world's largest privately owned fleet of its time.[3]On April 9th 2000, ninety of their classic boats held a regatta on the Hawkesbury River to mark the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the family in Australia and Harold Halvorsen's ninetieth birthday.[1]It was at the end of the same year that Harold Halvorsen received an OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia) for his significant contribution to boat building. Harold passed away in November of that year.

America's Cup

In 1962, Lars Halvorsen Sons, Pty. Ltd. built Gretel, the first Australian challenger for the America's Cup. This was the beginning of an era which eventually resulted in the wrestling of the "Auld Mug" from the New York Yacht Club by Australia, after 132 years by Australia II.

Sydney to Hobart

In 1963, 1964, and 1965, Lars' sons Trygve and Magnus Halvorsen won three Sydney to Hobart races while sailing Freya, designed by Trygve and built by Lars Halvorsen Sons, Pty. Ltd. They still hold the record for three consecutive Sydney to Hobart wins.

Global expansion

In the 1960s Harold's son Harvey Halvorsen became the company designer, and in 1975 he formed a joint venture between Lars Halvorsen Sons Pty. Ltd. and Joseph Kong, former General Manager of American Marine Company, in Hong Kong to design, build and market a new range of pleasure boats worldwide. The company was called Kong & Halvorsen Marine & Engineering Company, Ltd. and over the next two decades, hundreds of craft ranging from 30 to 134 ft (9.1 to 40.8 m) were built under the Kong & Halvorsen, Island Gypsy, and Halvorsen brand names. At present over 900 Halvorsen Boats have been built in China and exported worldwide. In 2000, Kong & Halvorsen Marine's 20-year contract with the Chinese government expired, and the factory was closed. However, Harvey and his son Mark Halvorsen continued to build boats by contracting to approved yards where they launched two additional new models, the Gourmet Cruiser and the Solo, a passage maker.

Present

In 2004-05, the Australian National Maritime Museum held an exhibition on Halvorsen Boats entitled Dream Boats and Work Boats - The Halvorsen Story.[4] Mark Halvorsen owns Halvorsen Boat Sales in Sydney Australia which has largely become a boat importing business and specialist in the restoration of vintage Halvorsen Boats. Mark still designs and has his boats built in various yards in southern China. His father Harvey sold off the family marina in Australia in July 2006.

Appearance in popular culture

A 134 ft (41 m) Kong & Halvorsen Motor yacht called Yecats appeared in the 1987 film Overboard starring Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. The same boat renamed Attessa appeared in the movie Indecent Proposal starring Woody Harrelson, Robert Redford, and Demi Moore.

Yacht collection

Below are some of the yachts in the Halvorsen collection.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Halvorsen's dreamboats". Sydney Morning Herald. 8 March 2004. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Svensen, Randi; Mellefont, Jeffrey (9 August 2014). "Carl Halvorsen's skills as a boatbuilder brought many admirers and an interesting life". Obituaries. The Sydney Morning Herald.
  3. 1 2 "The Hallowed Name of Halvorsen" (pdf). Boating & Fishing. Peninsula Living. pp. 124–125.
  4. ↑ Mellefont, Jeffery (9 July 2014). "Happy 100th Birthday Carl Halvorsen". Australian National Maritime Museum.
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