AURORAGreat Dane 28 · Hull 165

1972 · Great Dane 28 · hull no. 165

Aurora is a small yacht intended for a large sea.

This site is the living record of Aurora: where she is, where she has sailed, what has been repaired and changed, and why this unusually heavy Danish 28-footer was built the way it was.

Where is Aurora? Voyage archive
8.50 m
length overall
≈ 4.0 t
displacement
1.8 t
lead ballast
2.50 m
beam
Aurora, Great Dane 28 A classic narrow sailing yacht with a long keel and masthead rig, shown under sail. AURORA

Great Dane 28 · hull 165 · built 1972

Latest known position

Live / latest known position

Where is Aurora now?

AIS is the primary public position source while Aurora is transmitting. Garmin inReach remains useful offshore or whenever terrestrial AIS coverage disappears.

If the embedded AIS map is unavailable, open VesselFinder or MarineTraffic.

Radio identity

Call sign
DJ2996
MMSI
218032280
ATIS
9211102996

The identifiers are being transferred from Rassvet to Aurora. Public AIS databases may continue to show the previous vessel name until their records catch up.

VesselFinder AIS ↗ MarineTraffic ↗ Garmin inReach MapShare ↗ Sailing blog · Deelstuff ↗ Live channel ↗

This boat

Aurora · hull 165 · 1972

The name and ownership history is unusually continuous for a boat of this age. The timeline below is the record I am using for Aurora from her launch to the present.

1972 – June 2022

Katinka II

Lene & John Mathiesen
Copenhagen, Denmark

June 2022 – July 2026

Aurora

Jørn & Alena Kragh
Copenhagen, Denmark

July 2026 – present

Aurora

Andrei Iatsuk
Kiel, Germany

Hull / sail no.165built 1972
Craft IDDK-BBZ20860E424HIN / CIN
EngineYanmar 3GM30installed 2003
Home portKielGermany

Maintenance & upgrades

A refit log that grows with the boat.

The starting point is the seller’s maintenance record. New work will be added by year rather than disappearing into a vague list of “recent upgrades”.

2027

Navigation, communications and onboard network

  • Garmin ECHOMAP Plus 72sv chartplotter installed with transducer.
  • em-trak B954 Class B AIS transceiver installed.
  • Nexus NX2500 fixed VHF radio installed.
  • NMEA 2000 backbone installed for onboard instrument networking.
  • B&G WS310 wind sensor installed and integrated into the NMEA 2000 network.
  • Starlink installed for onboard internet connectivity.
2026

Drivetrain and engine installation

  • New engine mounts.
  • New propeller shaft.
  • New propeller.
  • New shaft seal / shaft penetration sealing.
  • Yanmar 3GM30 reported serviced according to schedule and starting immediately.
2025

Rig, seacocks and onboard systems

  • Standing rigging renewed.
  • Running rigging renewed.
  • Mast steps installed.
  • All seacocks replaced with bronze fittings.
  • New compressor for the refrigerator / cool box.
  • New freshwater pump.
  • New sprayhood and full boat cover.
  • Inspection hatch added to the diesel tank.
2024

Offshore autonomy and hull protection

  • New high-quality cabin mattresses.
  • Windvane self-steering installed.
  • Hull stripped and protected with new epoxy primer.
Recent

Energy, lighting and sails

  • Solar panel and regulator installed.
  • LED lighting throughout the boat.
  • Mainsail approximately two years old at the time of sale in 2026.
  • Headsail approximately seven years old at the time of sale in 2026.

Voyages

Every passage becomes part of the boat’s history.

Original GPX tracks are kept intact. The website publishes a simplified copy so detailed Navionics recordings stay fast and readable at passage scale.

From Ohlson 29 to Great Dane 28

I am not moving from 29 feet to 28. I am changing priorities.

My previous yacht, Ohlson 29 Rassvet, is close in length but belongs to a different branch of Scandinavian design: lighter, wider, fin-keeled and more responsive to wind and helm.

Great Dane should feel slower to accelerate, more reluctant to turn, less satisfying in very light wind and less cooperative in reverse. Tacks reward preserved momentum. Harbour manoeuvres reward planning.

Offshore, those same traits change sign. Four tonnes carry momentum through short sea. A long keel resists yaw. Protected underwater gear reduces exposed appendages. A windvane and tiller pilot can work with a boat that naturally wants to continue on course.

Giving upGaining
Light-air responsivenessInertia in rough water
Quick tacksCourse stability
Easy reverse controlProtected underwater profile
More beam and interior volumeMore ballast and conservative proportions
Short-passage speedLower workload offshore

The point is not a bigger yacht, but a platform better aligned with longer solo passages and northern offshore routes.

The Great Dane story

Static history, kept here as a reference.

This part of the site is deliberately lower down. It explains why the boat exists, but unlike voyages and refit work it does not change every season.

01

Klaus Baess

A Danish Dragon sailor and 1948 Olympic bronze medallist who exported Folkboats, understood the international small-yacht market and drove the production, deck, cockpit, interior and commercial concept of the Great Dane 28.

02

Aage Utzon

Ship engineer and designer of Denmark’s celebrated spidsgatter yachts. According to his grandson Jan Utzon, Aage was responsible for the Great Dane’s hull, freeboard, keel and rudder: the part of the boat that meets the sea.

03

Folkboat + Sisu

The Nordic Folkboat contributed compact simplicity and fine lines; Utzon’s heavier Sisu spidsgatter contributed ballast, stability and security in rough weather. Great Dane kept the philosophy but adopted a transom stern.

1948Baess wins Olympic bronze in the Dragon class and builds North American contacts.
1950sBaess exports Folkboats and works with the heavier Utzon-designed Sisu.
c. 1960A wooden Great Dane prototype precedes the production design.
1965–66Series production begins in hand-laid GRP.
1967Great Dane 28 reaches the London Boat Show and UK market.
1969Baess wins the Yachting World One-of-a-Kind Rally, judging cruising suitability among 25–30 ft yachts.
1980After roughly 250 boats, production ends and the original moulds are destroyed.

Design philosophy

The compromises are the character.

01

Mass instead of nervousness

About four tonnes on 28 ft means slower acceleration in light air, but less abrupt response to short sea and more retained momentum.

02

Ballast instead of beam

At only about 2.5 m wide, Great Dane does not get its character from maximum beam. Roughly 1.8 tonnes of lead sit low in the long keel.

03

Course-keeping over agility

The long keel and protected rudder geometry favour directional stability. The cost is more turning radius and less enthusiasm in reverse.

04

Sea room over showroom

The narrow hull limits interior volume. That space was not forgotten; it simply was not the first design objective.

Size may limit speed and comfort. It does not necessarily have to limit the sea.

Published design data

Great Dane 28

Different references quote displacement between about 3.85 and 4.2 tonnes. For practical discussion, this site uses “about 4 tonnes”.

LOA
8.50 m
LWL
6.45–6.50 m
Beam
2.49–2.50 m
Draft
≈ 1.4–1.45 m
Displacement
≈ 4.0 t
Ballast
1.8 t lead
Rig
Masthead sloop
Sail area
≈ 33–34 m²
Keel
Long keel
Rudder
Transom-hung
Construction
GRP
Headroom
≈ 1.8 m

Scandinavian context

Familiar ideas, unusually concentrated.

Laurin 28 is probably the closest technical relative; Storfidra shares the pocket-offshore philosophy; Vindö 32 and Hallberg-Rassy Monsun show how unusual it is to put nearly four tonnes into only 28 feet.

BoatLOALWLBeamDispl.BallastDraftKeelWhat it explains
Great Dane 288.506.452.50≈ 4.0 t1.80 t1.45LongVery heavy and narrow for its length.
Laurin 288.347.322.503.30 t1.60 t1.35LongClosest geometry and philosophy, but lighter with a longer waterline.
Storfidra 257.606.302.403.10 t1.30 t1.29LongThe Swedish “small boat, big sea” idea in a shorter hull.
Vindö 328.956.902.753.95 t1.60 t1.30LongAlmost the same mass, but in a larger and wider hull.
HR Monsun 319.367.502.874.20 t1.90 t1.40LongA famous larger heavy cruiser with similar total mass and ballast.
Albin Vega8.257.002.462.30 t0.92 t1.17LongSimilar length and beam, but a dramatically lighter interpretation.

Figures are approximate design data used to understand proportions and philosophy, not for certification.

Sources & useful links

Useful material, without a link dump.

Only sources that add something useful to Aurora or the Great Dane 28 story are kept here.

Yachting Monthly reviewModern review with historical context and sailing impressions. Klaus Baess obituaryDanish account of Baess, Roskilde Bådværft and the Great Dane story.