History of Kisen

Kisen was built in 1954, just two years after Complex II had won the Olympics in Helsinki, for Ingmar Nylund a Finnish engineer and merchant. Kisen was not Nylund's first yacht, he had previously owned at least an 8 mR, a 6 mR (FIN-44 Toy) and another 5.5 m, Vistra (FIN-9, nowadays Vis-a-vis). Kisen, which was numbered FIN-15, was apparently named after Nylund's wife's nickname.


Complex II leading the fleet in the 1952 Summer Olympics (Olympiakuva / Wikimedia)

Wilenius båtvarv, the boatyard that built Kisen, was no beginner in making racing yachts, and together with Gösta Kyntzell, Kisen's designer, they where responsible for lauching a formidable part of Finland's classic 5.5 m fleet.

Gösta Kyntzell earned his living drawing ships, motorboats and yachts for companies, private individuals and the Finnish government and he was one of the most productive maritime architects in Finland ever. Unfortunately by the time Kisen was designed, the 5.5 m fleet was still very young and mostly followed concepts proven in other yacht classes. As such, Kisen is very classic in design, a fantastically well finished boat, but not outright astounding as a 5.5 m.

During her early years Kisen competed actively in the west coast of Sweden in Öresund, Sandhamn and Marstrand and at least during the season of 1955 the boat participated in a number of races in Finland as well. Typically Kisen showed up in races organized by NJK, Nylund's home club, and finished well after Pohjantähti II, skippered by Johan Gullichsen, and Teresita, skippered by Peter Fazer. Kisen's records are more in the same range as Bloss and Ariane IV, boats build much before itself.

In 1962 Ingmar Nylund sold Kisen to somebody in HSS and the boat has since passed through relatively few hands to us. We are still tracking the details of Kisen's ownership history, so any news are more than welcome.