X-102 – 40 years in the making

2021 marks the 40 years anniversary of the X-102 which started to see light in 1981. The boat introduced a revolutionary design with a combined cruse racer for a a crew of 6, and quickly gained success on the race track as well a good tour boat for the family.

173 boats was built from 1981 to 1987 and it was sold and exported to many countries around the world, were it still is admired to this day, when it enters port, or is seen in its natural habitat of 6-8 meters pr sek in relative calm waters.

Text from X-Yatch own home page

The second X-Yachts model launched was a true cruiser/racer sporting a center cockpit. It was designed for IOR’s 3/4 Ton upper rating limit of 24.55ft. Hull 07, “Soldier Blue”, won the 3/4 Ton World Championship in 1981 and was skippered by Ib Ussing Andersen, helmed by Jens Christensen with tactics by Lars Bo Ive, all now of North Sails fame. In 1982 “Lille du” won the same title and gave X-Yachts a head start in the international yachting arena.

The Sea Round history – 1981

Soldier blue and Sponsor Wanted participated in Sealand Round in 1981, which is actually recorded in this video from the 1981 if you fast forward to 6:12 or 23:00 minutes in this video you will find a small clip of the boats competing against each other. Sponsor wanted was skippered by Niels Jeppesen, and soldier blue was skippered by Ib Ussing
Andersen.

Sealand Round 1989 – 19 boats

I have received this list from Lars Olesen Larsen of the participating boats in Sealand round in 1989. He have have been so kind and share a bit of the history of the boat. It would we great if we could hear from any of the skippers who actually sailed in 1989, or current owners of the boat type.

X-Yachts 40 years anniversary 2019 – X-102

X-Yacht released this year book in connection with their 40 years anniversary, where they wrote the following on the reason for introducing the X-102.

Extract from the year book:

But the laurels were not for resting on. At the autumn exhibition in Copenhagen, the yard published the plans for the next model, a 10 metre long cruiser/racer with a central cockpit.
The decision to develop the new boat was based on several factors: One reason was the desire to expand the “range”, just as Lars and Niels Jeppesen and Birger
Hansen had concluded that it was difficult to sell the X-79 in all parts of Europe.
New model in pipeline

The new boat, named X-102, was designed to the IOR ¾ Ton parameters, but was equipped with accommodation to make it family friendly. Launch was in the spring of 1981 to enable entry in the sailing races Fyn Rundt and Sjælland Rundt. This gave the opportunity to optimise the boat before the middle of July when it was entered in the official world
championship in Helsingfors in Finland for boats with an IOR handicap not exceeding 24.55 ft, the upper limit of the ¾ Ton class.

The “old” guard X-102 ”Soldier Blue” participated and won the World
Championship. The boat was captained by Ib Ussing Andersen and steered by Jens Christensen. They were both co-founders and co-owners of the newly established sail-making firm “Sejlmagerne”, later “Diamond Sailmakers”, which became the main driving
force behind North Sails’ conquest of the world market for sails for the world’s largest and most exclusive ocean cruisers.
The crew of the ”Soldier Blue” also included tactician Lars Ive, who had two years previously placed his J-24 second behind the X-79 at the Sjælland Rundt
race. Lars and Niels Jeppesen also participated in the championship in another X-102, taking the seventh place.

All credits to X-yatch

See the yearbook

X-Yachts-from-40th-Anniversary-book_2019_Online

Help us write the story

With 40 years in the making there must be lots of fun stories to tell about the history of the boat. I have done a bit of internet research, and I have seen fun videos of people sailing in narrow channels in Sweden, and people who say the have sailed single handed across the Atlantic in an X-102.

I would a appreciate your help to find these stories, so we can document for the benefit of the X-102 community.

Regard Henrik