S/V LAILA

LAILA was built in Norway in 1928 she is an Anker&Jenson designed 8 Meter Class Sloop

Length 46’

Beam 8’

Draft 7’6”

Laila is hull number 318 from Anker & Jensen and likely the sister ship of the Canadian Bangalore. Laila started out in Helsinki under the name Hihdintytte. In 1930 her owner was Toivo Pajunen. In 1932 her name was changed to Lempo III (which means “nice” in Finnish) by her new owner Leuto Pajunen, younger brother of Toivo. The bothers were Finnish architects and builders who designed houses in Helsinki from the 1910s to the 1930s.

In 1933 Alfred Sigesmund Rosenlund acquired her, changing her name to Laila and moved her to Stockholm where she was campaigned until 1954. In 1955 T. Ekman, Sr. purchased Laila and sailed her until 1957. Major O. Berger, Sr. purchased her and sailed her under the name of Lempo II. In 1959 she was

briefly re-named Lady B.

In 1961 Rudolph Minning purchased her, brought back the name Laila, and moved her to San Diego, California, where he raced Laila for 16 years. Some records refer to Minning as “from Copehagen,” but he was born in Stitten on the German/Polish border. During WWII he was a German rocket scientist. Following the war, he was secretly recruited by the United States government for the American space program (along with hundred of other German rocket scientists). He emigrated to the U.S. under the clandestine Operation Paperclip program in Nov. 1945.

In 1978 James Fink purchased the yacht and re-named her Sphinx after another famous 8mR. Then in 1983 the currant owner C. Richard Knowles, Jr.,

acquired her and changed her name back to Laila. A petroleum engineer by trade, Knowles was an avid outdoorsman of many talents. A vastly truncated list of his interests and skills included archery, blacksmithing, boatbuilding, brewing, bushcraft, construction, cooking, curing, farming, fly-fishing, foraging, gardening, gunsmithing, horseback riding, hunting, marksmanship, sailing, scuba diving, silversmithing, skiing, storytelling, trapping and woodworking.

The son and grandson of talented woodworkers, Knowles acquire carpentry skills as a youth. Shortly after purchasing Laila, he decided it was time to rebuild her. From 1983 until 1985 he deconstructed his yacht and renewed her structurally. Then he sheathed the hull in epoxy and fiberglass cloth. During the subsequent 38 years, Laila served Knowles as a buoy racer and a single- handed competitor. She also made annual family cruises along the Southern California coast and in the Channel Islands.

When Richard Knowles died in December, 2022, he was 81-years old and very much interested in making sure Laila would be cared for in the future. He was in the process of donating the yacht to The Maritime Preservation Trust of Los Angeles Harbor when he passed. His family followed through with the gift. Now part of the trust (along with other historic yachts like the last sailing Starling Burgess schooner Rose of Sharon), Laila will be refurbished by a group of young shipwrights and sailors at the trust and campaigned gently in Southern California classic yacht regattas and displayed at various classic yacht festivals.