Those of us who have experienced H.M. King Olav under full sail in his dark green painted – the Anker colour – 8m R Sira, often in winds which would make others reef once if not twice, will never forget that marvellous sight. Sira was perhaps the most beautifully designed boat ever to come from Johan Anker’s drawing board. She must have been the summit of his long experience. But even at the age of 67 Anker was still eager to experiment with new ideas and gain greater speed from refining the shape of the hull. Luckily for him, he always had a nose for business and seemed to find a willing syndicate amongst his rich friends to order his boats. This time, for the season 1938, Crown-Prince Olav, Georg von Erpecom, Anders Jahre, Jacob Kjøde and Thomas Olsen all clubbed together to order a new eight metre, which right from the start was given the name Sira (which means “Sire”, a courteous form of address in old Norwegian, if the name is not from the river in West Norway called Sira).The background for the new order was as follows: In 1937 the “old” Anker 8-metre from 1930, Silja, a silver medal winner in the 1936 Olympics at Kiel, finally capitulated to the Swedish Yvonne in the Kattegat Cup. The Royal Norwegian Yacht Club (KNS) had managed to win this trophy more often than not in a competition originally between Denmark, Norway and Sweden, but in recent years the sole challenge had come from the Royal Swedish Yacht Club in Gothenburg. A new eight would have to win back the cup for Norway. SIRA was not the only newcomer in the season of 1938. Bjarne Aas, Anker’s rival down at Fredrikstad, had received an order from the Bergen sailor Nordahl Wallem; this new eight was named Anne Sophie. But in the selection races for the Kattegat Cup, Sira, with Anker as helmsman, proved superior in all 5 starts. Anker must have been relieved, because his last eight metre, Viking, had not performed satisfactorily in the 1936 selection races for the Olympics.