Hans Groop, born 1932 in Vaasa

Vaasa

Vaasa is a city on the west coast of Finland. It received its charter in 1606, during the reign of Charles IX of Sweden and is named after the Royal House of Vasa...

 is a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 yacht

Yacht

A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...

 designer based in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

.
He has designed more than a hundred yachts and motorboat

Motorboat

A motorboat is a boat which is powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gearbox and the propeller in one portable unit.An inboard/outboard contains a hybrid of a...

s, the most famous being the H-boat

H-boat

The H-Boat is a one-design keelboat designed by Finnish Hans Groop in 1967, with some minor modifications by Paul Elvstrøm in 1971. The boat gained international status in 1977. Since 1967 over 5000 hulls have been made, making it one of the most popular yacht classes in the world...

, one of the most popular yacht classes in the world. Hans Groop has been a lifelong member of the HSS

Helsingfors Segelsällskap

Helsingfors Segelsällskap Yacht Club or HSS, is the second oldest yacht club in Helsinki, established in 1893. The yacht club is home harbor for 1300 members and 350 mainly sail boats. The club is located on Liuskasaari island in Helsinki...

 - a leading yachtclub for smaller keelboats in the Nordics

Nordic countries

The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...

. The club initiated the H-boat in 1967 in order to replace the popular but by then outmoded Hai-boat.

Some of his other designs are the H-35, H-40, H-star, H-323, Targa 42, Targa 96, Finnsailor 34 and 29, Degerö 33, Joe 17, Joe 34, Netta, IS 400, Artina 29 and Artina 33 as well as a lot of one-off boats.