Eight Bells: Børge Quorning

Børge Quorning, 90, one of the first trimaran boat builders in Europe, passed away on March 22, 2022. Børge founded Quorning Boats in 1967 together with his brother Bent in Skærbæk, Denmark.

As a child, Børge was fascinated by the sea and a skilled sailor and built his first boat already as a young teenager. In 1948, Børge started an apprenticeship as a boat builder which set the course for an adventurous life and led him to the US, Canada, and Sweden.

As the builder of the Dragonfly series of trimarans, Quorning Boats is the second biggest boatyard in Denmark with more than 50 employees. As a major player and trendsetter worldwide, the Dragonfly is renowned in the world of sailing, with Quorning among the top three most popular production cruising trimaran builder in the world today.

In the 1980s Børge developed the popular swing-wing system, together with his son Jens, which he was awarded several prizes for. The best prize for him was when he and his son Jens received the Danish Design Prize for their Dragonfly 1200, presented by HRH Crown Prince Frederik in 2001. More than 1,000 trimarans have been built at the yard for the past 55 years.

Børge was close friends with Paul Elvstrøm, and had built the Finn dinghy in which Elvstrøm won the 1952 Olympics. They were once found sitting on the bottom of a Dragonfly 800, eventually being rescued by the Swedish Coast Guard. The boat, which Børge designed and built for Elvstrøm, was turtled.

Børge’s fascination of sailing and the sea never stopped and his passion for building boats stayed with him to the end.