Sailing and Crime: KSSS Clubhouse

Sandhamn has to a great extent become the sailors' island. 1830 the Association of Swedish Sailing Club was founded. They sailed most in the inner archipelago. 1878 the sailing club was transformed into the Royal Swedish Sailing Club (KSSS) and they had started holding regattas out on Sandhamn. The reason Sandhamn became the gathering place for sailors was due to its proximity to large open waters and good harbor conditions. The need for a clubhouse arose and architect Fredrik Liljekvist was commissioned to design it. He later also became responsible for, among other things, the building of Dramaten in Stockholm. On July 9, 1897, King Oscar II inaugurated the clubhouse during the first day of the jubilee regatta. At that time, the members were not more than most who could fit in the house. Today, KSSS is Sweden's largest sailing club with over 6,000 members and Sandhamn has become an important sailing center.

During the annual regattas of KSSS on Sandhamn, the island has always lived extra enthusiastically. The harbor has been filled over the years with everything from the old times' archipelago yachts to today's fast trimaraners and beautiful dragon boats. The restaurant in the clubhouse, just like now, had constantly full tables.

 

In the mid-70s, KSSS restaurant found itself at the center of a widespread scandal. It was revealed that the proprietor, Fleming Broman, was using the venue for the manufacture and sale of amphetamines. He and his gang produced and sold over 100 kilos of amphetamine to royalty and nobility on Sandhamn. He was arrested and sentenced to five and a half years in prison for drug trafficking and later became an infiltrator for the police in the major narcotics circles of the time. He wrote a self-biographical book titled Ursäkta, mitt namn är Broman (1982). Hannes Holm has made a film adaptation of the story of Broman and the Sandhamn gang, named Sky Fits for No G committees. It premiered on Friday, 15 October 2010, on the 35th anniversary of the police revealing the Sandhamn gang. Fleming Broman currently lives somewhere in Sweden under a new name and identity.

Sources: Eknö Hemman Samfällighetsförening (www.eknohemman.se) - Exhibition about Sandhamn, https://www.destinationsandhamn.se/om-sandhamn/historia, https://andre-roslund.se/ursakta-mitt-namn-ar-broman/